Racial and Ethnic Relations

1. Chapter 9 Racial and Ethnic Relations

2. Race as Myth and Reality • Biologists sort living creatures into groups called species, not races. • The body has about 100,000 genes, and only about 6 control skin color; dozens of genes affect a person’s height. • Race is real in a social sense. Sociologists look at race from a social perspective. • Race is a category of people who share observable physical characteristics and whom others see as a distinct group. • Sociologists are concerned with how people react to physical characteristics like skin color and hair and how these reactions affect individuals in society.

3. Ethnicity • Although the termsrace and ethnicity are used interchangeably, sociologists assign each term a different meaning. • Ethnicity refers to the set of cultural characteristics that distinguishes one group from another group. • Asian Americans and Hispanic Americans have strong ethnic roots. • Jews worldwide are thought to form an ethnic group. • Ethnicity= cultural characteristics; Race= physical characteristics

4. Minority Groups • Sociologists recognize that people who hold power in a society may place an arbitrary value on specific characteristics. • The dominant group members consciously and unconsciously create a social structure that operates in their favor. • Can a person be considered a minority, even though they outnumber the dominant group? YES • Minority- a group of people—because of race and ethnicity—are singled out and unequally treated. • Sociologists use the term dominant group, NOT majority, because the group size has nothing to do with being a minority. (Apartheid)

5. Minority Groups, cont’d • Characteristics are as follows: • Group possesses identifiable physical or cultural differences from the dominant group • Group members are recipients of unequal treatment at the hands of the dominant group • Membership in the group is an ascribed, or assigned, status. • Group members share a strong bond and sense of group loyalty • Members tend to practice endogamy. • A group MUST exhibit ALL of the above characteristics to be considered a minotiry.

6. Discrimination and Prejudice • Discrimination and prejudice are two features common to the minority group experience worldwide. • Discrimination is the denial of equal treatment to individuals based on their group membership • Prejudice is an unsupported generalization about a category of people • Discrimination= actions; Prejudice= attitudes

7. Types of Discrimination • Legal discrimination- is upheld by law. Apartheid system in South Africa is an example of this. South Africa had an elaborate system of laws that distinguished the political, economic, and legal rights of white South Africans from non-white South Africans. • Other examples are Jim Crow laws in the South and Plessy v. Ferguson (separate but equal) • Institutionalized discrimination- unequal access to resources that pushes minority groups into less-powerful positions in society. In some communities, schools as poorly funded, students may not acquire adequate skills for the job market, and may have fewer opportunities for advancement. • This inequality becomes a cycle that is difficult to break

8. Prejudice • Negative forms of prejudice often involve stereotypes: an oversimplified, exaggerated, or unfavorable generalization about a group of people. • If people are told often enough that they or others are socially, mentally, or physically inferior, they may come to believe it. • W. I. Thomas said that people often act based on what they believe to be true, not necessarily on what is true. • Robert K. Merton proposed that a stereotype could become a self-fulfilling prophecy, or a prediction that results in behavior that makes the prediction come true. • Prejudice serves as justification for discrimination. • Racism is the belief that one’s own race or ethnic group is naturally superior to other races or ethnic groups. • Merton said that people combined prejudice and discrimination in four possible ways: The Active Bigot (openly discriminatory), The Timid Bigot (Prejudice but afraid to discrimination b/c of societal pressure, The Fair-Weather Liberal (not prejudiced but discriminates b/c of societal pressure), and The All-Weather Liberal (not prejudiced and does not discriminate)

9. Sources of Discrimination and Prejudice • Sociological Explanations: prejudices are embedded in social norms that describe how members of society are expected to related to members of certain out-groups • Psychological Explanations: suggests that people are prejudiced because they have a particular personality type. Authoritarians are strongly conformist, have a great deal of respect for authority, and are likely to follow the orders of an authority figure. Another psychological explanation suggests that prejudice is the product of frustration and anger, often scapegoating individuals which gives people a sense of superiority then they are feeling powerless. • Economic Explanations: prejudice and discrimination arise out of competition for scarce resources. Inexpensive labor forces have often been the cause of conflict, creating split labor markets and making the minority groups fear, distrust, and hate one another.

10. Patterns of Minority Group Treatment • Cultural Pluralism: allows each group within society to keep its unique cultural identity. Switzerland- French, German, and Italian all live together peacefully and are loyal to Switzerland. • Assimilation: the blending of culturally distinct groups into a single group with a common culture and identity. This formed the basis of the "melting pot" of the US. Can lead to conflict as in Bulgaria and its Turkish minority in the 1980's. • Legal Protection: Examples are the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and affirmative action.

11. Patterns of Minority Group Treatment, cont'd • Segregation: when a minority group is forbidden to live in the same areas as the dominant group and cannot use the same public facilities. Two types are de jure segregation (based on laws) and de facto (based on informal norms). • Subjugation: control over groups by force. South Africa "apartheid". This was eventually brought to an end in the mid-1990's. • Population Transfer: when the dominant group transfers the minority population to a new territory. The Trail of Tears in the 1800's and the Japanese Internment camps during WWII. • Extermination: the most extreme pattern of intergroup relations, which exterminates or eliminates a minority group. • Genocide is the destruction--in whole or in part--of a national, racial, ethnic, or religious group. Holocaust WWII, Rwanda, Darfur • Ethnic cleansing is when a dominant group combines population transfer and extermination. Serbia/Kosovo conflict

12. Minority Groups in the US • Gunnar Myrdal came up with the "American Dilemma": a gap existed between what Americans claim to believe and how they actually behave. Slavery and segregation are examples. • Early settlers provided an image of the dominant group of American society: white Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASPs) • The four major minorities in the US are: African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, and Native Americans

13. African Americans • African Americans are one of the largest minority groups in the US. • Slavery, discrimination, & segregation are part of the group's history. • Civil Rights, starting in the 1950's, have had significant social gains. • Average household is 60% of that of white households. • Environmental racism: racial bias in environmental policies and practices, such as targeting minority communities as sites for toxic waste disposal and polluting industries. https://youtu.be/TrbeuJRPM0o

14. Hispanic Americans • As of 2007, 59% increase in the size of the Hispanic population since 1990. • As of 2007, more than 11 million undocumented. • Hispanics have replaced African Americans as the country’s largest minority group. • Most come for political freedom and economic opportunity. • By 2020, the number of Hispanics in the US is estimated to reach 60.4million. • Hispanics struggle with employment and education, primarily because of the language barrier.

15. Asian Americans • As of 2007, close to 5% of the total US population • Asian Americans consistently achieve high scores on both the verbal and mathematical sections of the SAT Reasoning Test. • 49% over age of 25 have bachelor’s degrees, compared to 28.6% of White Americans in the same age group. • Median household income is $16,000 high than income for all other Americans. • Often seen as the “model minority”, which leads to discrimination. • Compared to other minority groups, Asian Americans suffer from higher rates of stress, depression, mental illness, and suicide attempts.

16. Native Americans • Population numbered in the millions when Europeans first set foot on US soil. By 1890, it was reduced to 228,000. • Government policies tried to assimilate Native Americans into white society, and those who adopted these ways were rewarded with US citizenship. • As of 2007, 2.9 million Native Americans live in the US. 55% live on reservations and 45% live in or near urban areas. • This minority group faces the greatest challenges: alcohol-related deaths are 7 times higher than among the general population, and suicide is the second leading cause of death among Native Americans ages 15 to 24 years old. • Pan-Indianism: a social and political movement that unites culturally distinct Native American nations to work together on issues that affect all Native Americans. • New federal laws in the 1990’s has helped Native Americans be able to open businesses on reservations like bingo halls and casinos. (Pipeline)

17. Other Minorities • White Ethnics: Immigrants from mainly Catholic countries of Ireland, Italy, France, Poland, and Greece who immigrated during the 1800’s and 1900’s. They were discriminated against but were able to assimilate quickly into mainstream society. • Jewish Americans: Immigration took place in two phases, either in 1800’s-1920, or when Hitler rose to power in the 1930’s. They also assimilated quickly, but still faced anti-semitism. • Arab Americans: As of 2007, more than 3.5 million Arab Americans live in the US. They come from 22 Arab nations and are Catholic, Protestant, and Muslim. Since 9/11/2001, many Arab Americans have become unjustly suspect, causing hate crimes and other forms of discrimination to escalate.