Segregation and Society

Written: 04/05/2009
Publication: n/a
Publish Date: n/a

According to Scott Sernau, “Race is a social construction, not a biological fact… Arrange a sampling of the world’s population in a line from lightest to darkest, and the result is a continuous gradation.” Racial segregation between blacks and whites is a persistent social construction. Humans naturally create racial divisions attempting to compartmentalize and separate the weak from the strong and the light from the dark. The prevailing attitudes that exist in the United States concerning racial inequality are reminiscent of skin color associations made in the past.

Race and ethnicity are not what causes segregation but rather the connections created by the recognition and classification of one’s skin color. As societies began to separate “colored” from “white” skinned people, color became an important factor in determining a person’s fate and success. Sernau adds, “Color and class became intertwined. Lighter groups fared better than darker ones. Even within the black community, color often mattered.” This color distinction made it easy for white slave owners to identify and exploit darker skinned individuals. Furthermore, slavery in the United States hinged on the belief and perpetuation that dark or black skin color signified an inherited inferiority.

Today, blacks living in the United Sates are constitutionally free and equal to whites. However, blacks with lighter skin enjoy better class mobility and are able to secure more lucrative positions of power than their darker counterparts. According to Sernau, “The most accepted black leaders are those who neither look particularly ‘black’ nor speak in a particularly ‘black way.’” Examples of his hypothesis can be found in individuals such as Colin Powell, Barack Obama, and Condoleezza Rice. Though each individual does not act in a “black way” they are all considered prominent black leaders. Ironically, during Barack Obama’s presidential campaign many political and media figures questioned if he was “black enough.”

Similar questioning evokes a sense of stereotypical expectations of black leaders in America – easily likened to the actions taken toward the African slaves that were justified by harsh stereotypes. Though American officials claim to be moving away from race based distinctions, it is evident that some political and social leaders want race to be an issue. We can also assume that not only whites, but blacks as well, want racial inequality to continue to be an issue in the United States. According to black radio journalist Larry Elder, “Most blacks, despite tremendous social, economic, and political progress, expect race relations to remain a problem in this country.”

It is questionable whether or not Elder’s opinions are wide-spread throughout the black population, but he does raise an interesting argument. Perhaps black political and civic leaders view racial inequality and class struggle as a tool toward bettering the black community. This thought would support the Conflict Theory outlined by Karl Marx and Max Waber. However, according to the Davis and Moore Functional Theory of Stratification, class conflict is a strictly ideological approach to social inequality. Moreover, Davis and Moore contend that the conflict theory argues what ought to be, but does not describe what is.

Davis and Moore’s Functional Theory of Stratification claims, “Inequality motivates hard work, competition, and efficiency.” Whereas Melvin Tumin asserts, “Inequality erodes opportunity, perpetuates privilege, and undermines motivation and hard work while it perpetuates inefficiencies.” Larry Elder would most likely follow the Davis and Moore theory and reject the conflict theory completely. However, according to his first assumption, most black leaders may want or need class conflict to exist. Either way, both theories allude to an inherent hierarchical structure within society. The Social Dominance Theory explains that hierarchy exists within all social groups and asserts that inequality is essential to maintaining social order.

The compulsory segregation of blacks in the United States began with residential segregation following the civil war. Just as white slave owners segregated blacks for decades in order to impose social dominance, the U.S. government created similar social restraints. The government used Supreme Court decisions to create laws that perpetuated social dominance over blacks through segregation. The Supreme Court case Plessy vs. Ferguson, of 1896, upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation in public accommodations and declared “separate but equal” as standard practice in law. However, “separate but equal” laws seemed to be rarely equal and always separate. Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka later overruled this case in 1954, declaring that separate educational facilities for children denied black children equal opportunities. This Supreme Count decision ended de jure racial segregation and cleared a path for racial incorporation. Residential segregation persisted until the late 1960s, but with the advent of the civil rights movement, it was virtually brought to an end.

According to the Kerner Commission on residential segregation, “White institutions created it, white institutions maintain it, and white society condones it.” The commission focused their examination on racial ghettos and housing inequality among black communities. Denton and Massey argue that, “Segregation created the structural conditions for the emergence of an oppositional culture that devalues work, schooling, and marriage and stresses attitudes and behaviors that are antithetical and often hostile to the success of the larger community.”

Therefore, we can assume that problems apparent in the black community and the racial inequality among black and whites today are not singular occurrences. Rather, these problems have been perpetuated out of compulsory residential segregation and established restrictions. Though the Fair Housing Act ended residential segregation in 1968, the effects of compulsory residential segregation can still be examined within black culture. Moreover, since blacks and whites rarely cohabitate, little has been shared culturally, resulting in differing social norms hardening over time. The prevailing thoughts of whites regarding blacks may be primarily shaped by this turbulent time in American history. If so, recent racial inequality and prejudice would seem outdated and archaic as an individual’s fundamental mindset.

According to Denton and Massey, “The urban underclass thus arose from a complex interplay of civil rights policy, economic restructuring, and a historical legacy of discrimination.” Larry Elder’s argument may seem overstated when we consider that many black Americans still live in a residentially segregated society. Furthermore, black segregation cannot be likened to other segregation experienced by other racial or ethnic groups, simply because blacks living in the United States experienced such a high sustained level of residential segregation. Because of this pattern of institutionalized segregation Denton and Massey argue that residential segregation, “Shows little sign of change with the passage of time or improvements in socioeconomic status.” Though the government may no longer support the compulsory segregation of blacks, many within the community have low socioeconomic standing and thus have poor class mobility.

After the Fair Housing Act of 1968, the 1970s and 1980s were marked by the absence of a word from the American vocabulary. The word was segregation. As if afraid of a second coming, the American public swept the word under the “tolerance” rug, never to be uttered again. However, it is not the word that caused so much damage, but rather how its users manipulated it. The associations and reservations conveyed by the word solidified individual’s prevailing thoughts and may have lead to some racial inequality experienced today. Though the word did resurface over time, this disregard for a single word may have been the first widespread occurrence of a racial language phobia.

Taken from: The Language of Inequality: Examining Voluntary Segregation within Social Order by Mr. Madison