- Between weeks 8 and 12, each student should provide a weekly reflection (500 words) on the data you have collected to date.
- What data did you collect?
- What is your initial impression of the data?
- How have the data you have collected this week changed/progressed your thinking about your research project?
- What challenges did you encounter while collecting the data?
- What are your next steps?
This week I continued to examine the research and surveys I mentioned in the previous two logs. Furthermore, I started reading about millennials who espouse more extreme views, primarily Michael Kimmel’s book we are reading this week in class, Healing from Hate. I likely will also look at other sources as I continue to analyze how millennials view race, especially those who embrace radical racial ideologies. I am unsure how I will specifically incorporate the findings, especially Kimmel’s emphasis on gender and masculinity playing a critical role in the development of extreme ideology, into my paper. However, I think I will dedicate at least part of my paper to exploring how white millennials, particularly focusing on the white power and neo-Nazi movements and how they have come to greater prominence under President Trump, conceptualize race and its place in American society. Reading Kimmel’s book so far has illustrated how affronts to masculinity and manhood can push people, particularly young men, to take part in extreme racial movements.
Lastly, I am pondering and hope to discuss with you the possibility of conducting a survey to gauge how students on Bowdoin’s campus conceptualize race, diversity, and colorblindness. I am thinking about modeling my survey based on the questions from the MTV “Look Different” campaign and the GenForward survey that I mentioned in my previous logs. I am curious as to whether Bowdoin students embrace colorblind ideology to the same extent or degree as the respondents in both surveys. The findings that revealed that a vast majority of respondents disapprove of preferential treatment based on race, even to remedy historical inequalities, was striking, albeit not particularly surprising. I think it would be interesting to compare the results of those national surveys to how Bowdoin students conceptualize and view race. Such a survey would be interesting because I think it is particularly well-established that millennials have difficulty grappling with race because they have to juggle and contend with the entrenched nature of colorblind ideology, while also supporting diversity. I am curious as to whether the data coming from a survey on Bowdoin students, a group of highly educated and relatively diverse millennials (based on race, geography, socioeconomic status, etc.), would validate and align with the results of national surveys and studies I have analyzed in previous logs. In this way, I think I could contribute to the sociology of millennials. I have been thinking about how I can craft a paper that puts forward new research or ideas about millennials and race. It seems pretty accepted how millennials view race, especially the notions that white and black millennials understand race and race relations differently. However, I think it would be interesting to see whether this vision and understanding of race is maintained at an elite institution like Bowdoin.
I hope to meet with you this week to discuss your thoughts on conducting a survey and check in about the progress of my paper. I am looking forward to hearing your comments and input.