Counting by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Epub3
Publisher: Liveright

You’ll be well into the interview before these questions about race come up and they might catch you by surprise. But don’t worry. The survey is an equal-opportunity bigot. It asks you to rate whites, Asian Americans, and Hispanics on the same scales. It also asks you to rate Muslims and Christians as “patriotic” or “unpatriotic” on a scale from 1 to 7. And get this: the question about whether black and white candidates are equally suited for political office was asked for the first time in 2008—the first year Barack Obama ran for president.

I didn’t make up these questions. I drew them from the American National Election Studies (ANES), because those studies are among the premier surveys on Americans’ political views. The surveys are designed by top social scientists, mostly from the University of Michigan and Stanford University, and they receive support from the National Science Foundation. They are conducted every two years before and after each presidential and mid-term election. And the ANES uses what most social scientists consider the best methods for identifying group stereotypes and tracking racism and prejudice.

These questions invite respondents to generalize about entire groups based on skin color—not even skin color, really, but a word that supposedly describes skin color and a whole lot more. By asking questions laden with racial stereotypes, researchers put out the message that races are real things rather than amorphous human ideas about grouping people. The questions teach that generalizing about a group defined by a color word, a nationality, or an ethnic label is an acceptable way to think. Moreover, the questions about work ethic, violence, and intelligence perpetuate derogatory images of blacks that white Americans and Europeans have used to justify slavery and discrimination for centuries. If the questions were parents, I’d tell them they’re modeling bad behavior to their children.

The next three questions invite stereotyping in a less obvious way.

I will read some statements. After each one, please tell me whether you agree strongly, agree somewhat, neither agree nor disagree, disagree somewhat, or disagree strongly.

Irish, Italians, Jews and many other minorities overcame prejudice and worked their way up. Blacks should do the same without any special favors.

Over the past years, blacks have gotten less than they deserve.

It’s really a matter of some people not trying hard enough; if blacks would only try harder they could be just as well off as whites.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.