In Chapter five of Racism without Racists, Eduardo Bonilla-Silva talks about the level of residential segregation and personal associations whites and blacks. He also talks about how whites explain their social segregation in the society. For most of the people interviewed in this book, isolation begins as a kid in school with people they interact with and it’s continues to college and work place. He defines this phenomenon as “white habitus” a racialized, uninterrupted socialization process that conditions and create whites’ taste, perception, feelings, and emotion and their views on racial matter. (Silva, page 104)
Silva uses surveys to show how whites will rather socialize with their own kind than others of different color or social background, claiming that they never had the opportunity to meet one, or live with them. Even whites who live in mixed neighborhood, he explains still do not interact with people of other colors. Whites in this interviews claim to have black friends, but after Silva reviews the interview, he realizes that it appears that they were just acquaintances and never good friends. For example, Emily one of the interviewees has a roommate who is black and she said they go shopping sometimes. Then she contradicts herself by saying “it’s not like am really good friends with them, but we do stuff together” (Silva page 111) so she doesn’t consider black girls as friend.
Many whites do not see segregation as a social problem; they believe it is a normal way of life for people of the same color to live together. They explain this by saying it is because they are comfortable with them. During the interview, some whites reversed the situation by saying that blacks are hard to approach and that they segregate themselves and that they do not want to socialize with whites. They use this as an excuse of not having black friends.
Lastly, the interviewer asks about interracial marriage. Some interviewees claim that they allow it, but still find excuses to oppose interracial marriage. For example, Sally, an MU student said she approves, but she is concerned about the kids and how they will have to deal with other kids and not be accepted by their community.
In conclusion, Silva’s studies shows that since a status differences between blacks and whites exist, white develop a “groupthink” norms and values that simplified their differences. So when blacks distant themselves from whites, whites believe more negatives believe about them. For example “blacks are lazy”. Despite the centuries we are in white led a segregated life and Silva understands that has attitudinal, emotional, and political implications. (Silva page125)
No comments:
Post a Comment