Deck 2: White Privilege: the Other Side of Racism

Question 1

During the 1930s, this country engaged in "behavioral whitening" campaigns which were directed at their black and indigenous populations.

A) Brazil
B) United States
C) South Africa
D) Australia

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Which of the following groups of Americans were at one time considered to be 'non-white?'

A) Irish Americans
B) Italian Americans
C) Jewish Americans
D) All of the above

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Which of the following groups of Americans 'became white' with the assistance of the Democratic Party?

A) Irish Americans
B) Italian Americans
C) Jewish Americans
D) All of the above

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Which of the following is NOT an example of the racial/ethnic discrimination Jewish Americans faced in the United States during the first half of the twentieth century?

A) Immigration restrictions
B) Internment camps during war time
C) Admission restrictions at elite universities
D) All of the above

Question 5

This man coined the term 'psychological wage' to describe the nonmonetary, intangible benefits white workers had in the labor market over black workers.

A) W. E. B. DuBois
B) Booker T. Washington
C) Walter White
D) David Roediger

Question 6

This social scientist argued that the formation of the working class in the United States was intimately linked to the development of a sense of whiteness.

A) David Roediger
B) Neil Foley
C) Noel Ignatiev
D) Karen Brodkin

Question 7

This is a term sociologists use to describe statuses that are so significant they overshadow other statuses an individual may hold. Race and gender and considered to fall into this category.

A) Master status
B) Primary status
C) Dominant status
D) Privileged status

Question 8

This social scientist describes white privilege as "an invisible package of unearned assets":

A) David Roediger
B) Neil Foley
C) Peggy McIntosh
D) Tim Wise

Question 9

The current reigning racial ideology in the United States is that of

A) Color consciousness
B) Color-blindness
C) White supremacy
D) White privilege

Question 10

This refers to not only privileges individuals accumulate through being perceived as white, but also refers to the customs, norms, traditions, laws, and public policies that, while remaining invisible, benefit whites.

A) Institutional privilege
B) Individual privilege
C) Institutional white supremacy
D) Individual white supremacy

Question 11

People of color experience this explicitly, meaning they are taught in their families, in schools, and through the media that their race matters, whereas for white people it is more subtle.

A) Racial identity development
B) Racial socialization
C) Norms
D) Privilege socialization

Question 12

White privilege has gone unexamined primarily because it is the societal ______. For sociologists, these are significant aspects of culture that refer to the shared expectations about behavior in a society, whether implicit or explicit.

A) More
B) Folkway
C) Norm
D) Socialization

Question 13

This refers to status hierarchies based upon physical appearance and the assumption of membership in particular categories based upon these physical features; these exist in the United States and throughout the world, albeit with much variation.

A) Privilege hierarchy
B) Racial hierarchy
C) Ethnic hierarchy
D) White hierarchy

Question 14

Which of the following is NOT an aspect of white privilege?

A) It is invisible
B) It is unearned
C) White people are socialized to accept it as normal
D) It only operates in conjunction with class privilege

Question 15

Which of the following is NOT one of the reasons social scientists were slow to recognize white privilege as the "other side of racism?"

A) Most sociologists are white
B) White has not always been recognized as a race
C) It was illegal to investigate white privilege
D) Racial bias embedded in our discipline and in our culture interfered with our judgment

Question 16

This is when a group embraces and adapts to the mainstream society without giving up their native culture.

A) Assimilation
B) Pluralism
C) Anglo-conformity
D) Socialization

Question 17

This has long been the preferred model for race relations among the dominant group in American society. It refers to the push toward acceptance of the dominant culture, at the expense of one's native culture.

A) Assimilation
B) Pluralism
C) Anglo-conformity
D) Socialization

Question 18

Which of the following groups have challenged or resisted the assimilation push in American society?

A) Native Americans
B) Chicanos
C) All of the above
D) None of the above

Question 19

In which of the following ways is 'whitening' related to social class?

A) "Becoming white" and becoming middle class are related for some groups
B) Whiteness is closely connected with the emergence of the American working class
C) Class has been used to divide whites
D) All of the above are examples of the ways "whitening" is related to social class

Question 20

In 1935, this person argued that white workers, despite their extremely low wages, received an intangible benefit, which he called a psychological wage, because they were white.

A) W.E.B. DuBois
B) E. Franklin Frazier
C) Karen Brodkin
D) Tim Wise

Question 21

This theorist coined the term "possessive investment in whiteness" because it reflects the cash value of whiteness in terms of the housing market and educational and employment opportunities, as well as the fact that whites become possessed by it.

A) David Roediger
B) Karen Brodkin
C) George Lipsitz
D) Dalton Conley

Question 22

Beliefs associated with ________emphasize the idea that blacks no longer face discrimination and that any difficulties African Americans face emerge from their poor work ethic.

A) Racial resentment
B) Racial invisibility
C) Millennial attitudes
D) The middle class

Question 23

This term is borrowed from economics and can help us understand ongoing racial inequality. Essentially _________ refers to the competitive advantages technology leaders have in a marketplace. Roithmayr applies this term to racial inequality; by excluding minorities (from labor unions, housing, etc.) in the Jim Crow era, they have been able to maintain racial inequality today.

A) Locked-in
B) Racial privilege
C) Cumulative privilege
D) Supply and demand

Question 24

This refers to the systemic ways that individuals accumulate white privilege through customs, norms, traditions, laws, and public policies that benefit whites.

A) Racial challenges
B) White supremacy
C) Racial identity
D) Institutional privilege

Question 25

This refer(s) to interactions that disrupt white privilege and increase racial self-awareness:

A) Racial challenges
B) White supremacy
C) White privilege
D) Structural racism

Question 26

Brazil is considered to be a racial democracy due to its level of interracial marriages, as well as its lack of racial inequalities and tensions.

Question 27

Irish immigrants entered the United States with anti-black prejudices that allowed them to be immediately embraced by the dominant, white mainstream.

Question 28

White fragility refers to the ways white people become highly uncomfortable and anxious in conversations about race.

Question 29

While today "cracker" is a term often used as a generalized racial slur against whites by people of color, it originated as a term higher status whites used to describe poor whites who were viewed as dangerous, lawless, shiftless, lazy, and as people who often associated with other stigmatized groups.

Question 30

According to Feagin, Vera, and Batur white racism refers to individuals that belong to white supremacist organizations.

Question 31

When it comes to studying racial/ethnic identity development, sociologists have overwhelmingly focused on the ethnic identity development of white European ethnics while ignoring the racial and ethnic identity development of people of color.

Question 32

People of color have a more difficult time seeing themselves as "raced," and thus have a more difficult time seeing themselves as having a racial identity than do whites.

Question 33

Prior to the 1960s, laws supported the rights of white Americans to own homes and businesses and banks and lending institutions provided them the necessary capital to do so, while laws explicitly excluded people of color from obtaining business and housing loans in many places.

Question 34

Impoverished white people do not have white privilege, as race and class privilege are interdependent.

Question 35

White privilege is evidence that we live in a meritocracy, where you get what you work for, where rewards are based upon effort and talent.

Question 36

Sociologists argue that white people cannot be expected to see privilege because it is invisible.

Question 37

White privilege and white supremacy are interchangeable concepts.

Question 38

Define white privilege. Give two examples of white privilege. Why do some people argue that white privilege is invisible? Provide two pieces of evidence of the invisibility of white privilege. Use the example of the "white supremacy flower" to describe the difference between white privilege and white supremacy.

Question 39

What does it mean to say that some groups "became white?" Explain the ambiguous history of Mexican Americans' struggle to "become white."

Question 40

Define assimilation. Make an argument to support the claim that assimilation is actually a process of Anglo-conformity.

Question 41

Define color-blindness. What is the three-fold power of the color-blind ideology? Identify two ways it plays out in your life.

Question 42

Explain how white racial identity development differs from the identity development of people of color.

Question 43

Explain the way wealth accumulation has been racialized in the United States and how this is an example of institutionalized privilege. Explain what Roithmayr means when she argues that racial inequality has become locked in.

Question 44

Identify and explain three arguments for why it is in the interest of white Americans to eradicate white privilege.

Question 45

Define racial socialization. Explain the ways it differs for whites and people of color.

Question 46

Explain how social class, collective social mobility, and "whitening" are interrelated. Provide two theoretical explanations for the ways white privilege manifests in the economic sphere.