Smith, William A. "Racial Ideology And Affirmative Action Support In A Diverse College Student Population." Journal Of Negro Education 75.4 (2006): 589-605. Academic Search Complete. Web. 6 Oct. 2015.
Universities in the United States today have become more racially and ethnic diverse than ever before in history. Although this is a positive notion, "diversity brings many new challenges, conversations, expectations, and demands to traditional ways of thinking, engaging, or viewing the educational process." This article studies the racial ideologies of college students and views of affirmative action and diversity policies at universities, specifically studying junior year students. Some believe that blacks demands have "gone too far," and affirmative action is opposed by many. "Color blindness" has been emphasized by whites, not realizing that inequality between races exists in society. The study found that whites and asians, generally, "were least supportive of curriculum diversity initiatives or programs," not much in favor of affirmative action. It was discussed that campuses today include "both cynicism toward race-targeted efforts and a growing emphasis on the positive influence that a multicultural environment offers for student interaction and their post-college experiences." Biological racism isn't as emphasized today, but the new form is called "contemporary racism." Research on racial inequality among minority college students stated that the individual or the system (mainstream socialization) was the cause. The three concepts presented in this study about the complex racial ideologies of college students: "individual deficit attributions for persistent White-Black inequalities, cultural pathology stereotypes claiming that Blacks in general do not share mainstream virtues, and (c) conservative policy values, which oppose race-targeted initiatives to address the relentless inequalities endured by African Americans."
This source changed my thinking because I didn't really know much about the meaning of affirmative action before. Since my overall question is about why there racism persists on college campuses, discussing racial ideologies and affirmative action policies is important to the cause. I agree that colleges are more diverse, but the minorities continue to be treated unfairly and are not seen as significant as whites. Each campus differs, but racial ideologies are probably pretty much the same in the U.S. Some universities apply affirmative action in the kinds of policies they implement for minority groups. However, it seems evident still that most of the attention is directed toward the white majority. This source doesn't lead to a complete answer but people's beliefs about race and how it should be handled, definitely influence racism on campuses.
This article could be in synthesis with "The Impact of "Colorblind" Ideologies on Students of Color: Intergroup Relations at a
Predominantly White University" (Source 2). These articles can converse with each other because racial ideologies are created based off of the experiences and feelings that the black population has about their college campus. Stereotyping, pressures to assimilate, and exclusion are common things that happen to blacks, giving them their racial ideology. Whites have their own ideology of blacks and their characters as well. Diversity is also somewhat common ground for the articles. Source 2 and 3 also discuss the broader picture of Campus Intergroup Relations and how they reflect the racial conflict in society. Like the research in Source 2, racial inequality among minority college students has the individual or the system (mainstream socialization) as the blame.
These blog questions make me wonder if whites really believe that affirmative action polices reversely discriminate. If whites feel like they are a part of a reverse discrimination, I would like them to clarify their feelings about it. Is reverse discrimination playing a role in the resentment that whites have towards minorities or blacks? What are the pros and cons of affirmative action? Can racial ideologies ever change?
No comments:
Post a Comment