Southeastern Oklahoma State University



Deja Vu All Over AgainThis is an extra credit short term paper worth up to 60 points. No points deducted if not attempted. It is due May 1 before 11:30p.m. (just email to Dr. Von [cvonbergen@se.edu]). I’ve been reading about some colleges (and college students) wanting segregated places for members of protected classes (see some of these sites) and am interested in this topic:I’m Black and I’m Horrified That African-American College Students Are Choosing SegregationUniversity of Michigan Protesters Demand A Separate But Equal Safe Space For Black StudentsLiberals resurrect ‘separate but equal’ with blacks-only college classesTrustafarian Rich Kid College Brings Back Separate-But-Equal Race Segregation) Cal State Los Angeles Brings Back ‘Separate But Equal’The paper should be about 800+ words (no title page or abstract needed) and should address this issue with several references (although they need not be references with references). The guidelines for term papers that I used for your SafeAssign Term Paper will apply. I’m concerned about this trend (if indeed it is a trend) and I’ve just jotted down a few things below as some random thoughts I’ve had about the reappearance of separate-but-equal in America, and particularly college campuses. --Dr. Von=====================================================================Multiple studies demonstrate that when you separate people into categories or groups, even by nothing more significant than t-shirt color, they will begin to identify with their own group and dehumanize those in the other group. Even babies categorize people this way. We have to be actively taught to extend our empathy beyond instinct—to erase the boundaries between “people who are like us” and “strangers.”Social identity is a person’s sense of who they are based on their group membership(s).Tajfel (1979) proposed that the groups (e.g. social class, family, football team etc.) which people belonged to were an important source of pride and self-esteem. Groups give us a sense of social identity: a sense of belonging to the social world. In order to increase our self-image we enhance the status of the group to which we belong. For example, England is the best country in the world!? We can also increase our self-image by discriminating and holding prejudice views against the out group (the group we don’t belong to). For example, the Americans, French etc. are a bunch of losers!Therefore, we divided the world into “them” and “us” based through a process of social categorization (i.e. we put people into social groups). This is known as in-group (us) and out-group (them). ?Social identity theory states that the in-group will discriminate against the out-group to enhance their self-image.The central hypothesis of social identity theory is that group members of an in-group will seek to find negative aspects of an out-group, thus enhancing their self-image.Prejudiced views between cultures may result in racism; in its extreme forms, racism may result in genocide, such as occurred in Germany with the Jews, in Rwanda between the Hutus and Tutsis and, more recently, in the former Yugoslavia between the Bosnians and Serbs.Henri Tajfel proposed that stereotyping (i.e. putting people into groups and categories) is based on a normal cognitive process: the tendency to group things together. In doing so we tend to exaggerate:1. the differences between groups2. the similarities of things in the same group.We categorize people in the same way. We see the group to which we belong (the in-group) as being different from the others (the out-group), and members of the same group as being more similar than they are. Social categorization is one explanation for prejudice attitudes (i.e. “them” and “us” mentality) which leads to in-groups and out-groups.Examples of In-groups – Out-groupso Northern Ireland: Catholics – Protestantso Rwanda: Hutus and Tutsiso Yugoslavia: the Bosnians and Serbso Germany: Jews and the Naziso Politics: Labor and the Conservativeso Football: Liverpool and Man Utdo Gender: Males and Femaleso Social Class: Middle and Working ClassesSocial Identity Theory OutlineTajfel and Turner (1979) proposed that there are three mental processes involved in evaluating others as “us” or “them” (i.e. “in-group” and “out-group”. These take place in a particular Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. C. (1979). An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. The social psychology of intergroup relations?, 33, 47.Social Identity Theory asserts that group membership creates ingroup/ self-categorization and enhancement in ways that favor the in-group at the expense of the out-group. The examples (minimal group studies) of Turner and Tajfel (1986) showed that the mere act of individuals categorizing themselves as group members was sufficient to lead them to display ingroup favoritism. After being categorized of a group membership, individuals seek to achieve positive self-esteem by positively differentiating their ingroup from a comparison outgroup on some valued dimension. This quest for positive distinctiveness means that people’s sense of who they are is defined in terms of ‘we’ rather than ‘I’. -------------------------------------The U.S. military as an excellent example of addressing race relations and the idea of separate-but-equal. ................
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