The everyday response to racism
An African-American man in New York gets on an elevator with a group of white men, one of whom proceeds to tell a joke that includes blacks and monkeys. What happens next? In this case, the black man struggles to keep his composure, comments that he’s not a fan of jokes, and steps off the elevator before reaching his destination. The response was one of hundreds logged by a team of sociologists led by Michèle Lamont, professor of sociology and African and African American studies, director of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, and the Robert I. Goldman Professor of European Studies. The sociologists’ eight-year study examined the responses of minority groups to acts of racism, discrimination, and stigmatization in three cities: New York, Rio de Janeiro, and Tel Aviv. The results, published in a recent book, “Getting Respect: Responding to Stigma and Discrimination in the United States, Brazil, and...