RACE, ETHNICITY, CLASS, AND GENDER
R-Lee.qxd2/25/20059:16 PMPage 429Rpsychology, which focuses on understanding and treating clients from an African perspective that may alsobe more helpful to those who commonly employ anAfrican/African American worldview (Wilson, 1993).An ability to relate to individuals who may processinformation differently can lead to better interventionand counseling by preventing misattribution caused byunfamiliarity with a person’s worldview.In many situations, the term race has been synonymous with ethnicity. Ethnicity can be seen as a subsetof race in some instances. For example, throughoutthe African continent there are numerous ethnicgroups (sometimes called tribes) such as the Ashanti,the Igbo (or Ibo), the Zulu, and the Yoruba, just toname a few. All of the ethnic groups would be in thesame racial category—Black—but have more or lessdiffering worldviews, customs, rituals, and practices.Thus, ethnicity can be contained within the race categorization and also be synonymous with race as adescriptor (e.g., African American).One common theme in the ethnic discourse is thenotion of culture, or shared history of a given people. Itis this shared history, with common rituals, worldviews,philosophies, speech/language, mode of dress, and/ormusic, that bind individuals to a particular group. It canbe said that the more one has in common and identifiesin these various areas, the more one is part of this group.Issues of race and ethnicity have been addressed inthe field of education. The growth in multicultural initiatives is evidence of the push for including historicalrepresentation of ethnic minorities in the curriculum.Some have argued that academic success among ethnic minority students in the United States has beenunder-realized because in some instances studentsRACE, ETHNICITY,CLASS, AND GENDERRace has been recognized as being scientificallynonexistent, yet socially real. Some have arguedthat genetic evidence (e.g., DNA) indicates that mostphysical variation occurs within so-called groups.Hence, there is more recognized within racial groupvariation than between racial group variation. Contemporary scholars argue the term race was invented inthe 18th century to refer to the populations broughttogether in colonial America. The term was originally tied to the theorem of the Great Chain of Being(Armelagos & Goodman, 1998). The “scientific”research and the popular culture of the time supported,justified, and expanded fictitious beliefs about the various populations. These ideas became deeply embedded in American thought and eventually spread toother areas of the world. The early emphasis placed onrace and the supposed related meanings gave way toracism. It has been said that if race is not a sufficientcause of racism, it is a necessary cause. Consequently,it has also been argued that the concept of race is aprime example of how politics can be embedded inscience (Armelagos & Goodman, 1998).Race enters into psychotherapy in ways that parallel its operation in society. Therefore, biases held byeither the client or therapist can affect the assessmentand treatment of those seeking psychological counseling. Many concepts of psychological assessment workfrom a European (or Western)-based system of understanding and treatment of problems. A major departurefrom what can be called European psychology is Black429
R-Lee.qxd2/25/20059:16 PMPage 430430———Race, Ethnicity, Class, and Genderhave resisted a school culture that attempts to makeeveryone fit mainstream American values (Fordham,1988). Others have argued that many of the problemsassociated with ethnic minorities have come as a resultof being inadequately educated, or educated away fromone’s own self-interest for the benefit of the statusquo. As a result of the inadequate education, manyproblem behaviors have developed in these communities and they persist (Akbar, 1998).It is not the race of the client, therapist, student, orteacher that should be of most concern. It should, however, be acknowledged, addressed, and resolved thatrace and ethnicity, as real and unreal as they may be,often have definite implications and outcomes. In addition, one’s culture should be taken into account to adequately teach and treat those in need (Wilson, 1993).Class structure in a capitalist society such as theUnited States refers to the social ranking of individuals, families, and other groups according to theireconomic status. For example, the terms underclass,working class, middle class, and upper class denote astratification of society that is based on income andsocial standing in a particular community (Bottomore,1991). During the latter half of the 20th century, critics of class structure pointed to a number of radicalsocial movements that resisted the notion of limitsbeing placed on a person’s mobility because of classor any number of other identity markers (e.g., gender,race, ethnicity, sexual orientation). However, with therise of newer communication technologies and globalcapitalism has come a new class divide—one that separates people into two groups: a group that has accessto these newer technologies and the jobs they create,and a group that has little or no such access.An examination of some of the assumptionsunderlying class structure reveals a society’s influenceon young people’s self-perceptions and identityformations. For example, individuals who perceivethemselves (and are perceived by others) as beinglow-achieving students often end up the recipients ofwhat Finn (1999) calls a “domesticating” education—that is, an education that stresses “functional literacy,literacy that makes a person productive and dependable, but not troublesome” (pp. ix-x). It is a secondrate kind of educational arrangement that typicallyleads to lower expectations and to social and economic inequalities. This cycle of inequalities continues as part of a pattern in which young people learn toidentify with others in their culture who may be workingclass or poor like themselves. Because these identitiesform early in life, it is important for educators toattempt to understand young people’s history andbackground and avoid generalizing about “whatworks” for one class of people as opposed to another.Interventions that challenge traditional notions oflearning within developmental psychology must alsolook for richer and more diverse assessments of youngpeople’s learning than are available in the currentclimate of high-stakes testing, with its emphasis onfactual rather than higher-order thinking.Gender denotes the attributes that are culturallyascribed to men and women. It is not a synonym forone’s biological sex status (male or female). Scholarsof late argue that gender is culturally and socially constructed through language (Payne, 1996). That is, thevery things that seem to draw attention to one’s maleness or femaleness are, in effect, not innate, but ratheracquired through the cultural and social contexts inwhich we learn to speak, read, write, act, dress, and soon. The point of arguing for a culturally constructednotion of gender is that it is thought to facilitate a disruption of the traditional view of men and women inwhich the male is dominant and the female is subordinate—a condition that historically has led to socialinjustices and economic inequities. By disrupting thetraditional view, feminists seek to make people moreaware of how language has played a role in constituting male privilege throughout the centuries.Issues of gender bias and prejudice in schoolsaffect group dynamics within instructional contexts.For example, the research literature on student-led discussion groups in grades 6 through 12 demonstratesthat peers, acting as “more knowledgeable others” (e.g.,more academically capable students tutoring peers whoare struggling to read), can facilitate meaningful interpretation of texts. However, what is less well understood is how the potential for stereotyping on the basisof gender can create situations in which some students’voices are valued over others. For example, studiesconducted on girls’ loss of voice, resiliency, and selfesteem as they approach adolescence suggest that manyyoung women go through a process in which they beginto see themselves as the stereotypical female thatsociety seemingly defines for them. In some instances,preadolescent females may begin to voice their opinions less in class discussions because a strong femalevoice is deemed unfeminine. Interventions aimed atchanging this process point to the need for instructionalstrategies that better position young women to join inpeer-led discussion groups with confidence and ease.
R-Lee.qxd2/25/20059:16 PMPage 431Reactive Attachment Disorder of Infancy and Early Childhood———431In summary, race, ethnicity, class, and gender areanything but “neutral” concepts. Each is socially, historically, and culturally embedded in a wide array ofpatterned behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes that givethese concepts their meanings. More than simply theoretical constructs, race, ethnicity, class, and genderare capable of producing material effects that can havereal consequences on people’s everyday lives, whetherin school or in clinical settings.—Donna E. Alvermann and Preston Hughes, IVSee also Ability Grouping; Americans with Disabilities Act;Bias (Testing); Friendships; Intelligence; MulticulturalEducation; Resilience and Protective FactorsREFERENCES AND FURTHER READINGAkbar, N. (1998). Know thy self. Tallahassee, FL: MindProductions.Armelagos, G. J., & Goodman, A. H. (1998). Race, racism,and anthropology. In A. H. Goodman & T. L. Leatherman(Eds.), Building a new biocultural synthesis: Politicaleconomic perspectives on human biology. Ann Arbor, MI:University of Michigan Press.Bottomore, T. (Ed.). (1991). A dictionary of Marxist thought(2nd ed.). Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.Davies, B. (1994). Poststructuralist theory and classroompractice. Geelong, Australia: Deakin University Press.Finn, P. J. (1999). Literacy with an attitude: Educating working-class children in their own self-interest. Albany, NY:State University of New York Press.Fordham, S. (1988). Racelessness as a factor in black student’sschool success: Pragmatic strategy or pyrrhic victory?Harvard Educational Review, 58(1), 54–84.Payne, M. (Ed.). (1996). A dictionary of cultural and criticaltheory. Malden, MA: Blackwell.Wilson, A. (1993). The falsification of African consciousness:Eurocentric history, psychiatry, and the politics of whitesupremacy. New York: African World Infosystems.RADIO/MUSIC. See COMPUTERTECHNOLOGY; MEDIA AND CHILDRENREACTIVE ATTACHMENTDISORDER OF INFANCYAND EARLY CHILDHOODThe essential feature of a reactive attachment disorder (RAD) is a marked disturbance in social relatednessthat begins before age five years (in most contexts)and is associated with gross pathological care, whichis presumed to be the cause of the disturbed socialrelatedness (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual ofMental Disorders, Fourth Edition [DSM-IV], AmericanPsychiatric Association, 1994). Gross pathologicalcare includes a persistent disregard for the child’s basicemotional and/or physical needs—a condition associated with child maltreatment. It can also include a lackof opportunity for the child to form a stable attachmentwith a primary caregiver, a circumstance that is associated with orphanages and multiple moves in the fostercare system. However, gross pathological care doesnot always result in the development of RAD.The DSM-IV delineates two subtypes of RAD: aninhibited type in which the child “shows a pattern ofexcessively inhibited, hypervigilant, or highly ambivalent responses” to the caregiver; and a disinhibited typein which the child “exhibits indiscriminate sociabilityor a lack of selectivity in the choice of attachmentfigures” (p. 116). Children with the inhibited type tendto be withdrawn and constricted in their behavior,whereas children with the disinhibited type show nofear of strangers and will often treat new acquaintancesin an inappropriately friendly and intimate manner.RAD is distinct from children with mental retardation or autism in that children with mental retardationdevelop appropriate attachments, and in autism, thereis typically no gross pathological care. Autism andother pervasive developmental disorders also involve aqualitative impairment in communication and stereotyped patters of behavior. Contemporary studies ofattachment disorders in Romanian orphans (O’Connor& Rutter, 2000; Zeanah, 2000) provide some prevalence data. In a Canadian study (Zeanah, 2000) of 56children ages three to five years who were adoptedfrom Romania, secure attachment was initially foundin only 30% of the children, while insecure, controlling attachment was observed in 42% of the children.Parent-reported attachment security increased significantly as the children became older (11 to 39 months),but there was no change in the level of indiscriminantfriendliness toward nonfamily members. In a Britishstudy (O’Connor & Rutter, 2000) of 165 children agesfour to six years adopted from Romania (144 werefrom institutions), the investigators found that onlyseven of the children exhibited marked/pervasive signsof attachment disorder. Duration of deprivation waslinearly related to the number of signs of attachmentdisorder;, however, more than 80% of the children
R-Lee.qxd2/25/20059:16 PMPage 432432———Reading Interventions and Strategiesadopted from Romanian institutions exhibited nomarked/severe signs of attachment disorder at eitherage four or six years. The fundamental assumptionunderlying the development of RAD is that a child’sattachment to a primary caregiver is biologically basedand that only in extreme circumstances will the childnot develop an attachment to his or her primary caregiver (Bowlby, 1969, 1982). The developmental courseof RAD varies depending upon the age of the infantwhen he or she experienced gross pathological care, theamount and frequency of disruptions in the attachmentrelationship, the duration and severity of deprivation,the quality of the parent-infant relationship before andafter the deprivation, and the implementation of anyinterventions. Many children who receive consistent,sensitive, and responsive caregiving following a periodof gross pathological care will attain normal development, whereas those who do not will continue to exhibitsymptoms of RAD (Howe, 1998).The majority of treatment approaches have focused on early infancy, with interventions designed toimprove the infant-parent relationship. The interventions center on addressing the child’s emotionaland behavioral difficulties and improving the parents’ability to understand and respond appropriately totheir child’s underlying needs for security and safety.Some interventions have included parent education ondevelopmental issues relevant to the child’s problemsand direct “coaching” of the parent while the parentis interacting with the child in contrived situations.These interventions have been implemented in orderto directly modify both the parents’ and child’s behavior and to improve parent-child communication, negotiation, and interaction (Greenberg & colleagues, 1997).This approach has also been modified and used withschool-age children in the school setting.Educational outcomes for children with RAD varydepending upon the nature and severity of the neglectthat the child has experienced. These children mayhave physical problems associated with neglect suchas poor dental hygiene, poor nutrition, and retardedgrowth. They may experience academic difficultiesbecause of understimulation and/or nonattendance inschool, and impaired peer relationships because ofwithdrawn behavior or indiscriminate friendliness(Crosson-Tower, 2002).—Linda WebsterSee also Autism Spectrum Disorders; DSM-IV; InfantAssessment; Mental Retardation; PreschoolersREFERENCES AND FURTHER READINGAmerican Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic andstatistical manual for mental disorders (4th ed.). Washington,DC: Author.Bowlby, J. (1969, 1982). Attachment and loss. (Vol. 1).New York: Basic Books.Crosson-Tower, C. (2002). Child abuse and neglect. Boston,MA: Allyn & Bacon.Greenberg, M. T., DeKlyen, M., Speltz, M., & Endriga, M. C.(1997). The role of attachment processes in externalizingpsychopathology in young children. In L. Atkinson &K. J. Zucker (Eds.), Attachment and psychopathology(pp. 196–222). New York: Guilford.Howe, D. (1998). Patterns of adoption. Oxford, England:Blackwell Science.O’Connor, T. G., & Rutter, M. (2000). Attachment disorderbehavior following early severe deprivation: Extension andlongitudinal follow-up. Journal of American Academy ofChild & Adolescent Psychiatry, 39, 703–712.Zeanah, C. H. (2000). Disturbances of attachment in youngchildren adopted from institutions. Developmental andBehavioral Pediatrics, 21, 230–236.READING INTERVENTIONSAND STRATEGIESChildren experience difficulties in learning to readfor a variety of reasons, including cognitive factorssuch as decoding (ability to pronounce written words)problems, psychological reasons such as lack of interest and motivation, and environmental differencessuch as inadequate facilities at home as well as in theclassroom. The school psychologist must consider allthese potential sources of impediment to acquiringreading skills and then develop a plan to addressthe cause(s). The existing policy—diagnosing poorreaders who have a learning disability (LD) and poorreaders who do not have a learning disability byadministering an intelligence test and a readingachievement test—is not helpful in identifying thesource of the reading problem, nor does it help indevising appropriate remedial procedures (Aaron,1997). A more serious problem is that, so far, there isno convincing evidence that labeling children as LDand placing them in special education resource roomsproduces any improvement in their reading achievement (Bentum & Aaron, 2003).An uncomplicated way to understand the nature ofthe reading deficit is to organize the potential sourcesof reading difficulties into a coherent model and then
R-Lee.qxd2/25/20059:16 PMPage 433Reading Interventions and Strategies———433proceed with the diagnosis by following the model.On the basis of the theories of reading and research ofexperts as well as our own, we (Aaron & Kotva, 1999;Joshi & Aaron, 2000) have developed a model of reading acquisition called the Component Model.Table 1Cognitivemodule:THE COMPONENT MODEL OF READINGA component, as applied to psychological phenomena, is a mental process that is independent of otherpsychological processes. The failure of any one of theprocesses in the Component Model of reading canresult in reading difficulties. For example, decoding(the ability to pronounce the written word) is one suchoperation; linguistic comprehension is an example ofanother operation. A child may not be able to decodewritten text but can listen and comprehend spoken language much better. He or she will, nevertheless, be apoor reader because the weak decoding process canaffect reading independent of the comprehensionprocess. Conversely, an individual who can decodewritten words fairly well but has weak linguistic comprehension skills will also be a poor reader. These twooperations, decoding and comprehension, are part of theCognitive Module of the reading Component Model.The Component Model of reading contains three modules that are relatively independent of each other. Eachmodule, in turn, contains several operations. Table 1gives the three modules and their operations.THE COGNITIVE MODULE:ITS CONSTITUENTSThe Cognitive Module of the reading Component Model has five operations, which are classifiedunder two major constituents: word recognition andcomprehension.Word RecognitionThe ability to recognize the written word is a prerequisite for reading. Word recognition subsumes tworelated skills, decoding and sight-word reading.Decoding. The basic speech sound, which can alterthe meaning of a word, is a phoneme. A letter of thealphabet
the African continent there are numerous ethnic groups (sometimes called tribes) such as the Ashanti, the Igbo (or Ibo), the Zulu, and the Yoruba, just to name a few. All of the ethnic groups would be in the same racial category—Black—but have more or less differing worldviews, customs, rituals, and practices.
race and ethnicity constrain individual choices and affect chances of success. Sociologists have explored the roles that race and ethnicity play and how race and ethnicity interact with other factors such as type of job or industry, social networks, and social policies in shaping labor market outcomes. In this research synthesis, we first examine
reports on race/ethnicity, we also examine the frequency of Black directors across the 100 top-grossing 2013 films. #1 Character Race/Ethnicity is Marginalized On Screen A total of 3,932 speaking characters were evaluated for race/ethnicity. A full 74.1% were White, 14.1% Black, 4.9% Hispanic, 4.4% Asian, 1.1% Middle Eastern, 1% American Indian or
accessible and diverse gender information. It is one of a family of knowledge services based at IDS . Other recent publications in the Cutting Edge Pack series: Gender and Care, 2009 Gender and Indicators, 2007 Gender and Sexuality, 2007 Gender and Trade, 2006 Gender and Migration, 2005 Gender and ICTs, 2004 . 6.3.1 Gender mainstreaming .
NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist Poll National Adults. Interviews conducted September 20th through September 26th, 2021. Totals may not add to 100% due to rounding. Age Generation Gender White Evangelical Christians 2020 Support Education Race/Ethnicity Race/Ethnicity Race and Education Gender - Race - Education National Adults National Registered Voters
Popel Shaw Center for Race & Ethnicity LGBTQ People of Color Resources List Celebrates COMING OUT DAY! The Popel Shaw Center for Race & Ethnicity operates proudly, “from an inclusive definition of diversity that includes race, ethnicity, nationality, socioeconomic status, religion, sexual identity/orientation, gender i
Introduction In this study, the review the literature will focus on publications on the theoretical . concept of “ethnicity” and the related term “race” was in Cornell and Hartmann’s book Ethnicity and Race.6 The term “ethnicity” itself is relatively recent.7 Prior to the 1970s there was li
Race and Class Inequality Exam Reading List (10/2017) Race vs. Class, Gender, etc. Sociologists debate the role of race in people’s lives. Some argue that race has a significant role in people’s lives while others argue that race is unimportant or less important than other factors.
Pride, Prejudice, and Ambivalence: Toward a Unified Theory of Race and Ethnicity Hazel Rose Markus Stanford University For more than a century, hundreds of psychologists have studied race and ethnicity. Yet this scholarship, like American culture at large, has been ambivalent, viewing race and ethnicity both as sources of pride, meaning, and
