Emotional segregation: A content analysis of institutional racism in US films, 1980–2001

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to empirically demonstrate a concept, known as “emotional segregation” through a systematic analysis of US films. Emotional segregation is defined as an institutionalized process, whereby European Americans are unable to see people of colour as emotional equals or as capable of sharing the same human emotions and experiences. This concept was inspired by Charles C. Stember's (1976) study of sexual racism and Patricia Hill Collins’ (2000) work on sexualized racism. In order to examine the existence of emotional segregation in the United States, a content analysis was conducted of forty US films chosen from a stratified random sample. Differences were found in media portrayals of inter- and intra-racial relationships involving African Americans. Future research on emotional segregation is suggested to assess how this phenomenon creates emotional barriers among ethnic groups.

Keywords:

• Institutional racism
• emotional segregation
• content analysis
• interracial intimacy
• sexual racism
• whiteness

Acknowledgements

This article was previously presented at the 2001 Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association and received one of the 2005 American Sociological Association Race, Class, Gender Section Awards for Outstanding Graduate Student Paper. I thank Mary Bernstein for nominating this paper. Special thanks to my mentors Noel Cazenave, Herbert Hunter and Ronald Taylor as well as my thesis committee: Alex Heckert, Irwin Marcus and Kay Snyder. Warm thanks to Thomas W. Volscho, who read numerous drafts of this paper and to Miriam Chaiken, Edward W. Gondolf, and Gaye Tuchman.

Notes

1. Because the racialized categories of ‘black’ and ‘white’ are ambiguous and socially constructed, I problematize them by using quotation marks. The term African American(s) is not placed inside quotation marks, because this term refers to a cultural group in the United States, rather than a racialized group.

2. Only heterosexual relationships were examined due to the nature of sexual racism as defined by Stember (1976) and the conceptualization of emotional segregation in this article. However, future studies examining emotional segregation could explore the portrayal of gay and lesbian relationships.

3. If the race of the characters was undetermined or it was unclear if the film contained a relationship between a man and a woman, the film was labelled ‘other’. Also included in this category were any films that did not fit the established interracial relationship categories (e.g., ‘white’ man/Japanese woman).

4. All interactions (alone, touching, embracing, kissing) were recorded only when they took place between the main characters of the films and any other character as long as the interaction fit the relationship category of the film. However, intimacy, centrality, success, and duration were noted only for the main relationship of the film. If the film contained more than one relationship that fit its relationship category, all of the interactions were recorded, but in terms of coding intimacy, centrality, success, and duration, a judgement call was made about which relationship in the film was the more important or main one.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Angie K. Beeman

ANGIE K. BEEMAN is a doctoral candidate at the University of Connecticut, Department of Sociology. Her dissertation examines colour-blind racism in coutemporary inerracial social movements