Race/Ethnicity Activities
In honor of the first week(s) of class and in response to the ongoing police brutality, I began my first class by discussing "common-sense" explanations for social phenomena (naturalistic or individualistic explanations) versus sociological ones. I typically frame this activity around sociological questions such as: "Why are people poor?" or "Why do more women stay at home with children?" or "Why are people overweight?" I then present individualistic or naturalistic explanations that might be used to explain these phenomena. For instance, in the "why are people poor?" scenario, an individualistic explanation might argue that people are poor because they are are lazy, dumb, or have no skills. A sociological perspective might interrogate structures of opportunity such as education and wealth that can be used for a down payment and to help someone save money. After a couple of these scenarios, I asked students to explore one of the recent shootings (e.g., Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Terence Crutcher) in terms of these two approaches in order to develop their sociological imaginations. After the discussion, as a class we watched this John Oliver clip that highlights many of the systemic problems in Ferguson, MO specifically, and the U.S. generally, in order to understand the importance of context and historical forces. The clip includes discussions of the prison industrial complex, the militarization of the police force, legacies of housing discrimination, racial profiling, and much more. http://digg.com/video/john-oliver-tears-into-the-racism-and-militarization-in-ferguson-mo
Residential Segregation via Schelling's Checkerboard
In a now-famous essay, Dr. Schelling instructed readers to randomly scatter dimes and pennies on a checkerboard, leaving some squares open and moving the coins to satisfy simple preference rules such as "every dime wants at least half its neighbors to be dimes, and every penny wants a third of its neighbors to be pennies." Schelling defined "neighbors" as coins in adjacent squares, and he invited readers to imagine that the dimes and pennies were women and men, Blacks and Whites, or other recognizable groups.
What happens? As each coin is moved closer to others in its group, modest preferences at the individual level often lead to extreme segregation at the group level.
Although this demonstration involves dimes and pennies rather than social groups, it illustrates how our preferences can lead to unintentional segregation in daily life. This segregation occurs when we want to have at least a few same-group neighbors but don't similarly seek neighbors from other groups.
Of course, these results don't mean that segregation is always accidental, or that it's wrong to like members of one's own group. Nor does the effect mean that segregation is unavoidable. On the contrary, just as segregation can arise from mild same-group preferences, it can be reduced by seeking neighbors from a different group.
To see this "reverse Schelling effect" in action, redo the activity so that each penny token prefers to have at least one dime neighbor, and each dime token prefers to have at least one penny neighbor. As the previous activity illustrated, mild individual preferences can integrate neighborhoods just as readily as they can segregate them. This dramatic change illustrates two key points about reducing segregation. First, you don't need to be a hero like Rosa Parks to make a difference. Whether segregation takes place in a neighborhood, cafeteria, school, or elsewhere, ordinary individuals have the power to integrate even the most segregated environment.
Second, integration doesn't require large changes in behavior. When we find ourselves in a segregated situation, what's needed is for each of us to seek contact with at least one person outside our group. As Rosa Parks once said about her individual act of protest back in 1955:
"I had no idea it would turn into this. It was just a day like any other day. The only thing that made it significant was that the masses of the people joined in."
Adapted from "Understanding Prejudice"
What happens? As each coin is moved closer to others in its group, modest preferences at the individual level often lead to extreme segregation at the group level.
Although this demonstration involves dimes and pennies rather than social groups, it illustrates how our preferences can lead to unintentional segregation in daily life. This segregation occurs when we want to have at least a few same-group neighbors but don't similarly seek neighbors from other groups.
Of course, these results don't mean that segregation is always accidental, or that it's wrong to like members of one's own group. Nor does the effect mean that segregation is unavoidable. On the contrary, just as segregation can arise from mild same-group preferences, it can be reduced by seeking neighbors from a different group.
To see this "reverse Schelling effect" in action, redo the activity so that each penny token prefers to have at least one dime neighbor, and each dime token prefers to have at least one penny neighbor. As the previous activity illustrated, mild individual preferences can integrate neighborhoods just as readily as they can segregate them. This dramatic change illustrates two key points about reducing segregation. First, you don't need to be a hero like Rosa Parks to make a difference. Whether segregation takes place in a neighborhood, cafeteria, school, or elsewhere, ordinary individuals have the power to integrate even the most segregated environment.
Second, integration doesn't require large changes in behavior. When we find ourselves in a segregated situation, what's needed is for each of us to seek contact with at least one person outside our group. As Rosa Parks once said about her individual act of protest back in 1955:
"I had no idea it would turn into this. It was just a day like any other day. The only thing that made it significant was that the masses of the people joined in."
Adapted from "Understanding Prejudice"
