Harvard Sociology Professor and fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Orlando Patterson delivered a lecture entitled “Black-White Relations in Europe and the Americas: Four Modes of Ethnic Stratification” in Weyerhaeuser Memorial Chapel on Thursday, April 15.

Patterson pretexed his remarks with criticism of what he said he believes is the United States’ long-standing “serious credibility problem” with the rest of the world. “Most great cultures come to understand themselves in comparison to others,” he said. He argued that the United States’ exclusivist attitude regarding ethnic relations contributes to its lack of credibility with other nations.

Patterson argued that a comparative exploration of ethnic problems in the Atlantic Diaspora illustrates ways different societies struggle with ethnic relations. Patterson defined the Atlantic Diaspora as an umbrella term linking patterns of colonization in Europe, North America and South America. Comparison studies would help break down myths and expose the failures and successes in American society, Patterson said.

He presented four distinct examples of ethnic inequality.

Patterson began with North America. He argued that North America is characterized by the creation of exclusive categories through which capital and culture can be mobilized to exclude ethnic groups.

“Culture was appropriated as people were excluded,” he said. North America also has a unique problem with miscegenation and the protection of white femininity, which creates the value of whiteness as a social good, he said.

Patterson also addressed ethnic inequality as a cause of the loss of social, cultural and economic capital, deskilling and a cultural revolt in western nations.

The exclusion of biracial identities in the United States is also incompatible with other modes of ethnic inequality, he said. Patterson contended that this, coupled with the ethnic exclusion of the lower socio-economic classes in this country, is a direct result of the value of whiteness as a social good in the United States. This “points to the institutional nature of racial exclusion in America,” he said.

Patterson’s discussion of Latin America examined an elite apartheid system where racism increases with socio-economic status. The “hegemonic blanqueamiento” created in countries like Brazil creates a deeply exclusionary elite class that fails to represent the overall racial diversity of the nation, Patterson argued.

The Caribbean example of ethnic inequality, according to Patterson, is focused on the underdevelopment of some groups. Patterson said that this mode created two distinct cultures, a Euro-Carib Creole and an Afro-Indo Creole, in these nations.

He also argued that Europe is characterized by what he called the “proletarian incorporation” of ethnic minorities. According to Patterson, multiple axes of identity de-emphasize racial purity and linguistic- and class-based exclusion is significant.

Numerous combinations, including geography, demography and the type of slavery system influenced each regional example, Patterson said.

Some students had suggestions and critiques for the lecture. “I thought that Patterson set up a good framework for how to analyze global race issues, but would have liked to have seen more emphasis on what can be done with that framework, especially in terms of discovering policy options for effective race relations,” Kellan Anfinson ’06 said.

“I was disappointed with how certain he seemed that the situation of black Americans has so drastically improved,” Katie LaZelle ’04 said. “I still feel like there is a lot of change that needs to take place.”

Patterson was the speaker at the Political Science Department’s 23rd annual Mitau Endowed Lecture. This was established to h

or the memory of Professor Theodore Mitau, a Minnesota scholar and educator who graduated from and taught at Macalester.

His visit also included a lunch with students and a panel discussion with Macalester professors.