RACE, ETHNICITY, CLASS, AND GENDER

1 RACE, ETHNICITY, CLASS, AND GENDERRace has been recognized as being scientificallynonexistent, yet socially real. Some have arguedthat genetic evidence ( , DNA) indicates that mostphysical variation occurs within so-called , there is more recognized withinracial groupvariation than betweenracial group variation. Contem-porary scholars argue the term racewas invented inthe 18th century to refer to the populations broughttogether in colonial America. The term was origi-nally tied to the theorem of the Great Chain of Being(Armelagos & Goodman, 1998).

2 The scientific research and the popular culture of the time supported,justified, and expanded fictitious beliefs about the var-ious populations. These ideas became deeply embed-ded 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 raceis aprime example of how politics can be embedded inscience (Armelagos & Goodman, 1998).

3 Race enters into psychotherapy in ways that paral-lel its operation in society. Therefore, biases held byeither the client or therapist can affect the assessmentand treatment of those seeking psychological counsel-ing. Many concepts of psychological assessment workfrom a European (or Western)-based system of under-standing and treatment of problems. A major departurefrom what can be called European psychology is Blackpsychology, which focuses on understanding and treat-ing clients from an African perspective that may alsobe more helpful to those who commonly employ anAfrican/African American worldview (Wilson, 1993).

4 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 many situations, the term racehas been synony-mous with 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 , ethnicity can be contained within the race cate-gorization and also be synonymous with race as adescriptor ( , African American).

5 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 of race and ethnicity have been addressed inthe field of education. The growth in multicultural ini-tiatives is evidence of the push for including historicalrepresentation of ethnic minorities in the have argued that academic success among eth-nic minority students in the United States has beenunder-realized because in some instances 2/25/2005 9:16 PM Page 429have resisted a school culture that attempts to makeeveryone fit mainstream American values (Fordham,1988).

6 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 communi-ties and they persist (Akbar, 1998).It is not the race of the client, therapist, student, orteacher that should be of most concern. It should, how-ever, be acknowledged, addressed, and resolved thatrace and ethnicity, as real and unreal as they may be,often have definite implications and outcomes.

7 In addi-tion, one s culture should be taken into account to ade-quately teach and treat those in need (Wilson, 1993).Class structure in a capitalist society such as theUnited States refers to the social ranking of individu-als, 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, crit-ics 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 ( , GENDER ,race, ethnicity, sexual orientation).

8 However, with therise of newer communication technologies and globalcapitalism has come a new class divide one that sep-arates 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 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 depend-able, but not troublesome (pp.)

9 Ix-x). It is a second-rate kind of educational arrangement that typicallyleads to lower expectations and to social and eco-nomic inequalities. This cycle of inequalities contin-ues 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 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.

10 With its emphasis onfactual rather than higher-order 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 con-structed through language (Payne, 1996). That is, thevery things that seem to draw attention to one s male-ness 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.