The different levels of racism

One topic which I found interesting was the concept of racism, particularly because I thought about my own personal experiences with diversity and I suppose that it really was eye opening to analyze the different levels of racism.    I found this particular topic interesting as I live in a rural area and had very little exposure to different cultures throughout my childhood.  Even though I now have learned a great deal through schooling and different experiences, diversity and different cultures are still scarce in the area which I live.

In Schneider, Gruman, and Coutts (2012), racism was presented through four different terms.  These included blatant racism (takes on a clear form such as segregation and distinctive disregard for other races), aversive racism (the person is unaware of their racism), ambivalent racism (people recognize the racial injustices but also feel that improvements can be made through hard work and determination rather than recognizing history blockades presented to the group due to racial inequalities), and symbolic racism (racism which is not necessarily targeted towards specific groups, but presents itself by disregard for associated concepts surrounding the particular group).  These types of racism present themselves in different ways and it leads me to question the changing dynamic of racism and its relationship to the area which a person grew up.

I tend to believe that a persons experiences, good or bad, can determine their thoughts and actions later in life.  I question how the experiences (or lack thereof) of a person influence their racial interpretations and beliefs but also how racist beliefs they were brought up with influence these beliefs as well.  Do rural areas have more racism?  Is there more ambivalent racism in one area while more aversive racism in another?  Although I was unable to find concrete information which studied this idea (although the relationship would be an interesting concept for a study), what I found was that rural areas do have more of an impact in what we present on social media regarding racial issues and expression of such hate.

hate map1

I found this map to be an interesting way to look at where racism lives.  Although racism can be found throughout our society in different forms, this study presented (Kleinman, 2013) shows that the most hateful speech (about culture, racism, disability) tend to be in the eastern part of the country and come from small rural areas.  These areas had the highest proportion of hateful posts to social media (Twitter).

In thinking about my experience growing up, this really became less hard to believe.  I grew up in a small town (graduated with 33 people) and people hated what they did not know.  There was not a lot of cultural differences within our small town and I remember several people who did not have cultural competence, or tolerance for that matter.  Although they were isolated, their ideals were instilled in their children.  Over time, some of these children, through their experiences, changed their viewpoints and as the small town isolated life changed to incorporate more culture, tolerance increased.  There does however remain different aspects of racism – ambivalent, aversive, symbolic, and even some blatant.

When looking at the sociological concerns, unless there are changes within the experiences and cultural understanding developed throughout these areas, racism will continue to be an ongoing concern.  Although Schneider, Gruman, and Coutts (2012) acknowledge that there is a slow progression of change with racism, this is something that sociology must continue to focus on and study.  What programs can be developed for these rural areas or small schools which could change racial competence and cultural understanding to reduce or eliminate racism?  Should programs be developed which target racism and promote cultural tolerance, should these be different for different areas based upon the types of racist beliefs held there?  Potentially, could this lead to blatant racism being strictly a history lesson, or could we change the dynamic of racism altogether as a society?   Many questions arise, but one thing is for sure, racism and hate are nothing something that is going away soon.

 

References

Kleinman, A. (2013, May 13). Twitter Hate Speech Map Pinpoints Racist, Homophobic Hotspots Across U.S. Retrieved March 5, 2015, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/13/twitter-hate-speech_n_3265916.html

Schneider, F., Gruman, J. & Coutts, L. (2012). Applied social psychology: understanding and addressing social and practical problems. Los Angeles: Sage.

 

 

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