SOCI 241 - Reality and Impact: Systemic Racism

Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
1 unit(s)

In the United States, as well as throughout much of the world today, people designated as “white” are the socially dominant racialized group. The highly organized system of racial oppression which maintains their privileged position is systemic racism. This course explores systemic racism as a central and enduring social structure around which the United States and other modern societies are organized and evolve. It analyzes the origin, nature, and consequences of systemic racism. Topics explored include: the sociological perspective as a way of understanding how systemic racism is organized and maintained, the meaning of “race” and “whiteness” as social facts and ideological constructions, the foundation of systemic racism in key social institutions of society, police and vigilante violence as a mechanism of racial control, welfare racism, everyday white racism, white supremacist social thought and organizations, and anti-racist movements opposed to white racial hegemony. Ruth Thompson-Miller.

Two 75-minute periods.

Course Format: CLS