The United States is among the most racially and ethnically

heterogeneous societies in the world.

a category composed of people who share biologically transmitted traits that members of a society deem socially significant.

Three categories of race in the US

White

Black

(East) Asian

(19th century terms: Caucasoid, Negroid, Mongoloid)

The United States is one of the few places where race is based entirely on skin color. What other characteristics could be used to

determine race?

The one drop rule If you have even one ancestor who is black,

then you are considered black.

Some people argue that race is becoming lesssignificant in the US. Do you agree or disagree?

a shared cultural heritage

Ethnic options the ability of whites in US society to pick and

choose with which ethnic group they want to be identified.

Ethnic enclave a segment of a community in which many of the

residents share a common heritage and where their needs are catered (grocery stores, restaurants, entertainment, religious institutions, etc.)

Minority groupa category of people, distinguished by physical

or cultural traits, who are socially disadvantaged.

Pluralism racial and ethnic minorities are distinct but

have parity

Miscegenation biological reproduction by partners of different

racial categories

Assimilation the process by which minorities gradually

adopt patterns of the dominant culture

Melting pot vs. Salad bowl

Segregation physical and social separation of categories of

people

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) the Supreme Court approved legally enforced

segregation as long as the law did not make facilities for blacks inferior to those of whites.

Brown v. Topeka Board of Education (Brown v. Board) (1954) The Supreme Court ruled that “separate but equal”

does not work. Segregated schools provide African Americans with inferior schooling.

Prejudice rigid and irrational generalization about an

entire category of people (can be based on race, ethnicity, class, sex, or any other category)

Racism the belief that one racial category is innately

superior or inferior to another

StereotypeStereotype – a prejudicial, exaggerated

description of some category of people

Scapegoatperson or category of people, typically, with

little power, whom people unfairly blame for their own troubles

Discrimination any action that involves treating various

categories of people unequally

Institutional Discrimination bias in attitudes or action inherent in the

operation of society’s institutions

Genocide the systematic annihilation of one category of

people by another

What are some examples?