The definition of racism in Blauner’s article

The definition of racism in Blauner’s article is its primary power. The secret to racism and culture, according to the author, is a misunderstanding of concepts. Blauner investigated how racism has evolved since the colonial period and how it affects self-critical reflections on colonized and immigrant minorities. He described racism as a social language that employs words of racial discrimination to decolonize social language (Blauner 2). The dominant group referred to white supremacy, while the minority group referred to themselves as a racial group. To combat bigotry, people must identify with people who have similar heritage, regardless of race, to transcend white supremacy’s unmistakable legacy. As seen in California colleges and high schools, the European-American clubs have begun to form, provoking debate about whether it is inherently racist for whites to organize as whites or as European-Americans. Opponents invoke the racial analogy and their defenders argue from an ethnic model, saying that they are simply looking for a place where they can feel at home and discuss their distinctive personal and career problems. Blauner advocates the term African-American and also sometimes uses the term European-American instead of white as he tries to match their names in accordance with their origin and tries to conclude that all people in America are immigrants regardless to their cause to their settlement

The weaknesses of Bob Blauner Article.

The weakness of the article is evidenced when Blauner used students as a sample and used the hypothesis to define the racism concepts which tend to differ if he could have taken a sample from different group. Students tend to have same common goals that may be difficult for them to give strong jurisdictions.

Blauner suggests that the shared revulsion over the Rodney King verdict in 1992 was a significant turning point and perhaps an even opportunity to begin bridging the gap between black and white definitions of the racial situation. Considering black and white attitudes about the racial situation today, the gap is close but has opened up another conception to balance all races in every sector which has led to categorize them in a group instead of some individuals. For example, the eviction of all immigrants in USA which tend to affect certain group and not to some individuals.

The Sociological Representation.

The article represents sociological concepts as Blauner in his study mentioned ideology racism where focus is shifted to a model of prejudice and discrimination. Prejudice referred to hostile feelings and beliefs about racial minorities and the web of stereotypes justifying such negative attitudes while, discrimination referred to actions meant to harm the members of a racial minority group. The logic of this model was that racism implied a double standard, that is, treating a person of color differently in mind or action than one would a member of the majority group.

Institutional racism focused on racial oppression moved from individual actions and beliefs to group and institutional processes, from subjective ideas to objective structures or results. Instead of intent, there was now an emphasis on process: those more objective social processes of exclusion, exploitation, and discrimination that led to a racially stratified society.

Racism as atmosphere where an organization or an environment might be racist because its implicit, unconscious structures were devised for the use and comfort of white people, with the result that people of other races will not feel at home in such settings. Many schools and universities, corporations, and other institutions have changed their teaching practices or work environments to encourage a greater diversity in their clients, students, or work force.

The Blauner topic has impacted the society to have constant competition between groups forming the basis for the ever‐changing nature of society. A clear example comes from the Chicago mayor election of1983. The establishment press, including leading liberal columnists, regularly chastised the black electorate for giving virtually all its votes to Harold Washington. While whites voting for the other candidate because they did not want a black mayor. Yet African-Americans voted for ethnic representation just as Irish-Americans, Jews, and Italians have always done.

The applied Sociological Perspectives.

According to (Ashley) people transform themselves and their environment and then respond to those transformations (1). Blauner article can be analyzed using the three sociological perspectives. Structural Functionalist is evidenced by aspect of black and white race society being interdependent since from the colonization period to date. Blauner predicted how the gap will be closed and become one race after the verdict of Rodney King and how their perception about racism will be transformed to ethnical perception.

Conflict perspective is when a society is fragmented into groups that compete for social and economic resources. Social order is maintained by domination, with power in the hands of those with the greatest political, economic, and social resources. Evidenced by the assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968 and the verdict of Rodney King shows the discrimination against black race.

Symbolic Interactionist perspective, by symbolizing white as positive and black as negative is pervasive American culture. Incidents when Blacks are stopped by police, regarded suspiciously by clerks while shopping, or mistaken for messengers while white race becomes central on exceptional occasions: collective, public moments such as family’s decision to escape urban problems.

Works Cited

Blauner, Bob. Talking Past Each Other: The Black and White Languages of RACE.

Robert Blauner. American Prospect, 1992, pp.1-7

Crossman, Ashley. “Major Sociological Theories”.ThoughtCo, 2017,

www.thoughtco.com/sociology-research-and-statistics-s2-3026650