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Chapter 9. Race and Ethnicity. Chapter Outline. Race and Ethnicity Prejudice Discrimination Sociological Perspectives on Race and Ethnic Relations Racial and Ethnic Groups in the United States Global Racial and Ethnic Inequality in the Future. What Is Race? . Some people view race as:
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Chapter 9 Race and Ethnicity
Chapter Outline • Race and Ethnicity • Prejudice • Discrimination • Sociological Perspectives on Race and Ethnic Relations • Racial and Ethnic Groups in the United States • Global Racial and Ethnic Inequality in the Future
What Is Race? • Some people view race as: • Skin color: the Caucasian “race”, • Religion: the Jewish “race” • Nationality: the British “race” • Entire human species: the human “race”
Race and Biology • A race is a category of people who have been singled out as inferior or superior, on the basis of real or alleged physical characteristics such as skin color, hair texture, eye shape, or other attributes. • Race has little meaning biologically due to interbreeding in the human population.
Characteristics of Ethnic Groups • Ethnicity; is a collection of people distinguished by others or by themselves, primarily on the base of cultural or nationality characteristics. • Unique cultural traits. • A sense of community. • A feeling of ethnocentrism. • Ascribed membership from birth. • Tendency to occupy a geographic area.
Dominant and Subordinate Groups • A dominant group is one that is advantaged and has superior resources and rights in a society. • A subordinate group is one whose members are disadvantaged and subjected to unequal treatment by the dominant group and who regard themselves as objects of collective discrimination.
Prejudice • A negative attitude based on generalizations about members of selected racial, ethnic, or other groups. • During world war II How America treated Japanese? • Psychologist Theodor W. Adorno and his colleagues finding about highly prejudice and authoritarian personality.
Prejudice • Stereotypes are overgeneralizations about the appearance, behavior, or other characteristics of members of particular categories. • Ethnocentrism refers to the tendency to regard one’s own culture and group as the standard.
Racism • A set of attitudes, beliefs, and practices used to justify the superior treatment of one racial or ethnic group and the inferior treatment of another racial or ethnic group. • Recent studies have shown that the underlying reasoning behind racism differs according to factors such as gender, age, class, and geography.
Theories of Prejudice • Frustration–aggression hypothesis • People who are frustrated in their efforts to achieve a highly desired goal will respond with a pattern of aggression toward others. • Authoritarian Personality • Characterized by excessive conformity, submissiveness to authority, intolerance, insecurity, a high level of superstition, and rigid, stereotypic thinking.
Definition of discrimination • Involves action or practices of dominant group members that have a harmful impact on members of a subordinate group. • A football coach with Afro America and white fans relation and Robert Merton typology of discrimination.
Four Major Types of Discrimination • Isolate discrimination - A prejudiced judge giving harsher sentences to African American defendants. • Small-group discrimination - Small group of white students defacing a professor’s office with racist epithets.
Four Major Types of Discrimination • Direct institutionalized discrimination - Intentional exclusion of people of color from public accommodations. • Indirect institutionalized discrimination - Special education classes may have contributed to racial stereotyping.
Discrimination • Institutional discrimination; consist of the day-to-day practice s of organizations and institutions that have a harmful impact on members of subordinate groups.
Contact Hypothesis or symbolic interactionist theory • Contact between divergent groups group are exposed to each other, favorable attitudes and behavior developed when certain factors are present. • Have equal status. • Pursue the same goals. • Cooperate with one another to achieve goals. • Receive positive feedback while interacting.
De facto • Refers to racial separation and inequality enforced by custom, and it may be difficult to document.
Functionalist Perspectives on Race and Ethnic Relations • Assimilation A process by which members of subordinate racial and ethnic groups become absorbed into the dominant culture. • Ethnic PluralismThe coexistence of a variety of distinct racial and ethnic groups within one society.
Conflict Perspectives on Race and Ethnic Relations • The Caste Perspective views racial and ethnic inequality as a permanent feature of U.S. society. • Class perspectives emphasize the role of the capitalist class in racial exploitation. • Objectification; this occur when judge people on the basis of their physical appearance rather than on the basis of their individual qualities or action.
Conflict Perspectives on Race and Ethnic Relations • Internal Colonialism occurs when members of a racial or ethnic group are forcibly placed under the control of the dominant group. • Split Labor Market - The division of the economy into a primary sector composed of higher paid workers in more secure jobs, and a secondary sector of lower-paid workers in jobs with little security.
Critical Race Theory • Premises: • The belief that racism is such an ingrained feature of U.S. society that it appears to be ordinary and natural to many people. • The belief that interest convergence is a crucial factor in bringing about social change.
Racial and Ethnic Groups in the United States • Native Americans • White Anglo‑Saxon Protestants • African Americans • White Ethnic Americans • Asian Americans • Latinos/as • Middle Eastern Americans
Native Americans • Most disadvantaged group in the U.S. in terms of income, employment, housing, and nutrition. • As a group they have experienced: • Genocide • Forced Migration • Forced Assimilation
African Americans • Slavery was rationalized by stereotyping African Americans as inferior and childlike. • Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1965 sought to eliminate discrimination in education, housing, employment and health care.
Asian Americans • Fastest growing ethnic minority in the U.S. • Includes Japanese, Korean, Filipino and Indochinese Americans.
Latinos/as(Hispanic Americans) • Includes Mexican American's, Puerto Ricans and Cuban Americans. • Many Mexican American families have lived in the U.S. for 4 or 5 generations and have made significant contributions. • In 1917, Puerto Ricans acquired U.S. citizenship and the right to move freely to and from the mainland.
Middle Eastern Americans • Includes immigrants from Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, and Jordan. • The Lebanese, Syrians, and Iranians primarily come from middle class backgrounds. • Most Iranian immigrants initially hoped to return to Iran; however, many have become U.S. citizens.
Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the U.S. • In 1980 white Americans made up 80% of the population. • In 2000, white Americans made up 70% of the population. • By 2056, the roots of the average U.S. resident will be in Africa, Asia, Hispanic countries, the Pacific Islands, or Arabia—not white Europe.
