Dependency—Bond as Construct

Wolf, Charlotte

doi:10.1525/si.1994.17.4.367

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 19 publications

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“…Hierarchical relationships, like the one between my family and James, are governed by asymmetrical rules that are a ceremonial expression of relative status positions (Goffman 1967). In addition, members of oppressed groups often transform the meaning of dominant/subordinate relationships into a “dependency‐bond, a relationship that is justified by responses and agreed‐upon rights” (Wolf 1994: 374).…”

Section: Silent Racismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deconstructing Categories: The Exposure of Silent Racism

Trepagnier

2001

Symbolic Interaction

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Although racism remains an enduring social problem in the United States, few white people see themselves as racist. In an effort to study this paradox, the research discussed here explores racism among those in the "not racist" category. Eight focus groups were conducted in which twenty-ve well-meaning white women talked openly about racism; subsequently, the women kept journals to record their thoughts on racism. Findings indicate that silent racism pervades the "not racist" category. "Silent racism" refers to negative thoughts and attitudes regarding African Americans and other people of color on the part of white people, including those who see themselves and are generally seen by others as not racist. An apparent implication of silent racism inhabiting the "not racist" category is that the historical construction racist/not racist is no longer meaningful. Moreover, data show that the "not racist" category itself produces latent effects that serve to maintain the racial status quo. I propose replacing the oppositional either/ or categories with a continuum that accurately re ects racism in the United States today.Descriptions of reality are arbitrary, and classi cation strategies vary across cultures and over time (Zerubavel 1994). Furthermore, categories do not merely sort our experiences; they are infused with meaning (Berger and Luckman 1966;Gould 1989;Minow 1990). Categories of racism in the United States are no exception. Generally, people in this country talk about racism in two categories: racist and not racist. My study explores racism where it presumably does not occur-in the "not racist" category. My ndings indicate that racism operates on a continuum, not in discrete categories and, more important, not in binary, oppositional categories.The categories "racist" and "not racist" are historical, and their meanings have changed over time. In the 1960s, when the civil rights movement was on the rise, overt racism was rampant and the few white people who inhabited the "not racist" category took an unpopular stand for change in race relations. Since then, "not

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Section: Silent Racismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deconstructing Categories: The Exposure of Silent Racism

Trepagnier

2001

Symbolic Interaction

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Hierarchy under anarchy: informal empire and the East German state

Wendt

Friedheim

1995

Int Org

113

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Contemporary international politics embody a tension between formal equality and de facto inequality. States recognize each other as sovereign equals, yet the strong still push around the weak. Among the structures that reflect this tension are informal empires. The dominant assumptions in mainstream international relations theory, materialism and rationalism, privilege the formal equality of states in informal empires a priori: materialism by assuming that authority relations cannot exist between sovereign states; rationalism by assuming that states are sovereign over their own interests. A constructivist approach allows one to explore the hypothesis that transnational authority structures construct state identities and interests. An empirical analysis of the Soviet-East German relationship supports this hypothesis, which raises questions about the emerging study of international governance.

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Social Psychology of Identities

2000

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In this chapter I review the social psychological underpinnings of identity, emphasizing social cognitive and symbolic interactionist perspectives and research, and I turn then to key themes of current work on identity—social psychological, sociological, and interdisciplinary. I emphasize the social bases of identity, particularly identities based on ethnicity, race, sexuality, gender, class, age, and (dis)ability, both separately and as they intersect. I also take up identities based on space, both geographic and virtual. I discuss struggles over identities, organized by social inequalities, nationalisms, and social movements. I conclude by discussing postmodernist conceptions of identities as fluid, multidimensional, personalized social constructions that reflect sociohistorical contexts, approaches remarkably consistent with recent empirical social psychological research, and I argue explicitly for a politicized social psychology of identities that brings together the structures of everyday lives and the sociocultural realities in which those lives are lived. “Identity … is a concept that neither imprisons (as does much in sociology) nor detaches (as does much in philosophy and psychology) persons from their social and symbolic universes, [so] it has over the years retained a generic force that few concepts in our field have.” ( Davis 1991 :105) “[I]dentity is never a priori, nor a finished product; it is only ever the problematic process of access to an image of totality.” ( Bhabha 1994 :51)

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Dependency—Bond as Construct

Cited by 5 publications

References 19 publications

Deconstructing Categories: The Exposure of Silent Racism

Deconstructing Categories: The Exposure of Silent Racism

Hierarchy under anarchy: informal empire and the East German state

Social Psychology of Identities

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