Michael Camal: Blogs on Social Inequality @camalmike-blog - Tumblr Blog

The Importance of a Multicultural Education

One of the most important aspects of a child’s education is the relationship they have with their teacher. Within that relationship, students must trust and feel supported by their teacher. Most importantly, there must be a mutual understanding and respect between teachers and students to establish a strong bond. In terms of a more diverse classroom, it is very important that a teacher accepts and appreciates the different cultural background of their students. This sets the tone of how a teacher will behave and treat their students. Sadly, not every teacher is racially conscious in their teaching and learning habits which short changes students.

In his research, Halah Ahmed Alismail found that “teachers, who negatively perceive ethnic minorities, have also shown differential and biased treatment of students based on stereotypes of gender differences and students’ last names” (Alismail, 2016: 142). By ignoring the unique cultural traditions and background of a student, the child will already feel a sense of discrimination from their teacher. When forced to adhere to the social norms of the white American culture, students then participate less in the classroom because they do not feel accepted.

Research also shows that “students’ perceptions of differential treatment, exclusion, and discrimination by teachers and other adults in school appear to play a role in poor outcomes among youth of color in school. For example, perceived discrimination has been linked with mental health problems, including anti- social behavior, depression, and low self-esteem” (Bottiani, Bradshaw, & Mendelson, 2016: 1177). In addition to being discriminated against, students also run the risk of developing health and mental issues which is yet another barrier that will keep them from succeeding in school.

To combat this, teachers should learn how to incorporate lessons that recognize different cultures and learning styles to create a more inclusive learning environment for students. Not only would they learn to appreciate other culture, but they gain a greater multicultural understand and respectful of their peer’s differences.

camalmike-blog

Keyla,

I really enjoyed reading your blog. This post stood out to me because I completely agree with the idea of multicultural education. I found that positive connections with teachers (even today) motivates me to succeed academically. When I feel that a teacher is open to my religion, background and race, I feel more comfortable and willing to succeed. I would have to agree that this applies to younger children as well. Also, I have personally experienced having a teacher who did not practice inclusive leadership at times and I found it very difficult to learn. Not only does intercultural communication foster success, but it helps people to become more well rounded and open-minded, which I believe is essential for success. Overall, great job and thank you for making these points!

-Mike

davidtuetken

When considering artistic expression in any context, one must consider the role that subjectivity plays in both the aesthetic and abstract sense. This is entirely critical whenever any suggestion of social inequality is presented artistically. There is always the potential for disconnect between the intent of the artist and any semblance of sociological context. The misinterpretation of this intent, as well as the potential for projection, is an ever-present threat to the methodological credibility of sociological qualification. Establishing positionality with regards to what are often subversive tendencies of artistic expression can be difficult. Even in the example of socially conscious children’s books, discerning whether the intended audience is adults or children is not always obvious (Singer, 2011). While a direct interview with the artist of a particular piece may be useful in establishing a clearer dimension to a given research question, a sociological explanation of a particular artistic piece must be contextualized by existing sociological theories in order to be recognized as legitimate. It should be said that perhaps reliably collected results in this arena may one day form the basis of a new theory in which social inequality is better understood.

camalmike-blog

David,

I really enjoyed viewing your tumblr blog. The use of art to display forms of inequality is something that I find extremely interesting. I really liked this particular post because you talked about misinterpretation of the messages that artists intend for. Pointing out this threat is important when analyzing artwork, especially art that has a meaning behind it. This project and specifically this section reminded me of the first couple of classes we had with Professor Keller. She showed us pictures that displayed forms of inequality and when she asked the class what they meant, each student had a different idea of what the picture meant for social inequality. The flexibility for interpretation is something that I think makes these pieces so valuable. They can say so much without having any words in them.

-Mike

Resume Audit Studies: Labor Discrimination Exposed by Race, Gender, Age, Class, and even Sexual Orientation.

The series of posts you are about to read are centered around labor discrimination, specifically within the hiring process. Through my studies, I discovered that HR offices in many cases discriminate based on gender, race, class, age, and even sexual preference. According to Critical Race Theory:

“…the idea that each race has its own origins and ever-evolving history- is the notion of intersectionality and antiessentialism. No person has a single easily stated, unitary identity.

Delgado and Stefanic 9-10

The idea of intersectionality illustrates that every person is different and because of that, face different forms of inequality. Proof that labor discrimination comes in a variety of forms is shown with resume audit studies. Resume audit studies are research experiments in which practically identical resumes (apart from an indicator) are sent out to the same companies to test for discrimination. Indicators can signify race, class, age, and sexual preference. These audit studies expose patterns of discrimination and prove that there are many factors that come into play when dealing with labor discrimination. Below is a video that briefly describes what a resume audit study is.

Thesis: Resume Audit studies have been a great research method for exposing various forms of hiring discrimination. Theories of social inequality help us understand those forms of discrimination.

Michael Camal

Before diving into the data, I think it is important to point out the limitations and downsides of resume audit studies. For example, most studies only determine if someone gets a call back, not if that person gets hired or receives a certain wage (Bertrand and Mullainathan). This is problematic because someone could get a call back, but essentially could get turned down for a real job, or could get the job and then receive a lower wage based on certain demographics (gender, race, etc..). Also for audit studies, it is extremely difficult to pinpoint who is receiving the resumes. It could be an intern, an HR specialist, or a hiring manager. This unknown aspect makes it hard for researchers to determine where the root of the discrimination is coming from.

Despite the downside of audit studies, they are still very good for collecting data and finding patterns. They provide us with non-laboratory results and give us an actual number to use as reference. Moving forward, keep these limitations in mind.

Resume Audit Study: Race

The first case and probably the most well known in the field of sociological research is the resume audit study conducted by Bertrand and Mullainathan, “Are Emily and Greg more employable than Lakisha and Jamal? A Field Experiment on Labor Discrimination”. This study focuses on race and like the video posted earlier, describes using ‘black” and “white” sounding names as racial indicators.

Bertrand and Mullainathan discovered that most resumes with “white sounding” names got more calls back on average opposed to resumes containing “minority sounding” names. African Americans disproportionately received fewer calls back and this form of racial injustice is consistent with what other sociologists have done research on. Kimberle Crenshaw’s “The New Jim Crow” and Ta-Nehisi Coates, “Between the World and Me” both express severe inequalities that African Americans face. Books and studies like these have proven that being Black in America puts one at a significant disadvantage, even when compared to discrimination towards other minorities.

This study solidifies and provides evidence that African Americans face more obstacles when applying for jobs; this is nothing new in our society and in the following posts I plan to show other forms of hiring discrimination that are not so well known. Other resume audit studies can show signs of discrimination that are not solely based on race.

Resume Audit Study: Class and Gender

Pierre Bourdieu, a French sociologist created the cultural deprivation theory; a theory that claims that people in the working class cannot easily acquire cultural capital, thus making it harder for them to access good education and gain upward social mobility (historylearningsite.co.uk). Cultural capital is: “class based knowledge and worldviews that are passed through family and educational attainment.” (Keller 2017). Bourdieu’s theory aligns well with the next audit study, one that deals with cultural capital displayed on resumes that make one more likely to get a job and experience upward social mobility. An article from the Harvard Business Review written by Lauren Rivera and Andras Tilcsik displays this form of discrimination. The article, “How subtle class clues can backfire on your resume.” explains how indicators of class on resumes can actually make you less likely to get a job.

Fake applications were sent out to 316 offices, 147 of which are top law firms for summer internships (Rivera and Tilcsik). These internships are extremely competitive because most of them lead to full time jobs upon completion. They use a variety of methods to create an accurate study. To establish gender, they fabricate resumes with male and female sounding names. They indicate economic class by creating rewards that are specific to higher or lower classes (example: financial aid reward for lower class). Other indicators are personal interests: higher class have activities that require money such as sailing as opposed to ones that do not require money (pick up soccer teams). Higher social class indicators are examples of cultural capital that is not as easily attainable by the lower class. Below are examples from the study of indicators for class and beneath that is the study’s results.

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