INEQUALITIES OF RACE AND ETHNICTY

The concept of race typically is used to refer to differences among groups in their physical characteristics (skin color, hair texture, facial features, stature, and head shape)

Sociologists define race as a group of people who see themselves, and are seen by others, as having hereditary traits that set them apart from others

Sociologists are interested in is the social significance people attach to various traits; for example, skin color becomes a sign or mark of social status

Races are groups that are not easily identified by cut-and-dry classifications

There is NO connection between physical traits associated with race and characteristics such as intelligence and moral character

This is this process by which social, economic, and political forces create and perpetuate racial categories and meanings

Micro Level – people internalize their racial identities in

accord with how their society defines them (Example: white Americans develop a “white” identity and African Americans develop a “black” identity even though they are both part of the American culture)

Macro Level – race is an organizing principle that affects the nature and content of political, economic, and cultural activities, organizations, and institutions

Racism exists at two levels – individual and institutional

Individual – racism is the belief that some racial groups are naturally superior and others are inferior

Institutional – racism involves discriminatory

policies and practices that result in unequal outcomes for members of different racial groups

A cognitive component that often includes negative stereotypes

An affective component that involves negative reactions and emotional feelings

A behavioral component that includes the tendency

to discriminate or behave negatively

An ethnic group is a group we identify on cultural grounds, like languages, folk practices and traditions, dress, gestures, mannerisms, and religion

Jewish, Italian, Greek, Russian, and Hispanic Americans are all examples of ethnic groups in our country

Ethnic groups sometimes deem themselves to be a nation due to a shared history

Ethnic identities are often “constructed” by their bearers

A minority group is a social group whose members experience discrimination, segregation, oppression, or persecution at the hands of the dominant social group and lack access to the power necessary to change their situation

They are characterized by physical or cultural traits that distinguish them from the dominant group

They are self-conscious; they possess a social and psychological affinity with others like themselves which provides them with a sense of identity

Membership in the group is generally not voluntary; an individual is born into the status

Members of a minority group, by choice or necessity, often marry within their own group (endogamy)

Prejudice – attitudes of aversion and hostility toward individuals (typically members of a minority group) simply because they belong to a particular group and are presumed to have “objectionable” qualities

Dominant groups – believe they are superior to minority groups and have an in-born claim to privilege, power, and prestige; they also believe minorities are by their nature different and alien and have designs on dominant group benefits

Symbolic racism – stereotypes African Americans as people who do not share the American work ethic, would rather be on welfare than work, would be as well of as whites if they “tried harder”, and have recently been “getting more than they deserve”; theory assumes that whites worry they will lose their special status in the United States

Discrimination – prejudice in action; it is a process in which members of one or more groups or categories in society are denied the privileges, prestige, power, legal rights, equal protection of the law, and other social benefits that are available to other groups; it is a form of racism when those discriminated against are a racial minority

Institutional discrimination – the functioning of the institutions of society in a way that produces unequal outcomes for different groups; some institutions give the illusion that they are nondiscriminatory

Example – a university application specifying a prerequisite of graduation from a private high school; many African Americans cannot afford to attend a private high school

Gatekeeping – institutional discrimination is maintained because certain people are admitted to offices and positions of privilege, prestige, and power within society; generally, gatekeepers tend to be white males

Environmental racism – practice of locating hazardous waste facilities near minority communities

Assimilation – process whereby groups with distinctive identities become culturally and socially fused

Melting pot tradition – people and cultures would produce a new people and new civilization

Anglo-conformity view - American culture is a finished product based on the Anglo-Saxon (white, Caucasian) pattern and insists that immigrants give up their cultural traits for those of the dominant American group

Integration (Structural assimilation) – when different ethnic groups participate with one another in the major institutional structures of society, like schools and the workplace

Acculturation (Cultural assimilation) – this is when cultural elements of one group change in the direction of another group; members of different groups within a society must share some cultural elements in order to communicate and interact with others

Pluralism – a situation where diverse groups coexist side by side but still maintain their separate identities

Equalitarian pluralism – cultural identity and group boundaries are maintained while participation in political and economic institutions is conducted on an equal basis; this is the goal of many American minority groups

Inequalitarian pluralism – pluralism promoted by dominant groups in an attempt to maintain their power and privilege by controlling the participation of minorities in society

Examples of inequalitarian pluralism – racial segregation in the southern United States before the 1960s and the apartheid policy of South Africa

An extreme example is genocide which is the systematic extermination of a racial or ethnic group; the Holocaust during WWII and Armenian Genocide of 1915 are unfortunate examples

Hispanics/Latinos – many Hispanic and Latino groups have different histories and cultural characteristics

African Americans – they have made tremendous progress but remain disadvantaged due to continuing social and economic barriers; but 76% of black families do NOT live in poverty

American Indians and Alaskan Natives – they are the most severely disadvantaged of any population in the U.S. due to high poverty and unemployment rates

Asian Americans – consists of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Laotian, Cambodian, and Vietnamese Americans

White Ethnics – many whites in American have ancestry from England, Germany, Holland, Italy, Greece, Poland, and Russia; U.S. national political leadership is dominated by white Protestant males of northwestern European heritage

Functionalist – ethnic differentiation reduces consensus (agreement), increases the chances of conflict, and threatens the equilibrium of society, but it also promotes group formation and cohesion

Conflict – prejudice and discrimination can be best understood in terms of tension or conflict among competing groups; ethnocentrism enhances the potential for prejudicial attitudes and stereotyping because one group will judge the behavior of other groups by their own standards

Interactionist – ethnic groups are seen as products of social interaction; ethnicity arises when communication channels between groups are limited and the different groups develop different systems of meanings

*NOTE – Answers may vary.

His mother was white, but his father was from Kenya

He was raised in Hawaii and Indonesia

He had an Indonesian stepfather

His skin color and features are black

He married an African-American woman

*NOTE – The following answers were not covered in depth by the regular Power Point presentation. You were required to research this information by reading Chapter 7 and working on the Review Guide.

12. who has power and privilege and who doesn’t 36. 13th Amendment 37. 1960s 38. structural features of U.S. society 40. Cuban Americans 41. migration of American Indians 43. Japanese Americans 44. Asian Americans 50. depends on how the questions are asked