Cultural and Ethnic Studies

distinguishing between ethnocentrism, which we studied at the beginning of our course and prejudice. The latter is focused on a particular group, their perceived behaviors, values, and lifestyle. This chapter and the readings in Annual Editions look at various factors that may be a stimulus to prejudice. Psychological as well as sociological factors are addressed. The Authoritarian Personality by Adorno is considered to be a major influence in subsequent studies on psychological issues underlying prejudice. For those of you who have taken psychology classes, you may remember further discussions on other personality types as permissive, etc. Self-esteem, as well as social conditions are further discussed as factors in the etiology of an individual’s development of prejudice toward a group. Relative deprivation, as well as scape-goating are examples of social conditions at play. Concern over media driven prejudices is discussed.

Do you see media (ie TV or newspapers, national or local) as influential in the norms that are developing in society regarding an ethnic groups? Pick one example and share it. This may involve governmental or corporate policy and decision making, as occurred in the Shirley Sherrod case.
According to an article in Take Action , there is a resurgence of segregation in public schools.(http://www.takepart.com/news/2010/07/30/school-segregation-vs-integration-an-ongoing-debate)
“ Despite the landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling that made desegregation part of federal education policy, schools today are actually more segregated than they were in the 1950s.
According to a study conducted by Professor Gary Orfield called Reviving the Goal of an Integrated Society: A 21st Century Challenge, progress made toward desegregating education lasted until the late l980s.
Three Supreme Court decisions in the 1990s authorized a return to segregated neighborhood schools.
Orfield reports that while the public school population is increasingly diverse, 40 percent of African-American and Latino students attend schools where at least 90 percent of the students are non-white. Segregation is fast spreading into large sectors of suburbia, and there is little or no assistance for communities wishing to resist the pressures of resegregation and ghetto creation in order to build successfully integrated schools and neighborhoods.”
What have you read and observed, both nationally and in your own community regarding segregation in our school system?

Consider the current effects of Brown VS Board of Education of Topeka in which de jure segregation of public schools was ended. Interestingly, this ruling has come up again in current events and is being re-examined in terms of its application. How might the current debate over school choice with the new U.S. administration affect your community in particular?