Ethnicity, “Race”

Concepts are key Race and ethnic relations: structured

inequality

Concepts: “race”

“physical variations singled out by the members of a community or society as socially significant.” (Giddens & Duneier, 2003: 333)

“race”

A century of failed attempts to designate races as biological categories (scientific racism)

So does this mean race doesn’t exist? Was W. E. B. DuBois wrong to say the “color line” was the problem of the twentieth century?

W. I. Thomas on the definition of the situation:

“If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences.” (1928)

So “race” as a concept is a social construct.

Differences in skin color have been singled out as significant, and have

been made significant in their consequences.

Concepts: ethnicity

“cultural practices and outlooks of a given community that have emerged historically” (Giddens & Duneier: 334)

Since they are cultural, ethnicities are learned.

Choice and ethnicity

Situational ethnicity: assertion of ethnic identity is chosen when it may have positive results (e.g., affirmative action)

Symbolic ethnicity: occasional use of only the symbolic features of ethnicity (e.g., “kiss me I’m Irish” button on St. Patrick’s Day)

Concepts: prejudice

Preconceived opinions or attitudes about a group

Attitudes are learned Substantial psychological research on

prejudice

Psychology of prejudice

Prejudice based on stereotypical thinking: using rigid, inflexible categories

Involves displacement: misdirected anger toward scapegoats

Involves projection: unconscious attribution of one’s own desires to others

Authoritarian personality type prone to prejudice

Concepts: discrimination

Acts that deny members of a group or category access to valued resources or opportunities

Discrimination is behavior May or may not be based on prejudice

Concepts: racism

Shafer: racism is an ideology supporting stratification based on the social construction of race

Giddens: a system of domination in institutions or individual consciousness

Concepts: racism

Review: ideology is a system of ideas which are used to justify a system of power and the actions of the powerful (Giddens, et. al. p. 20)

Racism developed historically– Along with the very concept of race– To justify slavery, conquest, racial prejudice and

discrimination

Concepts: individual racism

Giddens/Duneier/Appelbaum: “Racism is commonly thought of as behavior or attitudes held by certain individuals or groups.” (2002: 336)

This is the direct form of racism experienced in everyday life.

individual racism

racist minority group

prejudice

discrimination

Concepts: institutional racism

Giddens/Duneier/Appelbaum: “racism pervades all of society’s structures in a systematic manner.” (336)

Shafer: patterns of racial stratification woven into the social structure (may include latent, unintended consequences)

institutional racism

Racial stratification: explanations

Historical explanation: Blauner

Lowest ranking minorities (Native Americans, African Americans, Latinos) were oppressed by colonization.

Types of race/ethnic relations: United States and Native Americans

Pluralism: separate identities, equal rights

Genocide: systematic destruction of a group

Ethnic cleansing: forced migration

Assimilation: minority accepted when they adapt majority culture

Constitutional recognition of native nations, treaty rights

Bioterrorism: smallpox blankets

Trail of Tears

Dawes Act (allotment), boarding schools (Haskell)

Racial stratification: why still unequal?

Prejudice has declined Discrimination is illegal Black middle class has improved Asian Americans are the “model minority”

William Julius Wilson: the significance of class

Conditions of the urban underclass have deteriorated

Primarily because of economic shifts, loss of job opportunities

Critics: prejudice and discrimination persist

Wilson responds: meaning and significance of race

Disappearance of work is the central problem of the ghetto

These problems have aggravated race relations

Employers exclude inner city blacks (especially men) from applicant pools: statistical discrimination

Recently, sociologists analyzing interaction of race, class, and gender in social inequality.

raceclass

gender