Race and Social Problems: Interview with Dean Larry E. Davis

Race and Social Problems: Interview with Dean Larry E. Davis

The Social Work Podcast
2008-03-24

Jonathan B. Singer, Assistant Professor of Social Work
Temple Univerisity

Interview with
Larry E. Davis, Dean and Donald M. Henderson Professor of Social Work and Director of the Center on Race and Social Problems
University of Pittsburgh
 
[Episode 36] Today’s podcast is on Race and Social Problems. On January 15, 2008, I spoke with Dr. Larry E. Davis, Dean of the School of Social Work at the University of Pittsburgh, the Donald M. Henderson Professor, and Director of the Center on Race and Social Problems. In our conversation, Dean Davis defined racism, the role of race in understanding social problems, and about how issues of race may or may not change as the percentage of whites in the United States continues to decrease discussed. We talked about some of the racial and gender issues in the current election and talked about how race is different from gender as a point of diversity. We also talked about race and social work, and what social workers can do to fight racism. We ended our conversation with a discussion of the Center on Race and Social Problems and what the Center is doing to fight racism.

  1. Beginning of the interview and definition of Race and Social Problems: [01:58]
  2. “The major definition of race has been color” [02:31]
  3. Mulattos and Octaroons [3:30]
  4. The New Ingredient in the Identity of Black Biracial Children [4:49]
  5. “African Americans are a multi-racial people.” [5:13]
  6. “America may have biracial children, but there are no biracial adults.” [5:37]
  7. What makes race a social problem? [9:36]
  8. How will issues of race change now that Hispanics are the majority minority group? [11:06]
  9. There is less than a percentage point difference between the number of African American and Hispanics in the United States according to the 2000 Census [11:59]  (Note: In the 2000 US Census, 75.1% of Americans identified as White. 12.5% identified as Hispanic or Latino. 12.3% identified as Black or African American.)
  10. Why should social workers be concerned about race? [15:00]
  11. How can race be a more defining issue for America than gender? [18:19]
  12. Will people vote with their racial or gender identities in the presidential election? [21:47]
  13. Is it detrimental to the Democrats to have two traditionally oppressed groups represented in the front-runners? [24:10]
  14. Dean Davis defines and discusses his concept “Psychological Majority” [26:43]
  15. What can social workers do to fight racism? [31:25]
  16. Should other schools of social work have a center on race and social problems? [36:29]
  17. Center on Race and Social Problems lecture series [38:26]

Listen to the podcast here (Due to large file size, right-click and save to your computer).  Running Time: 00:45:17.

Singer, J. B. (Host). (2008, March 24). Race and social problems: Interview with Dean Larry E. Davis [Episode 36]. Social Work Podcast. Podcast retrieved April 17, 2010, from http://socialworkpodcast.com/2008/03/race-and-social-problems-interview-with.html

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