Sociohistorical Contextualization
Race does not have a biological meaning, but it is a social construction that has been legally constructed. The “laws”, which underline this inquiry, is a form of behavioral control and an ideology. The “law encompasses a set of institutions, actors, and ideas” that are interconnected, but are rarely working with one another (Lopez, 80). Law, as a system of control or coercion, includes both legislative enactments and judicial decisions that helps reinforce and construct racial discrimination. Law, as an ideology, is the “capacity to shape and constrain how people think about race” (Lopez, 86). It also allows the ability to provide proxy language about race and participates in establishing hegemony.
Sociohistorical contextualization: In order
for Haney Lopez to support his theory as the law being both a system of coercion and an ideology, he used examples like the Bhagat Singh Thind Supreme Court case and the discrimination act against “aliens ineligible to citizenship”. Bhagat Singh Thind was an Indian-American who was involved in a struggle to obtain the rights of a U.S. citizenship (Lopez, 84). Even though he argued that Indians were legally considered “Caucasian”, the Supreme Court still denied his request to naturalize because he was not white and that “the average white person” would be able to determine the physical difference of Thind. Violating the Fourteenth Amendment and creating proxy language, the Cable Act Law of 1922 took away a woman’s citizenship if she married “an alien ineligible to citizenship” (Lopez, 90). Couple of years later, the U.S. used the same phrase to identify and prohibit unwanted races from the country, like the Japanese. For example, between 1913 and 1947, eleven states used the phrase “aliens ineligible to citizenship” to exclude the Japanese from owning land (Lopez, 90).
Significance: Laws, which are traditionally viewed as a form protection and social justice, have instead created a racial scale and disadvantage towards people of nonwhite backgrounds. These laws play a huge role in the social construction of race and how we view others. As discussed by Haney Lopez, the discrimination by laws against certain groups was an advantage towards whites. Whites have used their advantage to climb the social ladder while nonwhites continuously remained on the bottom. Not only do laws shape the views of race, but they also play a role in the developing of racial ideologies.
Sociohistorical contextualization: In order
for Haney Lopez to support his theory as the law being both a system of coercion and an ideology, he used examples like the Bhagat Singh Thind Supreme Court case and the discrimination act against “aliens ineligible to citizenship”. Bhagat Singh Thind was an Indian-American who was involved in a struggle to obtain the rights of a U.S. citizenship (Lopez, 84). Even though he argued that Indians were legally considered “Caucasian”, the Supreme Court still denied his request to naturalize because he was not white and that “the average white person” would be able to determine the physical difference of Thind. Violating the Fourteenth Amendment and creating proxy language, the Cable Act Law of 1922 took away a woman’s citizenship if she married “an alien ineligible to citizenship” (Lopez, 90). Couple of years later, the U.S. used the same phrase to identify and prohibit unwanted races from the country, like the Japanese. For example, between 1913 and 1947, eleven states used the phrase “aliens ineligible to citizenship” to exclude the Japanese from owning land (Lopez, 90).
Significance: Laws, which are traditionally viewed as a form protection and social justice, have instead created a racial scale and disadvantage towards people of nonwhite backgrounds. These laws play a huge role in the social construction of race and how we view others. As discussed by Haney Lopez, the discrimination by laws against certain groups was an advantage towards whites. Whites have used their advantage to climb the social ladder while nonwhites continuously remained on the bottom. Not only do laws shape the views of race, but they also play a role in the developing of racial ideologies.