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Racist Nativism in the 21st Century
Author(s) -
Lippard Cameron D.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
sociology compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 31
ISSN - 1751-9020
DOI - 10.1111/j.1751-9020.2011.00387.x
Subject(s) - psychological nativism , racism , immigration , prejudice (legal term) , sociology , scholarship , ethnic group , face (sociological concept) , injustice , white (mutation) , gender studies , criminology , political science , law , social science , anthropology , biochemistry , chemistry , gene
Since the 1960s, academia and the public have frequently used racism as the catch‐all phrase to explain any racial or ethnic injustice identified in America. However, are the disparities domestic minorities face the same as those faced by immigrant minorities? For example, journalists have suggested that the various state immigration policies targeting Hispanic immigrants in the United States recently are as racist as the Jim Crow laws enacted decades ago. In this essay, I contend that while nativism and racism are kissing cousins, distinguishing and using these concepts may lend to more precise explanations of the issues many racial and ethnic minorities face who exist outside of the Black–White dichotomy that has traditionally characterized United States. To untangle these terms, I review recent scholarship to provide up‐to‐date definitions, as well as reintroduce the concept of ‘racist nativism’ to better explain the variability that characterizes racial or ethnic prejudice and discrimination in 21st century America.