COMPLETE Sociology of Race and Ethnicity Notes: Part 8 [got 4.0 in the course]

Pages 130-141
Industrialization and Dominant-Minority Relations: From Slavery to Segregation and the
Coming of Postindustrial Society
• Richard Wright expresses his hatred for segregation in his major works, this one
discusses the kitchenette (tiniest apartments available) from “Death on the City
Pavement” a reaction to Jim Crow segregation and migration out of the South and the
discrimination he faced
• Dominant-minority group relations change as the subsistence technology changes
• The agrarian era ended in the 1800s and US required new structures and processes to
maintain racial stratification and white privilege—went through 2 changes
o (1) Industrial revolution (1800s-1950s)—machines replaced labor, boosted
economy
o (2) Postindustrial Era/Deindustrialization (1950s-present), marked by
 Adecline in manufacturing sector of the economy and a decrease in the
supply of secure, well-paid, blue-collar, manual-labor jobs
 An expansion in the service and information-based sectors of the economy
and increase in white-collar “high-tech” jobs
• Modern institutional discrimination arises
Industrialization and the Shift from Paternalistic to Rigid Competitive Group Relations
• Industrial revolution began in England in mid-1700s and spread to US and world
• Close, paternalistic control of minority groups became irrelevant (difficult to maintain in
a city)
• Paternalism gives way to rigid competitive group relations—minority group members
are free to compete for jobs (often settling for low wages) and the dominant group feels
threatened and attacks minority group (via prejudice and discrimination)
o Rigid Competitive systems, unlike paternalistic systems, do not require members
of minority group to be active participants but hinder minority’s ability to
compete and sometimes eliminate competition from minority group
The Impact of Industrialization on the Racial Stratification of African Americans: from
Slavery to Segregation
• Because of more resources, the North defeated the South in the civil war and slavery was
abolished after 1865; this section looks at black-white relations from end of Civil War
through the coming of segregation in South and mass migration ofA.A. to cities in
industrializing North
• Reconstruction
o Period of reconstruction (1865-1880s): Union army and agencies of Federal Gov’t
were used to enforce racial freedom in the defeated Confederacy andA.A. took
advantage of 15 amendment to voting rights
o This time was short though and quickly ended, transitioning to a new system of
exploitation and inequality
o Reconstruction was too brief to change two of the most important legacies of
slavery:
 (1) Centuries of bondage left black Southerners impoverished, largely
illiterate and uneducated, and fewer power resources [Blauner Hypothesis]  (2) Slavery left a strong tradition of racism in the white community—a
new social system was created to integrate deeply engrained prejudices
into this new time
• De Jure Segregation
o Sometimes referred to as Jim Crow System, which is by law and legally
discriminates (via segregation) againstA.A.
o The logic of segregation created a vicious cycle—moreA.A. excluded, the greater
the poverty and powerlessness became
o Made it easier to use racism to justify further separation
o Noel Hypothesis: whites had sufficient power and resources to end competition
between blacks and whites for certain jobs and construct repressive systems of
control for black Southerners
o The Origins of De Jure Segregation
 Racial stratification just replaced slavery
o Control of Black Labor
 Southern legislatures attempted to forceA.A. back into involuntary
servitude by passing a series of laws called “Black Codes” but
implementation was halted in Reconstruction era
 Plantation elite solved their manpower problem by developing a system of
sharecropping, or tenant farming.
• Sharecroppers worked the land in return for payment in shares of
the profit when crop was taken to market. Landowner would
supply a place to live and food and clothing on credit
• When harvest profits were split, landowners deducted debts of
tenant’s from share and landowner took account of this
(sometimes/often cheating) and inflated debt—an in