Race and Ethnic relations

1. Race and Ethnic relations Joli Jackson, Cedria Reid, Asia Johnson, Ana C.

2. What is race? • Race is a category of people who share inherited physical characteristics and whom others see as being a distinct group.

3. What is ethnicity? • Ethnicity is people from different cultural backgrounds and the set of cultural characteristics that distinguishes from one group to another group.

4. Minority Groups • A minority group is a group of people who are singled out and unequally treated because of their physical characteristics or cultural practices. • Minority groups must have the following characteristics: • Group possesses identifiable physical or cultural characteristics that differ from those of the dominant group • Group members are victims of unequal treatment by the dominant group • Membership in the group is an ascribed status • Group members share strong bond • Members tend to have marriage within the group

5. Discrimination • Discriminatory acts by individual range from name-calling and rudeness to acts of violence. Societal discrimination can appear in one of the two forms: • Legal discrimination: upheld by law • Institutional discrimination: an outgrowth of the structure of a society

6. Prejudice • Negative forms of prejudice is often involve stereotypes. A stereotype is an oversimplifies exaggerated or unfavorable generalization about a group of people. • For example ,a stereotype held by some Americans was that all Irish people were hot tempered. • Stereotyping can have consequences for society if people are told often enough and long enough that they or others are socially, mentally , or physically inferior they may come to believe it.

7. Sources of discrimination and prejudice • Sociological explanations: In some societies prejudices are in the social norms. People often become prejudice to maintain their group membership. They may also become prejudice through their identification with a reference group that encourages/ supports prejudices. • Psychological Explanations: One explanation says that people are prejudice because they have a particular personality (Authoritarian personality). Another explanation says that prejudice may be the product of frustration and anger. • Economic explanations: An economical explanation is that it arises out of competition for scarce resources.

8. Pattern of minority group treatment • Cultural pluralism : allows each group within society to keep unique cultural identity. • Assimilation : the blending of culturally distinct groups into a single group common culture and identity. • Segregation : policies that physically separate a minority group from the dominant group • Two types of segregation • De jure segregation: is based on laws • De facto segregation based on informal norms • Subjugation :the maintaining control over a group through force • Slavery :the ownership of one person by another • Genocide :destruction of entire targeted population

9. African Americans • Compromising more than 12% of the population, African Americans are one of the largest minority groups in the country. • First brought to this country as slaves in the early 1600s, African Americans have only recently gained an economic and political foothold in American society. • The civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s brought significant gains for African Americans. For example , the percentage of the population completing high school is now only a few points for African Americans than for white American. • The percentage of African Americans completing four or more years of college is just more than half that of white Americans • the unemployment rate among African Americans is more than twice as high as the unemployment rate among white workers. • The percentage of African American families living below the poverty level is almost three times that of white families.

10. Hispanics • The Hispanic population is growing so fast that Hispanics have replaced African Americans as the country’s largest minority group. • Hispanics have gained increasing political power in recent years and currently hold more than 6,000 elected and appointed offices. • Hispanics also control large voting block several states, particularly California, New York,Texas, Illinois, and Florida.

11. Asian Americans • Like Hispanics, Asian Americans come from a variety of national backgrounds. • Representing close to 4% of the total U.S. population, Asian Americans are the country’s 3rd largest ethnic minority group.

12. Native Americans • In 2000 the Native American population was at 2.5 million. • Nearly 30% live below the poverty level • Rate of alcohol related deaths is 7 times higher among native Americans • Suicide rate is 1.5 times higher

13. White ethnics • White ethnics are immigrants from the catholic countries of Ireland, Italy, France, Poland, Greece. • Often stereotyped as poorly educated • Discrimination faced by white ethnics was based on cultural and economic concerns