Psychology of Racism

Catalog description

This course will provide students with an understanding of racism within the context of macro- and micro-level inequalities in the United States. A specific emphasis will be placed on societal processes from the perspective of four groups (i.e., Asians, Blacks, Latino/as, Native Americans) and will demonstrate how these groups have experienced and have had an impact on key institutional structures of U.S. society (e.g., legal, political, economic and educational). The intersectionality of race, gender, social class and sexuality will provide a conceptual framework to explore the role of addressing asymmetrical dynamics of power, powerlessness, authority, privilege and resistance in contemporary society. Topics examined include the concept of race as a worldview; socio-historical and -political contexts of racism; understanding racism in educational contexts; racism, incarceration and the prison-industrial-military complex; and racism and the politics of exclusion (the case of Hurricane Katrina). Open only to juniors and seniors currently matriculated in HDEV. Offered: fall or spring.