This dissertation consists of three essays on the historical roots of racial disparity in incarceration in the United States. The first essay examines the origins of racial inequality in convict leasing in the postbellum U.S. South. Following emancipation, white southerners feared two primary challenges to the region's agricultural economy and social order: African Americans' flight from farms to cities, and African Americans' ability to procure land. In their capacities as accusers and jurors, white civilians exercised considerable discretion over the arrest and conviction of African Americans for minor offenses such as property crimes. Using archival administrative records of the Georgia convict lease system, combined with the complete 1880 U.S. Census, I find that African-American men living in urban counties or in counties where the per-capita value of land owned by African Americans was high were much more likely to be incarcerated for property crimes than similar individuals in rural counties or in counties where African Americans were largely excluded from landownership. The second essay traces a portion of the rise of racial inequality in incarceration in northern and southern states to increasing rates of African-American migration to the North between 1880 and 1950. It employs three analytical strategies. First, it introduces a decomposition to assess the relative contributions of geographic shifts in the population and regional changes in the incarceration rate to the increase in racial disparity. Second, it estimates the effect of the rate of white and nonwhite migration on the change in the white and nonwhite incarceration rates of the North. Finally, it uses macro- and microdata to evaluate the mechanisms proposed to explain this effect. The third essay has two objectives. First, it provides a descriptive account of trends in racial inequality in imprisonment from the late 1980s through the first decade of the twentieth century. Second, it asks whether prison growth and regional variation in racial disparity in imprisonment have common causes. Although absolute racial disparity grew markedly between 1981 and 2002, relative racial disparity did not increase. Disparity in drug admissions spiked dramatically between 1985 and 2005, particularly in the Northeast and Midwest, but disparity in admissions for non-drug crimes was also high. In some years, the drug and homicide admissions rate for whites and African Americans was higher in counties with greater poverty and unemployment rates and lower per-capita income, but changes in poverty, employment, and income were not strongly associated with changes in drug admissions. Taken together, these results suggest that racial disparity in imprisonment is not solely a product of the recent history of the prison boom. / Sociology

The racial wealth gap is a deeply inexorable indicator of inequality. Today the average family of color holds only six cents of wealth for every dollar owned by whites. What accounts for such stubborn inequality in an era lauded as racially progressive? Intergenerational family links suggest a major linchpin. In this dissertation I work toward a race critical theory of social reproduction, drawing on 156 family histories of intergenerational wealth transfer. These data were categorically coded for instances of wealth and capital acquisition and transfer, as well as qualitatively analyzed for thematic patterns using the extended case method. My analysis targets specific social mechanisms that differentially promote the transmission of wealth and other forms of capital (e.g., social networks, educational credentials) across racial groups over time. I isolate racial patterns in the mobility trajectories of families through an original construct, inheritance pathways – instances involving the transfer and/or interconvertiblity of wealth/capital between two or more generations. Among my sample, inheritance pathways were regularly traceable from ancestors living during legal slavery and segregation. My analysis reveals that the wealth and capital acquired by white families regularly works in interlocking, supportive ways to “pave” pathways of protected, intergenerational mobility over time. In contrast, though families of color evidence many efforts to build upwardly mobile pathways, they are frequently divested of their capital through both explicitly and subtly racist means. Moreover, the value of their capital is often diminished, making it less useful in launching and sustaining mobility pathways. My analysis hones in on the recursive relationship between micro level family actions and the racial state, which is regularly implicated in these processes. I draw on these data to additionally expand the concept racial capital – a type of “currency” that intersects with other forms of capital for individuals, families and groups. Collectively, the inheritance pathways of families suggest that whiteness often intervenes to (1) “unlock” forms of capital for some individuals/families/groups; and, (2) enhance the value of other forms of capital. Ultimately I argue that inheritance pathways and racial capital serve as primary means for reproducing conditions and meanings that sustain systemic racism over time.

Magister Commercii - MCom / Past historical events are crucial for understanding economies and answering imperative questions such as why economic inequalities persist, why certain countries experience economic growth or lag behind, and how societies and institutions shape economic performance. Past events such as colonialism, where colonial powers rooted themselves in the African continent for the aim of economic dominance, are said to have left lasting effects, especially with regards to the development outcomes within the colonised country.

<p dir="ltr">Do local religious contexts impact people’s attitudes about race inequality in society? In this dissertation, I examine this question using data from the General Social Survey and multilevel modeling. I define religious context as the local population percentage that are in particular denominational groups (evangelical Protestants, mainline Protestants, Black Protestants, and Catholics); the percentage that are in groupings which cross-cut denominational affiliation (religious liberal, religious moderate, and religious conservative); and the percentage that are religiously unaffiliated. The racial attitudes I examine are what a person attributes to be the root cause of Black-White income inequality in the US—individualistic explanations (a lack of will or in-born differences between the races) or structural explanations (a lack of access to education or discrimination).</p><p dir="ltr">This dissertation sits at the intersection of three bodies of literature: (1) the impact of local religious context on sociological variables, (2) the impact of religion on social attitudes about race inequality at the individual level, and (3) the impact of contextual level factors (that are not religious in nature) on social attitudes about race inequality at the individual level. The theoretical foundation for this research is a theory of religious subcultural influence which outlines how the presence of more people from a religious tradition creates a local religious subculture which can impact the local public subculture which can impact the attitudes and behaviors of individuals in the area.</p><p dir="ltr">Results from the analyses presented in this project indicate that while personal religious affiliation at the individual level is influential on these attitudes, the influence of the religious context around a person is more mixed. For some explanations of racial inequality, namely a lack of will or a lack of education, the religious contexts surrounding a person have some moderate influences. Stepwise regression analyses reveal that some other contextual variables, such as the region of the country in which the respondent resides or the local concentration of immigrants, have stronger influences on these attitudes.</p><p dir="ltr">Further analysis examines if these effects of religious context extend to all people in a geographic area, not only the focal religious group’s own people. Findings from this analysis show that, for the most part, where there are religious context effects, the effect extends to all residents of an area. In a few cases, however, there are only self-reinforcing effects (where a group is only influential on themselves) or possible reactionary effects (where there is an effect on the non-members, but it is likely not due to transmission from the religious context group).</p><p dir="ltr">Other explorations in this dissertation look for threshold, ceiling, or floor effects in the effects of religious context. This analysis shows that most of the detected effects of religious contexts are linear, and the group does not need to be a certain size before it can be influential. In a few cases, the effect of the religious context reaches a floor or ceiling limit meaning the effect of the religious context eventually levels off and does not exert any more influence. Additional analyses also look at the role of the respondent’s racial identity, how ideological differences between Hispanic Catholics and non-Hispanic Catholics may be present, if the effects of religious context are stronger now than in previous decades, and if biblical literalism is responsible for some of the influences of religious context detected.</p><p dir="ltr">Taken together, all of the analyses in this dissertation illustrate that there are some important, albeit mild, influences of local religious context on a person’s racial attitudes. These findings also show that religious context intersects with region in noteworthy and complex ways.</p>

Numerous U.S. studio executives claim that the lack of on-screen racial diversity is a result of producers responding to discriminatory racial preferences of international audiences. To test these claims, this paper augments prior film financial success models by introducing measures of cast diversity to quantify the impact that actor race has on film revenue in the domestic and international market. Using OLS regressions, I examine and compare this effect within the domestic and aggregate movie market to investigate the underlying motivations for producers to not cast nonwhite actors. The findings support the claims made by studio heads that, on the whole, films with greater levels of diversity significantly underperform in the international box office, yet are not a strong determinant for domestic consumption. Although producers may be making assumptions about foreign demand when investing in films, the revenue regressions seem to support their assumptions. However, the results are ultimately difficult to interpret. Holding budget and other key film characteristics constant, more diverse films perform poorly relative to less diverse films in foreign markets, so the demographic disparities in films could be mostly driven by rational, profit-maximizing behavior from studios and producers.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Os conceitos de raça e etnia são basilares para a antropologia desde o seu surgimento como área do conhecimento humano e, ainda hoje, são fundamentais para diversos debates nas esferas política, social e das ciências humanas em geral. No pensamento social brasileiro muitos foram os autores de diversas áreas a se debruçarem sobre a questão racial. A instituição do sistema de cotas para o ingresso em universidades acalorou e expandiu o debate tanto no senso comum como na academia e nos meios de comunicação em geral. Essa pesquisa partiu da intenção de investigar a relação entre as ações afirmativas e as identidades de cor/raça. Como metodologia, utilizamos os recursos tanto dos instrumentos quantitativos como qualitativos. Nosso foco foram estudantes do cursinho pré-vestibular Grupo Perspectiva Integral (GPI). Buscamos acessar o ponto de vista dos vestibulandos, seus significados e associações acerca de suas identidades étnico-raciais, opiniões e sentimentos sobre a questão racial no Brasil e, em especial referente às ações afirmativas no contexto da educação e investigar a relação entre quem sou eu e qual é a minha cor/raça no universo proposto. Para tanto, foram aplicados cento e vinte e um questionários e realizadas doze entrevistas. A intenção não era estabelecer uma relação direta e causal entre as ações afirmativas e as identidades de cor/raça e, sim, traçar um perfil geral e racial da população estudada, perceber e analisar diversos elementos referentes às classificações de cor/raça e opiniões e sentimentos acerca das ações afirmativas, do racismo e das expectativas profissionais dos vestibulandos. / The concept of race and ethnicity are basic for the anthropological theory since its appearance as human knowledge and nowadays are fundamental for many debates in the political and social sphere and in the human sciences in general. In the social brazilian thought were many authors of different areas that dedicated themselves to the racial studies. The affirmative action insertion as a way of getting in the universities has heated and increased the debate in the common sense, the academy and in the media in general. This research began with the intention of investigate the relation between the affirmative action and the race/colour identity. As methodology we used the quantitative and qualitative analysis. Our centre was students of a preparation course for the universities exams called Grupo Perspectiva Integral (GPI). We searched for getting the point of view of this students about their ethnic-racial meanings and relations, opinions and feelings about racial matters in Brazil and specially referred to affirmative action in the education context and investigate the relation between who am I and which is my race/colour in the population. Then, we applied one hundred and one questionnaires and twelve interviews. Although we didnt intend to establish a direct and cause relation between affirmative action and race/colour identities, we were able to make a general and racial profile of the studied population, perceive and analyze many elements referred to racial classification and opinions and feelings about the affirmative action, racism and the professional expectations from the students.

Racial inequality in educational and occupational attainment has been shown to be related to racial inequality in test scores and cognitive skills. Most research and policy attention has been given to the ability of schools to equalize test scores. I argue that a major reason why researchers have been unable to explain why schools have not closed the gap is because by the time children begin school it may be too late. Cognitive skills develop from infancy and as such, it should be unsurprising that by the time children are five years old the differences across groups are firmly established. Thus, this research attempts to uncover where the racial test-score gap begins by examining infants. I perform a series of analyses using ordinary least squares regression (OLS) and structural equation modeling (SEM) using the first wave of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey--Birth cohort (ECLS-B). I utilize the mother's race, rather than the child's race, in the analyses because looking at the mother's race makes the most logical sense since the mother's race is more likely than the child's to determine household income, marital status, mother's education, parenting styles, and so on. I demonstrate that there is little to no raw gap in cognitive skills between the infants of White and Black mothers in the United States. However, through SEM I find that when one controls for social, human, and financial capital, and for differences in health and type of childcare, the infants of African American mothers would actually do better than the infants of White mothers because of their precocious motor development. I find no support for genetics and childcare and only limited support for financial and human capital as mediators of the gap. However, there is support for family social capital and low birth weight as key mediators of the small Black-White test score gap in infancy.

Studies of the association between race/ethnicity and juvenile court outcomes have found that minority youth often receive disadvantaged outcomes compared to similarly situated Whites, and that community context may condition this relationship. Sampson and Laub's (1993) revised conflict perspective is one theoretical model that can potentially explain the social control of youth throughout juvenile justice proceedings. One of the main propositions of Sampson and Laub's (1993) perspective is that communities characterized by underclass poverty and racial inequality will impose greater social control on youth referred to the juvenile court, especially Blacks and youth charged with a drug offense because they are perceived as a threatening population to middle-class values and standards. The current research drew upon Sampson and Laub's (1993) macrolevel theory of inequality and social control to examine the juvenile court outcomes of White, Black, and Hispanic youth from all counties in a Northeast state from 2000-2010. Hierarchical generalized linear modeling (HGLM) was employed to examine the relationship between disadvantaged community characteristics (underclass poverty, racial inequality, ethnic inequality) and juvenile court outcomes; especially if race/ethnicity, drug offending, and type of drug offense (possession versus distribution) tempered these relationships. The results indicate that disadvantaged community characteristics did not directly impact the social control of youth, but individual and joint effects of race/ethnicity and drug offending resulted in greater social control for Black and Hispanic youth of various drug offending combinations. In particular, the effect of race/ethnicity on social control was greater for Hispanic youth compared to Blacks. Depending on the stage examined, the relationship between race/ethnicity, drug offending, and juvenile court outcomes were conditioned by disadvantaged community characteristics. Based on the findings, empirical and theoretical implications are provided that focus on the applicability of Sampson and Laub's (1993) perspective to more recent court outcomes, as well as prevention and intervention programs that focus on decreasing the presence of minority youth in the juvenile justice system. Directions for future research are highlighted to provide greater insights into the circumstances surrounding case outcomes and under what situations community context and race/ethnicity matter in the treatment of youth within the juvenile court.

A presente dissertação tem como tema a implementação da lei das cotas e a discussão da política de Ações Afirmativas no IFRS. A identificação e análise da adoção de ações afirmativas frente à diminuição da desigualdade racial no Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Rio Grande do Sul constituem o cerne dessa pesquisa. As indagações a respeito das contribuições das ações afirmativas no IFRS levaram a três questionamentos: o primeiro foi acerca da importância efetiva de existir uma política de ações afirmativas no âmbito da instituição; o segundo residiu sobre o porquê de uma política interna ter sido pensada apenas após a aprovação da lei 12.711/12; e o terceiro questionamento pairou sobre a efetividade do uso da lei das cotas e da política de ações afirmativas do IFRS como instrumentos sólidos de diminuição da desigualdade racial. Destarte, o objeto desta pesquisa foi analisar o impacto e a implementação desta política no IFRS na perspectiva de diminuição da desigualdade racial. Foram realizadas análises qualitativas através da utilização do método de observação participante nas reuniões do Grupo de Trabalho de Ações Afirmativas e análises socioeconômicas dos ingressantes via reserva de vagas no vestibular de inverno do campus Erechim e análise documental do documento base da política de ações afirmativas do IFRS. Foram também utilizadas análises quantitativas através dos dados, fornecidos pela instituição, dos estudantes no que concerne ao perfil racial. Os resultados mostraram que a utilização de cotas nos vestibulares de 2013 e 2014 evidenciou um aumento significativo de estudantes negros e em situação de vulnerabilidade socioeconômica, bem como a necessidade imediata de formação e capacitação dos servidores que executam a lei no cotidiano. Evidenciou também que a adoção das ações afirmativas não é consensual no âmbito da instituição e que tem sido executada, analisada e refletida junto a um jogo de correlação de forças aí existentes. Ainda que realizadas de forma pontual e sem sistematização adequada, a adoção de ações afirmativas no IFRS, tanto na forma obrigatória da execução da lei como nade forma não obrigatória - através da política interna de ações afirmativas, perpassam dois direitos fundamentais: direito à reparação e direito a condições mínimas de equidade no corpo discente de uma instituição pública. / This is a thesis which tackles the subject of the implementation of the Quota Laws and the discussion of the Affirmative Action Policies in the IFRS (Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Rio Grande do Sul). The identfication and adoption of Affirmative Action in face of a reduction in social inequality within the IFRS is the focus of this piece of research. The investigation of the issues within this topic in the context of IFRS led to the raising of three questions. The first was concerning the importance of actually having Affirmative Action policies within the institution. The second asked why was this internal policy thought about only after the approval of Law 12.711/12, and the third challenges the real value of the use of Quota Laws and policies of Affirmative Action as effective tools of racial equality.Therefore, the objective of this research was to analze the impact this policy had within IFRS from a reduction of racial inequality perspective. Qualitative analysis was carried out through the method of participative observation in Affirmative Action workgroups. Also, socio-economic analysis was performed on the student intake who entered the institution via the reserved minority places in the winter entrance exam for the Erechim campus. In addition to this, documental analysis was also performed on the Affirmative Action charter which forms the basis of IFRSs policy. Further analysis was also performed on the racial profile of the candidates as provided by the Institution. The results show that in the entrance exams of 2013 and 2014, the adoption of quotas led to a significant increase in black students with a low-income background, yet highlighted the immediate need to professionally train and qualify the civil servants who execute the quota law in their day to day duties. It was noted that the adoption of Affirmative Action policies does not carry a broad consensus within the Institution and that the rules were executed, analized and decided only considering the balance of power game which exists within the Institution. Although the adoption of Affirmative Action policies within IFRS is carried out promptly and without an adequate systematic framework, both within the compulsory execution of the law as well as in the non-compulsory internal policies, it touches on two fundamental rights: the right of redress and the right to basic conditions of equality within the student body of a Public Institution.

A presente dissertação tem como tema a implementação da lei das cotas e a discussão da política de Ações Afirmativas no IFRS. A identificação e análise da adoção de ações afirmativas frente à diminuição da desigualdade racial no Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Rio Grande do Sul constituem o cerne dessa pesquisa. As indagações a respeito das contribuições das ações afirmativas no IFRS levaram a três questionamentos: o primeiro foi acerca da importância efetiva de existir uma política de ações afirmativas no âmbito da instituição; o segundo residiu sobre o porquê de uma política interna ter sido pensada apenas após a aprovação da lei 12.711/12; e o terceiro questionamento pairou sobre a efetividade do uso da lei das cotas e da política de ações afirmativas do IFRS como instrumentos sólidos de diminuição da desigualdade racial. Destarte, o objeto desta pesquisa foi analisar o impacto e a implementação desta política no IFRS na perspectiva de diminuição da desigualdade racial. Foram realizadas análises qualitativas através da utilização do método de observação participante nas reuniões do Grupo de Trabalho de Ações Afirmativas e análises socioeconômicas dos ingressantes via reserva de vagas no vestibular de inverno do campus Erechim e análise documental do documento base da política de ações afirmativas do IFRS. Foram também utilizadas análises quantitativas através dos dados, fornecidos pela instituição, dos estudantes no que concerne ao perfil racial. Os resultados mostraram que a utilização de cotas nos vestibulares de 2013 e 2014 evidenciou um aumento significativo de estudantes negros e em situação de vulnerabilidade socioeconômica, bem como a necessidade imediata de formação e capacitação dos servidores que executam a lei no cotidiano. Evidenciou também que a adoção das ações afirmativas não é consensual no âmbito da instituição e que tem sido executada, analisada e refletida junto a um jogo de correlação de forças aí existentes. Ainda que realizadas de forma pontual e sem sistematização adequada, a adoção de ações afirmativas no IFRS, tanto na forma obrigatória da execução da lei como nade forma não obrigatória - através da política interna de ações afirmativas, perpassam dois direitos fundamentais: direito à reparação e direito a condições mínimas de equidade no corpo discente de uma instituição pública. / This is a thesis which tackles the subject of the implementation of the Quota Laws and the discussion of the Affirmative Action Policies in the IFRS (Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Rio Grande do Sul). The identfication and adoption of Affirmative Action in face of a reduction in social inequality within the IFRS is the focus of this piece of research. The investigation of the issues within this topic in the context of IFRS led to the raising of three questions. The first was concerning the importance of actually having Affirmative Action policies within the institution. The second asked why was this internal policy thought about only after the approval of Law 12.711/12, and the third challenges the real value of the use of Quota Laws and policies of Affirmative Action as effective tools of racial equality.Therefore, the objective of this research was to analze the impact this policy had within IFRS from a reduction of racial inequality perspective. Qualitative analysis was carried out through the method of participative observation in Affirmative Action workgroups. Also, socio-economic analysis was performed on the student intake who entered the institution via the reserved minority places in the winter entrance exam for the Erechim campus. In addition to this, documental analysis was also performed on the Affirmative Action charter which forms the basis of IFRSs policy. Further analysis was also performed on the racial profile of the candidates as provided by the Institution. The results show that in the entrance exams of 2013 and 2014, the adoption of quotas led to a significant increase in black students with a low-income background, yet highlighted the immediate need to professionally train and qualify the civil servants who execute the quota law in their day to day duties. It was noted that the adoption of Affirmative Action policies does not carry a broad consensus within the Institution and that the rules were executed, analized and decided only considering the balance of power game which exists within the Institution. Although the adoption of Affirmative Action policies within IFRS is carried out promptly and without an adequate systematic framework, both within the compulsory execution of the law as well as in the non-compulsory internal policies, it touches on two fundamental rights: the right of redress and the right to basic conditions of equality within the student body of a Public Institution.