Race, class, and gender intersections in social analysis

Race, Class & Gender

Color-Blind Racism and Gender-Blind Sexism

Reviewed in this journal:

"Racism in Toyland" by Christine L. Williams

"The Indignities of Unemployment" by Kenneth W. Brown

"Soft' Skills and Race" by Philip Moss and Chris Tilly

"The Invisible Poor" by Katherine W. Newman

"Our Mother's Grief: Racial-Ethnic Women and the Maintenance of Families" by Bonnie Thorton Dill

I believe, it is largely true that the United States has made great strides in overcoming racial and ethnic prejudices, especially in the form of institutional discrimination, in the decades following the Civil Rights era. But it is totally far-fetched when people assume that we are far away from the excesses of racism and sexism. Class-based discrimination today is as problematic as ever was, and racism and sexism often derive from class divisions. The election of Barack Obama to the Presidency was a landmark event in American history but it does not immediately turn the American society into a post-racial one, as many people assume. It is also often believed that racism and sexism in American society are history because many people do not realize that, while the overt forms of both of these practices have been officially shunned, those who still believe in racism and sexism try to keep their sentiments close to their hearts, expressing their thoughts and views in a carefully-worded, politically correct ways. But the patterns of color-blind racism, tendency to reject the existence of the problem while supporting racially-divided status quo, and gender-based sexism, tendency to reject the existence of sexual discrimination while supporting the patriarchal status quo, are still prevalent. The essays reviewed in this paper help to illustrate these problems.

Christine Williams' essay "Racism in Toyland" brings our attention to problems of racism we are not normally aware of. I, for one, had no idea that retail stores either overtly or covertly used so many policies to exacerbate racial divisions in the society. It is important to note that Williams is not a casual or emotional observer who tends to exaggerate or dramatize -- her analysis is sound. She is a middle-class white woman in her forties who takes at the harsh reality and sympathizes with African-American retail workers who are systematically subjected to racist and sexist treatment by their managers -- partly because of the managers' own stereotypical or prejudicial beliefs and partly because of the way managers respond to the needs of a color-blind racist society. Also, Williams does not simply present her observations but also brings up statistics that speak for themselves. There is no neutral way of interpreting the fact that, while African-Americans make up fifteen percent of employees in shoe stores, their percentage in stores that sell liquor, gardening equipment, and needle-work supplies is less than five percent. This is simply representative of the way stores hire their workers to make sure that their customers are satisfied with the appearances of the workers.

It is not only racism that plagues the organizational structure of retail stores that Williams brings our attention to. She also discusses eloquently how this problem is linked to sexism. For example, she talks about how cashiers -- sales representatives who have most contact with customers -- consist of white and light-skinned women. Again, managers hire these women because (a) they believe that white and light-skinned women are most friendly and solicitous and (b) they know that the customers have an impression that such women are more friendly and solicitous. The practice, of course, is simply based on perceptions and stereotypes. The beauty standards of the American society define women's personality although in reality one's look has little to do with one's personality.

Kenneth Brown's article "The Indignities of Unemployment" also talks about economic inequality that is linked to racism. Brown's article is much less professional. He does not talk about facts established by research nor does he discuss his observations in an impartial way. But he does make several important points. His emotional outbursts, in fact, make his arguments powerful, in my opinion. That is, at least, how his article touched me. When he says "I am a number, a statistic," he alludes to a pervasive problem in the society. Very often discussions of unemployment steer readers away from the reading of real people's experiences into the world of mere figures and statistics. This or that percent of Americans are unemployed, we are often told. or, we are often acquainted with statistical data on how many millions of Americans have lost their jobs recently, without delving into specificities and experiences of these unemployed people.

Brown also discusses racism. But here his arguments are the weakest. I think, he is right when he implies that his race plays a role in the difficulty he faces trying to find a job. There is ample evidence available that he could cite. But he only muses and asks questions that suggest -- rather than tell -- about racism in the society. However, Brown's musings about how prolonged unemployment can affect a person's psyche, spirit, self-esteem, and manhood (or womanhood, in the case of women) forced me to think more about it. That is a powerful reflection that employed people need to heed because practically no one is immune from becoming unemployed. Sometimes, poor and unemployed people are accused of being lazy, irresponsible, or of lacking confidence and self-esteem. But those in the upper strata of the society who have never experienced the indignities of unemployment cannot really appreciate the feelings of those who have. The poor and others who have considerably less job opportunities may indeed lack confidence and self-esteem. But it is not an inner trait. It is the harshness of social inequality that drives them to despair and breaks their confidence.

In fact, as Katherine Newman, a professor of urban studies at Harvard, demonstrates in her article "The Invisible Poor," the poor people in Central Harlem are very hard-working people who believe in the importance of preserving commitment to the work ethic. According to Newman, many low-wage workers believe that maintaining a job and working hard are essential for maintaining a stable and orderly family. It is, for instance, interesting to read how young men and women in Central Harlem work hard so that they can have better opportunities in the future than their parents did. But Newman's best argument is how she describes these low-wage workers: the invisible poor. Why invisible? Because we see these people every day but do not recognize that they are poor. We see their faces but do not see their realities. We are accustomed to believe in the American Dream and assume that these poor people -- be they fast-food workers or home workers -- are going to climb the social ladder and reach the middle-class or even upper-class status some time in the future. We take it for granted. My only disagreement with Newman is that her analysis of racism is not very nuanced. She could have, for example, pointed out that upper middle-class African-Americans sometimes treat poor blacks in the same manner that upper-middle class whites do. Likewise, a white poor person may be viewed with the same feeling of disdain by the upper middle-class that poor blacks are often subjected to. So, the issue of class is very important.

In my opinion, Moss and Tilly's article is the most professionally written and convincing of all these essays. Everything they say is backed up with evidences, facts, and other scholarly works. Moss and Tilly also discuss an important topic. It is also something I never really thought of. As I mentioned earlier, most of the racist and sexist practices in the United States today have become "invisible," covert and unspoken, but implied and understood by members of the society. This research focuses on what Moss and Tilly call "soft" skills that managers look at in hiring people. The use of the word "skill" in this context, as the authors point out, is a misnomer since "soft" skill does not refer to a specialized skill but to a set of personality traits such as interaction and motivation. And since the assessment of such traits is always going to be subjective -- and this is a very important point Moss and Tilly make -- racial prejudices come into play and affect hiring practices. Another important point authors make is the fact that negative assessment of Black men's "soft" skills is not exclusively a white phenomenon. Moss and Tilly interviewed a Latino manager, a Black female manager, and a White female personnel official who expressed views that contribute to the stereotypical assessment of Black men's "soft skills."