President Obama walks fine line on race, justice
11 years ago
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Socioeconomic status and race
In my senior psychology seminar, a study was presented where white doctors that were treating black, latino, white, and asian children asked fewer standard questions to the black and latino children because they believed they had lower socioeconomic status', therefore were less educated and wouldn't understand all the questions. A stereotype is that asians are the "good race" meaning that they are the one's trying to get a better education, study long hours, etc...We have talked about race and socioeconomic status together before, but I am wondering what you think of this study. Do you think that the stereotype that black and latino's do not have as high of an academic background as their white and asian counterparts will ever go away? It seemed to me like the doctors were taking stereotypes to the extreme.
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I find the results of this study to be shocking. I don't see how you cannot ask the same questions to every child, especially as a doctor. Someone's physical health and well being is far too important to pass on the opportunity to ask certain questions because the doctor thinks that the kid may not understand due to their race or socioeconomic status. What if the doctor misses something that could be wrong with the child's health or misdiagnoses something? Every child should be treated equally and asked the same questions. If the child does not understand the question, regardless of their race, the doctor should be able to explain it to them in another way. Seems to me like these white doctors in the study are using the socioeconomic status and race of children as an excuse to be lazy and take a short cut.
ReplyDeleteThis study is quite shocking and unfortunate. I often times find myself challenging these stereotypes and their affects on communities. I find myself wondering how much of this is stereotypical and how much is statistical. There is an achievement gap in America; minority groups, especially Hispanics and Blacks, have been left behind. Whether it be in education, or something else, levels of performance and success are lower.
ReplyDeleteIs it because they are not capable and biologically inferior? No. Society has failed to address the flawed systems that allow for previous structural marginalization methods to carry on. While racial segregation ended decades ago, it did not end segregation. Economic segregation continues and unfortunately, significant portions of minority groups remain in the lower class. Education systems are built in a manner that overlooks the additional struggles of growing up in lower-income neighborhoods and fails to address the various needs of children.
These stereotypes, like most, are dangerous and harmful to communities. In this case, the doctors use these as an excuse and fail to fulfill their responsibilities--but without these stereotypes (or maybe statistics) non-profit organizations would not be working to overcome these gaps.
Organizations like Teach for America are working to prove that these can be overcome when you place the necessary resources and support systems in low-income communities. While we as a nation have failed to address structural failures, there are organizations working to overcome these.