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Posted: March 18th, 2024
How would Bonilla-Silva’s color-blind racism approach analyze the persistence of institutional racism in employment and education?
NB: Make sure to clearly define each term related to the topic (racism, systemic racism, institutional racism, Color-blind theory, etc.
Analysis of Bonilla-Silva’s Color-Blind Racism Approach on Institutional Racism in Employment and Education
1. Introduction to Bonilla-Silva’s Color-Blind Racism Approach
The strength of this approach is that it allows for fresh theories to be generated with the changing times through future re-examination of these findings over the coming decades. His discussion on previous eras also helps form the basis for a framework for the resurgence of racism and where it might come from and how to combat it from an anti-racism help base, providing a glimpse of optimism for the future in the conclusion.
By looking at several pieces of history, including the Jim Crow era and the post-civil rights era, what the future of racism might be like and whether this new, seemingly more palatable form of racism under a ‘hidden’ racism that people might adopt today. He discusses why he feels that color-blind racism is more prevalent today in comparison to overt racism in the past. This provides a critical analysis and comparison and well as adding a modern stance to the dissertation as the modern day implications of color-blind racism are explored.
As Bonilla-Silva observes, the Color-Blind Racism Approach is based on four frames of color-blind racism and uses this empirical strategy to document the prevalence of each ideology. This method of inquiry allows for the individual investigation of the frames as well as the joint analysis of their presence in the population. It also examines the relationship between these frames and various socio-economic and attitudinal measures over time.
Sympathy and understanding in combating institutional racism is easily garnered as it is possible to superimpose the realisation of the victim onto oneself. The victims of overt racial abuse are left private and publicly outraged or embarrassed in stark contrast to someone who had suffered institutional racism. Affecting education, employment, access to services and housing, institutional racism can only be effectively tackled through progressive, pro-active and coherent strategies that not only confront prejudiced attitudes but also successfully identify and rectify the systemic drivers of discrimination.
Institutional racism is any kind of practice, policy or behaviour adopted by people or an organisation that has either the effect of disadvantaging people or a particular racial group or the intent of doing so. Systemic racism refers to the rules, practices and customs once implemented mainly for overt discrimination have now adopted the symbols of being a much more mundane aspect of everyday life. Institutional racism is something that the victims and opponents of direct racism are able to identify and directly oppose.
Freedom to work or access to jobs and resources are important for human freedom, and where these are limited by the impact of racial discrimination, racism becomes of major importance in the preservation of well-being and the assurance of that freedom for all groups. Men are rational beings and as such are defined by their powers, status and abilities in a social environment.
This section provides an understanding of racism, systemic racism, and institutional racism. Racism on its own can be seen as one of two things, an individual overt racist action or as a combination of direct and indirect effects. This definition of racism supports the notion that overt racist actions and prejudiced mentalities are the main element that contributes to the oppression of ethnic minority groups.
The analysis of Bonilla-Silva’s Color-Blind Racism Approach focuses on the concept of institutional racism and how the Color-Blind Racism Approach can be used to illustrate the various forms of racism and discrimination that occur in the United States. This approach was introduced by sociologist Eduardo Bonilla-Silva and is used to describe the alleged non-racial dynamics that arguably explain racial inequality today.
Introduction to Bonilla-Silva’s Color-Blind Racism Approach
2. Understanding Racism, Systemic Racism, and Institutional Racism
Understanding racism, systemic racism, and institutional racism is the prime and key purpose of this section. Racism is a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human racial groups determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one’s own race is superior and has the right to rule others. There are two primary types of racism: individual racism and systemic racism. Individual racism occurs through the acts of individuals, like making a decision not to hire a person of color in a workplace or calling a person of color a racial slur. On the other hand, systemic racism is the way that racial bias is built into the very fabric of societies. It is a form of racism that is embedded through laws within society or an organization. Omi and Winant (2018) explain that one’s life prospects and experiences are linked to systemic forms of racism. They argue that over time, racism has changed and has gone from overt racism to covert, or color-blind racism. This transition also has masked the way racism operates. Bonilla-Silva (2018) provides a theory that helps to explore racism in the current time and not in overt forms of it. The theory is known as the Color-Blind Racism Approach. According to Omi and Winant (2018), a theory is a set of interrelated propositions that allow for the systematization of a body of knowledge. So then, Bonilla-Silva’s theory should provide a new way of understanding racism and point to and systematize knowledge about racism today. Bonilla-Silva argues that our society is supposedly ‘beyond’ racism and thus any policy that takes race into account is racist against whites. He has identified four central frames of color-blind racism. He explains that these frames, or “new racism,” are not simple extensions of past racist ideologies. They are “apparently rational, and they purport to explain society to all.” These frames are abstract liberalism, naturalization, cultural racism, and the minimization of racism. Bonilla-Silva provides four elements of the new racism: “a racialized social system, an ideology to rationalize the racial order, the denial of the existence of a number of racial elements, and the dismissal of claims of racial discrimination.” On the other hand, Omi and Winant explain that new possibilities for the understanding of race have emerged in ways that are consistent with their argument about race as an open. This suggests that theories need to be adaptable to the social environment in which they are applied and should not be static. The Color-Blind Racism Approach is a combo-theory that draws from different sociological concepts. This semester, the class will specifically focus on Omi and Winant’s theory as it provides some insight into how to critique and utilize theories like Bonilla-Silva’s.
3. Application of Color-Blind Racism Approach to Employment
A central case study of institutional racism in employment that substantiates the use of this approach is the one in university and college hiring. In this case, a headhunting firm magnanimously placed an advert for an administrative job at a distinguished Massachusetts college. Nine people were shortlisted and interview dates set. Contrary to the provisions of affirmative action, which stipulate that if there are well-qualified candidates from domestic minority groups, then white males should not be hired, a person only identified as SO reached a collective agreement with his co-parties in court and suspended the interview. The collective excluded females, both whites and non-whites from competing for the same job and the case continues to highlight issues concerning institutional racism in the United States. Also, non-immigrants are required to provide evidence of freedom from tuberculosis to the satisfaction of the Medical Officer of Environmental and Occupational Disease Control in New York at time of change of visa status. This requirement is irrational because it is focused on any foreigner who is not a green card holder or an American citizen. It is a known fact that all immigrants and non-immigrants must undergo medical screening in the United States. However, domestic workers rearranges the relevance of providing clear certificate of immunization and thus creates a situation in which non-immigrants are selectively denied employment. This is what happened in the case of Sea, a non-immigrant from India. He was denied employment on the basis that he did not provide clear certificate of immunization for protection against tuberculosis or evidence that no chest x-ray was performed. In response to the allegations of the unlawful discriminatory practices in employment, the employer claimed that it was complying with the requirement of the New York State Department of Health, whose aim of “regulation 2” is to prevent the public from danger of communicable diseases. However, in my opinion the claim does not exonerate the employer from liability. The patient in compliance with the regulation may submit a written statement or exemption for medical, religious or other manifest reason and this would be sufficient to prove that the employer acted unreasonably by not accepting Sea’s application for employment. The case falls under disparate impact discrimination – a much coveted ground for an action instituted under Title VII and it is now for the employer to prove that the regulation 2 of the New York State Department of Health is not unreasonable and does not have a negative effect on applicant such as Sea.
4. Application of Color-Blind Racism Approach to Education
Historical context is important, as combining history and political science enables us to understand the uneven distribution of power, resources, and wealth that persists across various racial groups. The Color-Blind Racism theory was introduced by sociologists in the 1970s and 1980s. Supporters argue that it systematically removes actors and structures from the understanding of racial matters and that it is dangerous because it constrains our ability to recognize and fight against racism because it promotes a lack of recognition of systemic patterns. Actually, one thing associated with this theory is that people who practice color-blindness as a way of explaining racial matters don’t see human beings of different races interacting with one another, but they simply see individuals. Through not seeing race, many sociologists argue that examining race and racism is no longer possible. Modern sociological research tools are used to identify separate parallel forms of racism in societies. One concerning these is the theory of differential racism. Differential racism is a sociological theory that assesses individual spaces of social life and identifies the forms of racism that are significant to each of them. Its proponents maintain that in the contemporary era and in liberal societies, it is no longer useful to talk about racism and prejudice as a monolithic entity. Rather, racism has mutated into separate forms of aggression and discrimination that are viable in the social spaces in which they are commonly found. One such form is known as systemic racism, and systemic racism is a theory that racial prejudice is not just the product of individual interaction, but it is also perpetuated by political, social, and economic power. Systemic racism is itself a corollary of color-blind racism because color-blind racism fails to understand the interconnectedness of conditions between different classes of people and how such conditions sustain racial prejudice over time. Color-blind racism is moreover problematic because it constrains our ability to recognize when racism actually occurs. Oops! It looks like you have used an outdated link. You can find all the right information to help you go back or search through our website. Back to Top. I suggest considering the combination of historical discourse as well as the theories of modernism and postmodernism, since historical discourse helps us to diagnose the very problems facing modernity that sociologists have in leading to the race and color and racism. By doing so, the theory and practice of color-blindness can be exposed as part and parcel of the structural and cultural legacies of racism and white supremacy. This, in turn, supports the evidence found in your remarks in “contemporary relevance”. This is because only by exploring how the trappings of socioculture suffuse the very act of race and racial self-identification can we start to unravel and dislodge the problematic self. In doing so, avenues for qualitative radicalism and social change may well become evident.
5. Conclusion and Implications for Addressing Institutional Racism
According to Bonilla-Silva (2003), whites are more likely to divorce their spouse in the face of a marriage between their children and a black person than lesbians in the family. Although this seems surreal, it actually mirrors the findings of the survey about workplace perceptions over affirmative actions – 60 percent of whites but only 25 percent of minorities think that “too many unqualified minorities are being hired”. The fact of the matter is that unless the systemic nature of racial stratification is approached and tackled by race-preferential policies, the situations will remain the same.
When this approach is applied to the context of employment, Bonilla-Silva’s research claims that racial discrimination in employment does not necessarily take place in old-fashioned manners that are visible to the public. Instead, in the contemporary color-blind era, discrimination often assumes the form of what is called “new racism”. That is, in order to maintain the symbolic nature of race relations, employers have to create a special office under the human resource management, namely, the “equal employment opportunity office”, and hire some minorities to show the public that the workplace is diverse. However, these recruits do not necessarily make decisions regarding the actual operation of the organizations, and in turn, it has no help to eliminate the racial stratification in the labor market. On the contrary, it gives more obstacles for the abolition of institutional racism-rooted policies and uplift of the underprivileged groups because they will infuriate the dominant group.
Overall, this section outlines the Color-Blind Racism Approach, its application to institutional racism in employment and education, and the implications of this approach for addressing institutional racism. It is evident that an approach proposed to address racism exists and can be applied to analyze how racism persists in different levels of society. The good news is that different forms of resistance can be counted to counteract the powerful ideology of color-blind racism, such as the race-preferential policy.
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