According to Michelle Alexander, a racial caste system is built into the fundamental structures of American society. What does she mean by this?
Alexander defines a racial caste system as a structure in which “a stigmatized group [is] locked into an inferior position by law[s] and custom[s]” that determine the life changes of a racially defined group – here black Americans, particularly poor black men (Alexander, pg. 12). In stating that a racial caste system is built into the fundamental structures of American society, Alexander asserts that the foundation of American society is not individual liberal ideology, as the majority of Americans have come to expect, but rather systematic racism. The racialization of slavery build racism into the …show more content…
Richard Nixon’s law and order discourse laid the groundwork for mass incarceration, though the tangible public policy began in 1982 with Ronald Regan’s War On Drugs. The movement was political plea, intended to garner white working class conservative support by playing into racial fears. And it had devastating results. From 1982 to the present the “U.S. penal system exploded, from around 300,000 [inmates] to more than 2 million… with drug convictions accounting for the majority of the increase” and young black men accounting for a hugely disproportionate number of those convicted (Alexander, pg. 6). The criminal justice system plays a large role in mass incarceration, but mass incarceration encompasses something much broader and more sinister - the framework of laws, rules, policies and customs that control “those labeled criminals” in and out of formal control in prisons (Alexander, pg. ). This totality is what makes mass incarceration a racial caste system, rather than a racist public …show more content…
Therefore, each racial caste system differs from the previous in built structures and justification, but the underlying presence of racist systematic forces does not change. Today, the language used to justify mass incarceration does not rely on race, unlike the language used to justify Jim Crow or slavery. Instead the criminal justice system labels blacks as criminals, thereby justifying the application of discriminatory practices. The effect of sigma also operates differently in the era of mass incarceration. During Jim Crow, racial stigma contributed to racial, but today the sigma of black criminality has created a deep shame in the black community, “destroying networks of support and creating silence about the new caste system among the most affected” (Alexander, pg. ). This makes collective action very difficult. Lastly, Latinos, immigrants, and poor whites are acutely affected by mass incarceration in a way that was not present in past forms of racial social control. However, Alexander makes the point that, though these groups suffer in this system, they are not the designated enemy, and the damage to the community as a whole is obviously much
Alexander defines a racial caste system as a structure in which “a stigmatized group [is] locked into an inferior position by law[s] and custom[s]” that determine the life changes of a racially defined group – here black Americans, particularly poor black men (Alexander, pg. 12). In stating that a racial caste system is built into the fundamental structures of American society, Alexander asserts that the foundation of American society is not individual liberal ideology, as the majority of Americans have come to expect, but rather systematic racism. The racialization of slavery build racism into the …show more content…
Richard Nixon’s law and order discourse laid the groundwork for mass incarceration, though the tangible public policy began in 1982 with Ronald Regan’s War On Drugs. The movement was political plea, intended to garner white working class conservative support by playing into racial fears. And it had devastating results. From 1982 to the present the “U.S. penal system exploded, from around 300,000 [inmates] to more than 2 million… with drug convictions accounting for the majority of the increase” and young black men accounting for a hugely disproportionate number of those convicted (Alexander, pg. 6). The criminal justice system plays a large role in mass incarceration, but mass incarceration encompasses something much broader and more sinister - the framework of laws, rules, policies and customs that control “those labeled criminals” in and out of formal control in prisons (Alexander, pg. ). This totality is what makes mass incarceration a racial caste system, rather than a racist public …show more content…
Therefore, each racial caste system differs from the previous in built structures and justification, but the underlying presence of racist systematic forces does not change. Today, the language used to justify mass incarceration does not rely on race, unlike the language used to justify Jim Crow or slavery. Instead the criminal justice system labels blacks as criminals, thereby justifying the application of discriminatory practices. The effect of sigma also operates differently in the era of mass incarceration. During Jim Crow, racial stigma contributed to racial, but today the sigma of black criminality has created a deep shame in the black community, “destroying networks of support and creating silence about the new caste system among the most affected” (Alexander, pg. ). This makes collective action very difficult. Lastly, Latinos, immigrants, and poor whites are acutely affected by mass incarceration in a way that was not present in past forms of racial social control. However, Alexander makes the point that, though these groups suffer in this system, they are not the designated enemy, and the damage to the community as a whole is obviously much