Racisms in a Multicultural Canada: Paradoxes, Politics, and Resistance

Chapter 4: Deconstructing Racism: Prejudice, Discrimination, Power

97 DECONSTRUCTING RACISM PREJUDICE, DISCRIMINATION, POWER Introduction: The Multi-dimensionality of Racism atred of outgroups is inextricably linked to the human condition. Hate as a catalyst for murder or mayhem is neither unique nor new, despite the more cosmopolitan realities of the twenty-first century. But responses to questions of why people hate are sharply contested. Is it because of our genes? Human nature? Cognitive disorder? A personality malfunction? Cultural values? Situational cues? Is this hatred something intrinsic to the programming of the human species? Or does it reflect a calculated ploy for advancing dominant interests at the expense of others? Even defining the concept of hate and hatred poses a challenge, especially since the words cover an expanding range of human actions, from a mildly negative opinion to a powerful hateful emotion, culminating in a disposition to dehumanize or destroy (Mohr, 2006/2007). Acts of hate-based hostility have long been perpetuated by one group against another. Ultra-nationalist and religious fundamentalist movements frequently manipulate hate hostility to galvanize support and mobilize people into action out of fear or xenophobia (Davison, 2005/2006). These hostilities remain rooted in negative notions of the “other” as another, including differences related to religion, gender, sexuality, race, and ethnocultures. To be sure, societies such as Canada are increasingly intolerant of such acts or projections, in effect seeking to abolish race-based hate as grounds for exclusion or exploitation (Mohr, 2006/2007). Nevertheless, hostilities toward racialized minorities continue to be expressed in different ways, including prejudging minorities on the basis of stereotypes or ethnocentrism. A survey by the Association for Canadian Studies and Ensemble in March 2013 indicated that 24 percent of Canadians reported victimization by prejudice. CHAPTER 4 H 98 Chapter 4 Minorities may be victimized by discriminatory actions that have the intent or the effect of denying, scapegoating, or excluding because of race or ethnicity . They also remain vulnerable to thinly veiled hostilities because of their relative powerlessness within deeply racialized contexts. In short, racialized minorities are victims of hate hostilities that span the spectrum from attitudes and actions to systems and relations. In some cases, the hostile actions are consciously conveyed, in other cases, they reflect the consequences of actions largely beyond people’s awareness or control; and in still other cases, the hostilities are carefully camouflaged behind a thin veneer of civility that conceals or distorts. The totality of these hostilities can be subscribed under the category of racism. But racism does not exist as a monolithic reality. Rather, racisms are a complex and multi-faceted dynamic constructed around different constituents. Each of the constituents or components constitute the building blocks of racisms,namely, prejudice1 (including ethnocentrism, xenophobia, and stereotypes), discrimination (including harassment), and institutional power. Each contributes to the totality of racism as a compound set of socially constructed beliefs and attitudes as well as (in)actions and consequences that deny or exclude within contexts of power and inequality. This chapter deconstructs and analyzes the constituents of racism. The concepts of prejudice, including stereotypes, ethnocentrism, and xenophobia (particularly Islamophobia), are analyzed from a social/sociological perspective to reveal their controlling functions. References to discrimination , including harassment, are shown to include both overt/deliberate and covert/unintended patterns. The politics of power—especially institutional power—underscores the racialized underpinnings of both prejudice and discrimination . The relationship between these constituents is also examined, in the process demonstrating that neither prejudice nor discrimination are as critical as the centrality of power in shaping the lives and life chances of racialized minorities. The chapter concludes by demonstrating how the interplay of prejudice, discrimination, and power reflect, reinforce, and advance the racialized inequalities of a racially stratified society. Two ideal typical models of racialized stratification—ethnicity versus racism—offer competing explanatory frameworks for defining who gets what and why. Prejudice: Prejudging the Other The concept of prejudice refers to negative, often unconscious, and preconceived notions about others. Prejudice arises because of a normal human tendency to categorize and prejudge people or situations. The processing of information about the world is not inherently racist; after all, everyone makes prejudgments when defining situations. Massive amounts of information are received, then transformed into data, as grounds for navigating our Deconstructing Racism 99 way through life. Our actions often depend on those categories of thought with which to order and organize...