Source: Mid-Term Guide, Lectures, Course Reader
Tags: systemic racism, social construction of race, SCR, whiteness, ethnicity, race as social category, Eurocentric ideology, racial hierarchy, U.S. racial system, XETHSTD 21AC, ethnic studies, UC Berkeley
Race is not biological; it is a social category invented to justify exploitation and maintain power hierarchies. Systemic racism refers to the way laws, institutions, and cultural norms embed racial inequality across generations. This course traces how different racial groups in the U.S. were constructed, excluded, and controlled through legal and social mechanisms from the 1600s to the present.
Social construction of race (SCR)
Race is not a biological reality but a social category created by society. It was developed through Eurocentric ideologies to classify and rank people by appearance, origin, and perceived difference.
Ethnicity
An ethnic group whose members identify with each other through common heritage, and are further recognised by others as a distinct group.
Whiteness
A socially and legally constructed racial category. By 1604, the English were using the term "white." Whiteness has functioned as the default standard of belonging in the U.S. racial system, and its boundaries have shifted over time.
Scientific racism
Any fabricated publication or propaganda that disguises itself as science to support a racist agenda. Used historically to justify slavery, exclusion, and eugenics.
Institutionalised racism
Any form of racism occurring within institutions: government, schools, legal systems, policies, and similar structures. It operates through rules and norms rather than individual prejudice alone.
Internalized oppression
When marginalised groups absorb and internalise negative self-images, myths, misinformation, and stereotypes directed at them by the dominant culture. This can manifest as inward discrimination or diminished self-worth.
Eugenics
The study of, or belief in, improving the human population by discouraging reproduction among those deemed "unfit" (negative eugenics) or encouraging reproduction among those with "desirable" traits (positive eugenics).
Promoted by governments and influential individuals worldwide
Connected to forced sterilisation programmes and immigration restriction in the U.S.
Yellow Peril
A phrase blending Western anxieties about sex, racist fears of the "alien other," and the belief that the East would outnumber the West. Prominent in the late 1800s to early 1900s, used to justify exclusion of Asian Americans.
Model Minority Myth
A harmful racist stereotype created by white Americans in the 1960s. It portrays Asian Americans as universally intelligent, successful, and hardworking, and is used to create a racial wedge between Asian communities and Black and Brown communities. It upholds anti-Blackness by implying other groups simply need to "work harder."
1607: Jamestown colony established
1619: First African Americans arrive in the colony
The shift from a class-based hierarchy to a race-based one begins here; race becomes the primary organising principle of social status
African Americans
Constructed role: brutal forced labour (chattel slavery)
Justified through the belief that Black people were naturally inferior to whites
Legal reinforcement:
1662 Virginia Law: "The child follows the condition of the mother," codifying hereditary slavery
1700s–1800s: the "one-drop rule," where any African ancestry classified a person as Black
U.S. Constitution: the three-fifths clause counted enslaved people as three-fifths of a person for representation; mandated return of runaway slaves; permitted the slave trade until 1808
Asian Americans
1840s–1880s: Chinese immigrants arrived for transcontinental railroad and mining work, labelled "unassimilable aliens"
1882: Chinese Exclusion Act, the first U.S. law to ban immigration on the basis of race
Stereotype shift over time: from "Yellow Peril" (existential threat) to "Model Minority" (tool for dividing racial groups)
Latino Americans
The U.S. racial system attempts to force Latinos into a Black–White binary, ignoring the diversity within Latino communities
This reveals how race is a social invention, created to maintain hierarchy and simplify complex identities
The category "Hispanic" did not officially exist until 1970; Latinos were not fully counted in the U.S. Census until 1980
Currently about 60.6 million Hispanics in the U.S., roughly 18% of the national population (compared with 6.4% in 1980)
The terms "Hispanic" and "Latino" are used interchangeably by the Census Bureau, covering persons of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central and South American, Dominican, Spanish, and other Hispanic descent
Native Americans
Constructed as "savages" to justify land seizure and forced removal
The Indian Removal Act (1830) framed displacement as negotiation, grounded in the belief that white settlers were "civilised" and destined to rule
Blumenbach (1752–1840) was one of the first to formalise racial classification. He coined five categories:
Caucasian (white)
Mongolian (yellow)
Malayan (brown)
Negroid (black)
American (red)
These categories had no biological validity but became deeply embedded in law, science, and popular understanding.
A week-long anti-Filipino riot in Watsonville, California, where white mobs attacked Filipino agricultural workers after reports of Filipino men dancing with white women.
Homes and bunkhouses were burned; one worker, Fermin Tobera, was killed
Sparked nationwide hostility toward Filipino immigrants
Led to segregation in dance halls, housing, and employment
Contributed to anti-miscegenation laws targeting Filipino men
Demonstrated how violence was used to enforce racial hierarchies and protect "white purity"
Connection to systemic racism:
Showed how new racial groups were socially constructed as threats through stereotypes, violence, and exclusionary laws
Revealed the U.S. pattern of exploiting nonwhite labour while denying full citizenship and rights
Reinforced a racial caste system in which whiteness remained the standard of belonging
⚠️ The social construction of race is a foundational concept for this course. Be prepared to explain that race is not biological, and to give specific examples of how it was constructed differently for each racial group.
⚠️ Know the distinction between ethnicity and race, and between institutionalised racism and internalized oppression.
⚠️ The "Hispanic" category's late arrival in the Census (1970/1980) is a concrete example of how racial categories are invented and revised.
⚠️ Blumenbach's five-race taxonomy is testable as an example of scientific racism.
⚠️ The Watsonville Riot is a key example connecting anti-immigrant violence to systemic racism and the social construction of new groups as threats.
Q: What is the social construction of race?
A: The idea that race is not a biological reality but a social category created by society, developed through Eurocentric ideologies to classify and rank people. It was invented to justify exploitation and maintain power hierarchies.
Q: How does the experience of Latino Americans illustrate the social construction of race?
A: The U.S. racial system attempts to force Latinos into a Black–White binary, ignoring the diversity of Latino identities. The category "Hispanic" did not exist in the Census until 1970, and Latinos were not fully counted until 1980, showing that racial categories are invented and revised to serve institutional purposes.
Q: What is the difference between institutionalised racism and internalized oppression?
A: Institutionalised racism operates through laws, policies, and the norms of institutions (government, schools, legal systems). Internalized oppression is when marginalised groups absorb the negative stereotypes and myths directed at them, leading to diminished self-worth or inward discrimination.
Q: Why is the Model Minority Myth considered harmful?
A: It portrays Asian Americans as universally successful, which erases their diverse experiences and struggles. It also functions as a tool to divide racial groups by implying Black and Brown communities simply need to "work harder," thereby upholding anti-Blackness and deflecting attention from systemic inequality.
Q: How did the U.S. shift from a class-based system to a race-based system?
A: The shift began with the founding of Jamestown (1607) and the arrival of African Americans (1619). As colonial labour demands grew, race replaced class as the primary organising principle, with legal and social structures built to maintain white dominance.
social construction of race, SCR, race as social category, whiteness, racial hierarchy, ethnicity, scientific racism, institutionalised racism, internalized oppression, eugenics, Yellow Peril, Model Minority Myth, one-drop rule, three-fifths clause, Blumenbach, Hispanic census category, Latino racial classification, Watsonville Riot, anti-Filipino violence, racial caste system, XETHSTD 21AC, ethnic studies mid-term