Effects of regular and joke dog whistles on perceptions of political candidates

Our experiment showed a scenario where a White politician used a racist dog whistle (DW) when referring to his Black opponent. We used pilot data to determine DW statements and then tested whether different DWs (joke or regular) would affect perceptions of candidates based on participants’ levels of subtle and explicit racism compared to a comment without racial undertones. Our results indicated that while neither DW affected perceptions of the Black candidate based on participants’ levels of subtle racism, when a regular DW was used, subtle racism was positively associated with more positive perceptions of the White candidate. Our findings can broadly be explained within the context of modern racism and the suppression justification model of prejudice. The presence of a DW served as a prime, allowing those who have subtle anti-Black prejudice to express it through more positive personal perceptions of the White candidate. Without opportunities to justify the expression of their subtle prejudice (i.e. have a non-prejudice reason to dislike the candidate), the participants’ did not report more negative perceptions of the Black candidate. However, there was a “backlash” and participants were less likely to consider voting for the White candidate, particularly when he used a joke DW.

The Phenomenon of Racism and the Concept of Race: A Transdisciplinary Research

In recent decades, with development of scientific and philosophical knowledge, the transdisciplinary approach has become relevant, as it aims at comprehensive study of complex natural and social phenomena. Racism belongs among such phenomena, and it it is usually studied in sociology and historical science. The article presents a transdisciplinary study of racism, involving a complex appeal to philosophy, history, sociology, and other disciplines. Special attention is paid to the philosophical conceptualization of racism and the relationship of racism with the category of race. The article follows the evolution of the concept of race in philosophy, science and social and political practices from its origins to the 20th and 21st centuries, when this concept is declared to be artificially constructed and is gradually ousted from philosophical and scientific discourse. Bioanthropologists criticize the concept of race as inaccurate, while intellectuals see racial classifications as a sign of racism. The difficulty of the conceptualization is associated not only with the variability of the concept of race but also with the change in its historical types, from traditional to contemporary ones. Traditional (classical, biological) racism is based on the use of the category of race and the idea of insurmountable biological differences between representatives of different races. The aritcle concludes that present-day racism exists in two forms: class (institutional) racism and cultural (differential or “subtle”) racism. Class racism is associated with social and political practices of implicit segregation in employment and, accordingly, with unequal distribution of income. Cultural racism shifts the focus from biology to culture and emphasizes the insurmountability of cultural differences.

Subtle racism in English language: A socio-semiotic analysis of black-prefixed English lexicons

The English language has become a global language and as such, it is expected to be devoid of racial discrimination and prejudice. The English language has both verbal and non-verbal systems of communication which often requires semantic and semiotic analyses for the purpose of generating meaning. Most English words with the prefix 'black' have meanings that are either connotative or derogative. Using Jakobson’s transmutation theory, the study establishes the relationship between colour, culture, and racial prejudice in English language black-prefixed lexicons. This is a subtle form of racism when such words are taught in schools. The design adopted for this research was a qualitative, and no variables were manipulated because it was a library research. The study examined the socio-semiotic elements of black-prefixed words in the English language to establish that there is subtle racism in English expressions used and taught in schools. It was concluded that instruction in the language should be revitalized to eradicate racism of any form, especially in the second language classroom.

The Patterns of Explicit and Subtle Racism and Self-reported Color in Health Services

In this research, racism is defined as a multidimensional configuration of beliefs, emotions and behavioral guidelines to discriminate against black individuals. A representative survey was applied to 634 workers of public and private health services in the municipality of Camaçari, State of Bahia, Brazil, to explore technical knowledge, perceptions, attitudes and behaviors regarding to inequalities and racism. Principal Component Analysis was used to reduce and classify 40 sentences into standardized profiles of sets of components represent the sharing of social attitudes, beliefs on racism among health personnel. Results show that racism is expressed mainly through subtle expressions. Most of the health personnel disagree to asking the patients’ color. Health personnel who self-declare as white would accept explicit expressions of racism: that black patients would be more violent by nature; those who self-declared as brown would accept that humiliating jokes against black patients are normal expressions of Brazilian culture. These perceptions are based more on social prejudices, oriented by ideology, with contradictions and ambiguities in racism perceptions and with the values in modern society, such as universalism and equality. Racism in health services works as a barrier to complete and improve data on color-race inequalities in health and to implement affirmative policies.

Racialised professionals’ experiences of selective incivility in organisations: A multi-level analysis of subtle racism

This article explores how racialised professionals experience selective incivility in UK organisations. Analysing 22 in-depth, semi-structured interviews, we provide multi-level findings that relate to individual, organisational and societal phenomena to illuminate the workings of subtle racism. On the individual level, selective incivility appears as articulated through ascriptions of excess and deficit that marginalise racialised professionals; biased actions by white employees who operate as honest liars or strategic coverers; and white defensiveness against selective incivility claims. On the organisational level, organisational whitewashing, management denial and upstream exclusion constitute the key enablers of selective incivility. On the societal level, dynamic changes relating to increasing intolerance outside organisations indirectly yet sharply fuel selective incivility within organisations. Finally, racialised professionals experience intersectional (dis-)advantages at the imbrications of individual, organisation and society levels, shaping within-group variations in experiences of workplace selective incivility. Throughout all three levels of analysis and their interplay, differences in power and privilege inform the conditions of possibility for and the continual reproduction of selective incivility.

Racism in European Health Care: Structural Violence and Beyond

Research shows how racism can negatively affect access to health care and treatment. However, limited theoretical research exists on conceptualizing racism in health care. In this article, we use structural violence as a theoretical tool to understand how racism as an institutionalized social structure is enacted in subtle ways and how the “violence” built into forms of social organization is rendered invisible through repetition and routinization. We draw on interviews with health care users from three European countries, namely, Sweden, Germany, and Portugal to demonstrate how two interrelated processes of unequal access to resources and inequalities in power can lead to the silencing of suffering and erosion of dignity, respectively. The strength of this article lies in illuminating the mechanisms of subtle racism that damages individuals and leads to loss of trust in health care. It is imperative to address these issues to ensure a responsive and equal health care for all users.

Solomon, Sheba, and the haunting of race in the Church and biblical interpretation

In order to counteract racial polarization within and among US churches and society today, this article proposes remembering, confessing, and repenting of traditions of racialized biblical interpretation that have been complicit with traditional, hierarchical gender, race, and class divisions. Alternative interpretations of the Solomon and Sheba narrative in 1 Kings 10 offer ways to reconsider how race continues to haunt society and Christian churches in the United States. The author suggests that the moral imperative of whiteness is for white US Christians to embrace white racial particularity as a first step in dismantling the subtle racism of assumed white cultural normativity. As part of multiracial, multicultural, multifaith, global communities, white US Christians need more than ever to ponder the cultural consequences of our biblical interpretations.

Afro-Pessimism and the (Un)Logic of Anti-Blackness

In the coming months and years, the left faces a historic juncture. On the one hand, racist violence is on the rise across the West, and the political class seems intent on mobilising both overt and subtle racism. On the other hand, strategies of anti-racist organising, which have developed on both sides of the Atlantic, have reached a theoretical impasse. I argue that now, more than ever, a serious project of historical and intellectual retrieval is necessary. This article interrogates the theoretical limitations of ‘anti-blackness’ as an analysis of racialised oppression. Through the thought of Frantz Fanon and Steve Biko, among others, I argue that theories of ‘anti-blackness’, specifically those rooted in Afro-pessimism, are predicated on a theoretical shift away from relational social theory to identitarian essentialism which obscures, rather than illuminates, the processes of racialisation which undergird racial oppression.

Entrance and Persistence in U.S. Academe for Individuals with Multiple Outsider Identities

This study examines the experience of African-American academics with racial microaggressions, racism, and stereotypes. Exploring this subtle racism allows for an understanding of Turkish ethnic students’ ability to adapt to doctoral programs at U.S. institutions of higher education. Using critical race theory as a framework, researchers determined that Turkish International students have a challenge for adjustment, access to the U.S. job market, and the transition into a new culture. Five subjects were selected to participate in a self-recorded interview to support this study. The interview questions based Turkish ethnic students’ adjustment in U.S higher education institutions on three stages: 1. Before the Ph.D. program, 2. During the Ph.D. program, 3. After the Ph.D. program. The second and third stages also focus on students’ entry into an academic job setting and survival in academia.

Irvin S. Cobb

Born and raised in Paducah, Kentucky, Irvin S. Cobb rose from his humble beginnings to national renown as one of America’s most celebrated writers during the early twentieth century. Shortly after leaving Kentucky for New York, Cobb earned a job at Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World and became one of the highest paid staff reporters in the United States. Soon he was writing articles and short stories for magazines as well. Today, Cobb is remembered best for his sharp wit expressed through his fiction. As a product of Reconstruction and the Jim Crow South, Cobb’s subtle racism has largely denied him prominence in American memory, but his work provides a unique insight into the prevailing mind-set of his time. In Irvin S. Cobb: The Rise and Fall of an American Humorist, historian William E. Ellis examines the life of this significant writer, contextualizing his humor within the “Lost Cause” narrative. The son of a Confederate soldier and nephew of a famous Confederate artillery officer, Cobb was ensnared by southernracism, often bemoaning the North’s treatment of the South and creating stereotypical African American characters in his work. Even though he left Kentucky for the financially greener pastures of New York, Cobb never forgot his southern roots. His native Paducah molded him into a great storyteller, an engaging humorist, anobservant reporter, and a racist. Despite his flaws, Cobb’s vivid and humorous portrayals of Kentucky won him fame, wealth, and influence for decades.