Chapter 9 Race and Ethnicity Copyright 2012, SAGE Publications, Inc

Copyright 2012, SAGE Publications, Inc.

Chapter 9

Race and Ethnicity


The Concept of Race

• Race is based on some real or presumed physical, biological characteristic, such as skin color or hair texture, as well as a shared lineage.

• Ethnic groups, in contrast, are defined on the basis of some real or presumed cultural characteristic such as language, religion, tradition, and cultural practices.


Historical Thinking About Race

• “Scientific” Explanations• In the 19th and 20th centuries there were

scientific justifications for treating people of other races differently.

• This led to “scientific” justifications for unequal distribution of wealth, power, and prestige.

• Gregor Mendel’s work on genetics and heredity led to the development of Eugenics.


Historical Thinking About Race

• Cultural Explanations• Though “scientific” explanations of race

continue to exist, a newer explanation based on social and cultural factors is more prevalent today.

• In the second half of the 20th century, ideas of cultural superiority replaced those associated with biological superiority.


The Fluidity of Racial Categories• There is nothing intrinsic about any racial

group that makes it distinct from any other.

• Race is a dynamic and fluid concept.

• The hypodescent rule (also known as the one drop rule)


Racial and Ethnic Identities

• Many members from oppressed racial groups go to some lengths to identify with the dominant group.• Some assigned to a subordinate race

physically resemble the dominant race.• Others straighten, curl, or color their hair.• Others lighten their skin.• Some undergo rhinoplasty.


Majority-Minority Relations

• Sociologically the definition of majority-minority is not numerical but based on access to power, property, and prestige.

• The social construction of difference says that all majority and minority statuses are products of social definitions.



• Stereotypes, Prejudices, and Discrimination

• A stereotype is a generalization about an entire category of people.

• Prejudice involves attitudes, beliefs, and feelings toward minorities (usually negative).

• Discrimination is the unfavorable treatment arising from negative stereotypes of prejudice.


Majority-Minority Relations• Intersectionality is the idea that members of

any minority group are affected by the nature of their position in other arrangements of social inequality.

• “Matrix of Oppression”• The converse is also true in that a person

who holds a number of statuses that are highly valued in society is likely to be advantaged.



• Patterns of interaction• Pluralism exists in societies where many groups

are able to coexist without any of them losing their individual qualities.

• Assimilation occurs when a minority group takes on the characteristics of the dominant group.

• Segregation is the physical separation of majority and minority groups.

• Genocide is the systematic attempt at eliminating an entire group of people.



• Race, Ethnicity, and Consumption• Marketing to Minorities

• White Consumption of Black Culture

• Commercialization of Ethnicity


Racism

• Racism is the negative treatment of racial and ethnic groups.

• Ethnocentrism is the belief that one’s own group is superior to other groups.


Racism

• Foundations of Racism

• Social Structure and Racism

• Culture and Racism

• Racist Motives


Racism

• Institutional Racism• Race-based discrimination that results from

the day-to-day operation of social institutions and social structures

• The Role of Individuals in Institutional Racism

• The “Invisibility” of Institutional Racism


Social Movements and Race

• Hate Groups

• Most hate groups in the United States are white supremacist movements.

• Examples include the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and neo-Nazi skinheads.



• Civil Rights Movement• Resistance to the oppression of blacks and

other minority groups• Started in the South in the mid-1950s• Honed a variety of techniques including

boycotts, mass marches, freedom rides, and lawsuits

• As a result Jim Crow laws in the South were dismantled



• Collective Identity and Power Movements• Social movements that arose in the late

1960s and early 1970s (after civil rights)

• Black Power Movement

• Brown Power and La Raza


Race and Ethnicity in Global Context

• Ethnic Identity and Globalization• Some sociologists argue that globalization is not a

threat to ethnic identity.

• Ethnic identities are not fragile.

• Globalization can be a force for the creation and proliferation of ethnic identity.

• Ethnic identity and globalization are part of the same process.



• Global Prejudice and Discrimination

• Global Flows Based on Race and Ethnicity

• Positive and Negative Flows

• Racial and Ethnic Barriers



• Ethnic Conflict Within Nation-States• Expulsion is the removal of a group (direct or

voluntary) from a territory.• Ethnic Cleansing is the establishment by the

dominant group of policies that allow for the forcible removal of another ethnic group.

• Genocide is defined as “acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.”

Documents

Chapter 9 Race and Ethnicity Copyright 2012, SAGE Publications, Inc