Another way to apply the functionalist perspective to race and ethnicity is to discuss the way racism can contribute positively to the functioning of society by strengthening bonds between in-groups members (dominant group) through the ostracism of out-group members (minority group members). Consider how a community might increase solidarity by refusing to allow outsiders access. For example, gated communities or neighborhoods with covenants might include no-rent clauses, which can have a de facto (in fact) discriminatory effect although they are not du jure (by law) discriminatory. Additionally, “Not in My Backyard” or NIMBY groups often are effective at limiting developments that could be viewed as reducing one’s property value. These movements and restrictive covenants are also “inescapably, about race”^[1]

Dysfunctions associated with racism include the failure to take advantage of talent in the subjugated group, and that society must divert from other purposes the time and effort needed to maintain artificially constructed racial boundaries (Rose 1951). Imagine the talent that is lost in minority areas with poor public schools and few job opportunities and then consider how much money, time, and effort went toward maintaining separate and unequal educational systems prior to the Civil Rights Movement. Consider the $1 trillion spent on the “War on Drugs” over the past four decades, which has resulted in disproportionate numbers of racial minorities being locked up for nonviolent drug offenses, which costs society not only talent and productive taxpayers, but also vast amounts of taxpayer money to expand and operate jails and prisons.

In the view of functionalism, racial and ethnic inequalities must have served an important function in order to exist as long as they have. This concept, sometimes, can be problematic. How can racism and discrimination contribute positively to society? Nash (1964) focused his argument on the way racism is functional for the dominant group, for example, suggesting that racism morally justifies a racially unequal society. Consider the ways in which slave owners justified slavery in the antebellum South, by suggesting Black people were fundamentally inferior to whites, that they preferred slavery to freedom, that many were “like family,” and/or that the Bible justified slavery. Today, we can look at how people explain or justify racial inequalities in the criminal justice system (“Black and Brown men commit more crimes”) or racially segregated neighborhoods (“people choose where they live”) or shooting of unarmed people of color (“they appeared threatening” or “I was protecting myself or my neighborhood”).

Conflict Theory

Conflict theories are often applied to inequalities of gender, social class, education, race, and ethnicity. A conflict theorist would examine struggles between the white ruling class and racial and ethnic minorities and use that history to analyze everyday life for racial and ethnic minorities in the U.S., paying special attention to power and inequality. Prejudice is a tool for maintaining power, and in many cases throughout U.S. history, prejudicial policies have become laws. The years since the Civil War have showed a pattern of attempted disenfranchisement, with gerrymandering (redrawing congressional districts to favor one political party over another) and voter suppression efforts, such as voter ID laws, aimed at predominantly minority neighborhoods. In the late nineteenth century, the rising political power of Blacks after the Civil War resulted in draconian Black Codes and Jim Crow laws that severely limited Black political and social power.

Vivien Thomas (1910–1985), the Black surgical technician who helped develop a groundbreaking technique that saves the lives of “blue babies,” was classified as a janitor for many years, and was paid as such, despite the fact that he was conducting complicated surgical experiments. The popular film Hidden Figures (2016) shed light on the unrecognized work that Black women did for NASA during the Space Race in the 1960s. It highlights many of the institutional discriminations that women of color faced, like being denied admission to study calculus and advanced mathematics, being overlooked for supervisory roles, and suffering the effects of Jim Crow segregation in the workplace.

Symbolic Interactionism

As discussed in the opening module, W.E.B. DuBois was one of the first sociologists to examine race and double consciousness (the feeling that one’s identity is divided because of race) and how that influences the sense of self. For symbolic interactionists, race and ethnicity provide strong symbols as sources of identity.

In fact, some interactionists propose that the symbols of race, not race itself, are what lead to racism. Famed Interactionist Herbert Blumer (1958) suggested that racial prejudice is formed through interactions between members of the dominant group; without these interactions, individuals in the dominant group would not hold racist views. These interactions contribute to an abstract picture of the subordinate group that allows the dominant group to support its view of the subordinate group, and thus maintains the status quo. An example of this might be an individual whose beliefs about a particular group are based on images encountered through popular media, which are then unquestionably believed because the individual has never personally met a member of that group.

Another way to apply the interactionist perspective is to look at how people define their races and the race of others. As we discussed in relation to the social construction of race, did Latinos “become White” because the Census removed the Hispanic category as a race? Are Arab-Americans White? What does it mean to be biracial? We discussed that President Obama is considered the “first Black President” and sometimes the “first African American President” even though his mother was white, his father was Kenyan, and the 44th President of the United States grew up surrounded by Hawaiian and Asian culture in Honolulu.