fly on the wall (elite reproduction of racism)

Here is an interesting study done by University of Amsterdam professor Teun A. van Dijk on the discourse of elite whites who often attribute rank-and-file racism to their less well-to-do brethren.  Take a little time and read it if you’re interested in how racism is perpetuated even when it’s not done consciously. 

In the following excerpt from the paper, van Dijk explains that the discourses of white elites in regards to people of color

 “…are not simply innocent forms of language use or marginal types of vebal social interaction.  Rather, they have a fundamental impact on the social cognitions of dominant group members, on the acquisition, confirmation, and uses of opinions, attitudes, and ideologies underlying social perceptions, actions, and structures.  In other words, racism is socially learned, and discourse is essential in the process of its ideological production and reproduction.”

http://www.discourses.org/OldArticles/Elite%20discourse%20and%20the%20reproduction%20of%20racism.pdf

 

~ by free71 on September 17, 2007.