How Key Inequality Actors Account for Racial and Ethnic Inequities

• In Event: 1284 - Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 14. Meanings and Measures of Racism

Abstract

Racial and ethnic disparities in the United States occur across many domains, including educational achievement, home ownership, wealth accumulation, life expectancy, and justice system involvement (Bonilla-Silva, 2014; Omi and Winant, 2014; Western, 2006). How do the people charged with addressing these disparities account for their magnitude and persistence? We interviewed agency heads, community leaders, and professionals across these sectors in Minnesota, a state with especially pronounced inequities. Given this context, we ask, how do influential actors account for disparities and what do they suggest we do about them? More specifically, to what extent do they adopt structural or cultural and individualistic—colorblind—accounts? We learned that these professionals generally see inequalities as a structural or systemic issue, but cultural and individualistic explanations are also woven into these structural critiques. Moreover, we find great variation in the language they use to describe structural and systemic racism, in particular regarding the extent to which they view these disparities as intentional or strategic.

Authors

• Caity Curry, University of Minnesota

• Christopher Uggen, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities