Race and Ethnic Relations

African American History

10.1 Race, Ethnicity and Social Structure

Questions to think about: How do sociologists determine the terms

race, ethnicity, and minority group? What characteristics distinguish minority

groups from one another?

Race as a Myth– Many people think that humankind can be sorted into

biologically distinct groups called races. This idea suggests that there are “pure” examples of different races and that any person can belong to only one race.

– Biologists, geneticists, and social scientists reject this view of race.

– All people belong to the human species.– There are greater differences within racial groups than

between racial groups.

Race as Myth and Reality

Race

Historically scholars have placed people into three groups:

1. Caucasoids-fair skin and straight or wavy hair (whites)

2. Mongoloids-yellowish or brownish skin with distinctive folds on the eyelids (Asians)

3. Negroids-dark skin and tightly curled hair (blacks)

However, this well known classification system has difficulty describing the complexity of race.

It is difficult to classify people into clear-cut categories because people often possess the traits of more than one race.

Examples: Southern India-Caucasoid facial features and

dark skin, and straight hair.

Australia-Aborigines-dark skin and blond tightly curled hair.

Race defined:

There are no biologically “pure” races. RACE-a category of people who share

inherited physical characteristics and whom others see as being a distinctive group.

Sociologists are concerned with how people react to these characteristics and how these reactions affect individuals in society.

Ethnicity

Ethnicity-set of cultural characteristics that distinguishes one group from another.

Ethnic Group-people who share a common cultural background and a common sense of identity.

Ethnicity is generally based on cultural characteristics such as national origin, religion, language, custom, and values.

Ethnic Group Survival

If an ethnic group is to survive over time, its cultural beliefs and practices must be passed down from generation to generation.

Examples: Asian and Hispanic Americans tend to have

strong ethnic roots. Unlike German Americans who are raised in

the US who no longer feel deep ties to their homeland.

What’s the difference between race and ethnicity? Ethnicity is based on cultural considerations Race is based on physical considerations

Some ethnic groups are racially distinct: African Americans, Japanese

Americans, Korean Americans can be classified ethnically and racially.

Minority Groups

No particular skin color, physical feature, or ethnic background is superior or inferior by nature.

Those who hold power in society may place an arbitrary value on specific characteristics.

By establishing values and norms of society, dominant-group members consciously and unconsciously create a social structure that acts in their favor.

Minority Groups – Conflict Theory Speaking the language most common in a

society is one position of power held by the dominant group.

Using the conflict theory, many sociologists have concluded that a dominant group’s position of power allows them to enjoy privileges, such as better housing, better schools, and higher incomes.

The privileged position of the dominant group is often gained at the expense of the minority groups within society.

Minority Group defined:

Minority group is identified as a group of people who –because of their physical characteristics or cultural practices-are singled out and unequally treated.

Does not have to do with group SIZE.

Characteristics that distinguish minority groups from other groups in society: Identifiable physical or cultural characteristics

that differ from the dominant group. Group members are victims of unequal

treatment at the hands of the dominant group. Membership in the group is ascribed. Members share strong sense of group loyalty. Members practice endogamy-marriage within

the group.

In 1968 third-grade teacher Jane Elliot divided her students

into groups of brown-eyed and blue-eyed children. She told

the class that the brown-eyed children were superior to the

blue-eyed children, and that they would receive special

treatment. The two groups of children internalized these

rules, and the blue-eyed children appeared to be miserable

and defeated. This experiment was one way to help

children understand the effects of discrimination.

Case Study: A Class Divided

Jane Elliot’s Experiment“A Class Divided”

CLIP on Jane Elliot’s class:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hqp6GnYqIjQClip 1http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QyqxkM_Z94&feature=relatedClip 2 Wednesdayhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7JneNPZltU&feature=relatedClip 3http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no1F-AMTnGg&feature=related

Patterns of Intergroup Relations (Ch 10.2)

1. How do prejudice and discrimination differ?

2. What are patterns of minority group treatment?

Discrimination and Prejudice

Words are commonly used mistakenly interchangeably.

Discrimination-the denial of equal treatment to individuals based on group membership based on group membership. INVOLVES BEHAVIORS

Prejudice-an unsupported generalization about a group of people. Refers to ATTITUDES

What does inequality feel like?

Discrimination

Found at the individual or societal level

Range from name-calling and rudeness to acts of violence.

Most extreme form can lead to physical harm or even death.

Societal Discrimination:Legal and Institutionalized

Legal discrimination-upheld by the law. Apartheid system in South Africa-system of

elaborate laws that defined the rights of whites and non-whites.

Voting rights women in US Jim Crow laws in the US

Plessy v. Ferguson Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka

Institutionalized discrimination-is an outgrowth of society. More resistant to change Over time, unequal access to resources pushes

some minority groups into less powerful positions.

Dominant group consciously discriminates in order to maintain a system of inequality

Can occur even after legal steps have been taken to end discrimination

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyL5EcAwB9c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOS3BBmUxvs&feature=related

Example-Institutionalized Discrimination

1. Minority group denied access to jobs and housing.

2. Over time group members become concentrated in one area.

3. Community schools are poorly funded, members do not acquire the skills to compete in the labor market.

4. Without being able to qualify for higher paying jobs, their children will have few opportunities for advancement, and the cycle of inequality is maintained.

Prejudice Often includes stereotypes-

Stereotypes-oversimplified, exaggerated, or unfavorable generalization about a group of people.

EX-All Irish are hot tempered. If people are told often and long enough that

other people are socially, mentally or physically inferior, they come to believe it.

Prejudice cont.

Self-fulfilling prophecy (Merton) a prediction that results in behavior that makes the prediction come true. If members of a minority group are considered

incapable of understanding technical information, they will not be given technical training.

Racism

Prejudice often serves as justification for discriminatory actions.

Individuals come to believe negative claims against a minority group, which makes it easier for them to discriminate.

Racism-the belief that one’s race or ethnic group is naturally superior to other races or ethnic groups.

Prejudice and Discrimination: Are they always related?

Active bigot-prejudiced and openly discriminates

Timid bigot-prejudiced, but does not discriminate because of societal issues

Fair-weather liberal-not prejudiced, but discriminates because of societal pressure

All-weather liberal-not prejudiced, and does not discriminate

Discussion point:

Can anyone explain (or give an example) to the class of how someone could be a fair-weather liberal?

Or a timid bigot?

Sources of Discrimination and Prejudice

Sociological Explanations Focus on the social environment Socialization-process by which norms are

internalized (learned) Prejudices are imbedded in social norms

(norms describe ways in which members are “expected” to behave towards certain out-groups)

People become prejudice to maintain group membership-through identification with a reference group who support the behavior.

Sources of Discrimination and Prejudice

Psychological Explanations Focus the behavior of individuals People are prejudice because of personality Adorno found that prejudice people shared

authoritarian personality trait Authoritarian=strong conformist, respect for

authority, likely to follow orders Prejudice is also a product of frustration and

anger External locus of control Scapegoating-placing the blame for one’s

trouble on an innocent individual (or minority group)

Sources of Discrimination and Prejudice

Economic Explanations Discrimination and prejudice arise out of competition

for scarce resources. EX-Chinese in the 1800 were welcomed for cheap

labor, but were later viewed as competition to whites for jobs

Laws restricted immigration of Chinese (Exclusion Act) Conflict perspective-the dominant group, in order to

protect their position, puts minorities against one another in competition for resources, which causes minority groups to fear, distrust and hate one another.

Patterns of Minority Group Treatment

Cultural Pluralism Allows each group within society to keep its

unique identity. Practiced in Switzerland

Three official languages: French, German and Italian (3 major ethnic groups)

None of the groups has taken a dominant role in Swiss society.

Patterns of Minority Group Treatment

Assimilation The blending of culturally distinct features into

a single group with a common culture and identity.

Racial and ethnic minorities attempt to hold onto their cultural features.

Assimilation occurs naturally overtime through daily interaction.

Forcing assimilation often leads to conflict. Bulgaria 1980s tried to assimilate large

Turkish population.

Patterns of Minority Group Treatment

Legal Protection Countries take legal steps (make laws) to

ensure that the rights of minority groups are protected. Civil Rights Act 1964 and Voting Rights Act

1965 in the US. Affirmative action programs in the US-

designed to correct past imbalances in the educational and employment opportunities given to minority groups.

Patterns of Minority Group TreatmentSegregation Policies that physically separate the minority

group from the dominant group. De jure segregation-laws that separate. De facto segregation-segregation based on

informal norms Jews in Europe during the Middle Ages were

forced to live in walled-off communities called ghettos.

Practiced in the US until the 1960s

Patterns of Minority Group Treatment

Subjugation Maintaining of control over a group by force. Slavery-the ownership of one person by

another (most extreme form) EX=South Africa’s apartheid system:

Apartheid literally means “apartness” Called for segregation of all groups in

society Political and economic power rested solely

in the hands of the white few and rigidly maintained by force.

Patterns of Minority Group Treatment

Population transfer Dominant group separates itself from the

minority group by transferring the minority population to a new territory. Indirect transfer-the dominant group makes life

so miserable for the minority that they leave. Direct transfer-involves the use of force.

Resettlement of Native Americans on reservations during the 1800s

Patterns of Minority Group Treatment

Extermination Genocide-the intentional destruction of an entire

targeted population Attempted (and sometimes achieved) many times

throughout history Jews in Russia in the 1800s Jews in Europe during WW II-the Holocaust British extermination of Tasmanians in South Africa 1.5 Armenians by Turks and the mutual slaughter of Muslims

and Hindus in the first half of the 1900s Genocides also in Rwanda and Cambodia http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__kf7TljgGs

Ethnic Cleansing Combined population transfer and

extermination. Involves removing group from a protected

area through terror, expulsion, and mass murder. 1998 the Serbian government began a

campaign that sought to drive out or kill about 1.7 ethnic Albanians.

In one year 1.5 million had been expelled from their homes and 10,000 killed.

NATO stopped the Serbs of achieving their goal using armed intervention.

Click on the image below to play the Interactive.

12 Percent of Population• Experiences historically shaped

by slavery, discrimination, and segregation

• Civil Rights Movement brought significant gains towards equality

• Some negative trends in education, employment, and income that reveal continuing inequality

• Since 1965 legislation, the number of black representatives in government has grown quickly

• Organizations such as the National Urban League work to empower African Americans

• Group faces environmental racism, or racial bias in environmental policies and practices

African Americans

Largest minority group• Trace their heritage to Spain or

Spanish-speaking Latin American countries

• Population of Hispanics growing faster than general population

• During 1960s Hispanics in the United States were mostly from Mexico, Cuba, and Puerto Rico

• Central and South American immigrants now common

• Came to the United States to seek political freedom and economic opportunity

• Estimate in 2006 of more than 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States; vast majority are Hispanic

• Hispanics now hold more than 6,000 appointed and elected positions

• Poverty rate is double that of white Americans

Hispanic Americans

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ru1F29vuVKI&feature=related

ABC What would you do? Latino Hate Crime Episode

2.9 Million Individuals• Original inhabitants of the

United States• Disease, warfare, and

destruction of traditional ways of life reduced numbers dramatically

• U.S. government took traditional lands and forced Native Americans onto reservations

• Policies encouraged assimilation into white culture

• Today 55 percent on reservations

• Statistics reveal dire challenges for Native American populations

• Pan-Indianism: a social and political movement that united culturally distinct Native American nations to work together on issues that affect all Native Americans

Native Americans

5 Percent of Population• Earliest to arrive were Chinese

and Japanese• Immigrants from most Asian

countries now here, including the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Pakistan

• Projected to be 8 percent of population by 2050

• Have used education to move up economic ladder

• Median income is higher for Asian Americans than for other groups

• Some call Asian Americans “the model minority” because of their quick assimilation; many resent this label because it ignores the struggles historically faced

• Asian Americans face higher rates of stress, depression, mental illness, and suicide attempts

Asian Americans

White Ethnics• White ethnics were immigrants from the mainly Catholic

countries of Ireland, Italy, France, Poland, and Greece• Faced discrimination by the white Protestant majority

Jewish Americans• Focus their ethnic identity on their religion• Faced anti-Semitism, discrimination and prejudice against Jews

Arab Americans• 3.5 million Arab Americans• Arab Americans face new discrimination after the Arab-led

terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001

Other Minorities

Being Arab American after the 9-11 AttacksWithin hours of the terrorist attacks on September 11, Arab American communities and individuals were faced with violent attacks and other discrimination. These acts revealed that non-Arab Americans knew very little about Arab Americans.

Current Research in Sociology

• The Detroit Arab American Study asked Arab Americans how September 11 had changed their lives.

• Researchers completed face-to-face interviews with 1,016 Arab Americans and Iraqi Christians and 508 members of the general population.

• Fifteen percent had experienced discrimination, verbal insults being most common.

• Three percent reported acts of violence against them or their family.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2bCIspDbHs

Clip 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1r6wpUZ_RnA&feature=related