Sociology Exam 4

Assimilation occurs at several distinct levels? What are they?

- Cultural assimilation - Structural assimilation (integration) - biological assimilation - psychological assimilation

What is the micro level analysis with gender?

- Focuses on how individuals learn gender roles and acquire a gender identity

Sexism directed at women has three components. What are they?

- Negative attitudes toward women - Stereotypical beliefs that reinforce, complement, or justify the prejudice - Discrimination

What is the symbolic interactionist perspectives on race and ethnic relations?

- claim that intergroup contact may either intensify or reduce racial and ethnic stereotyping and prejudice, depending on the context - micro level contacts between individuals

What are the three key activities to create a socially constructed reality?

- collective agreement - imposition - acceptance of a specific construction

What is the macro level analysis of gender?

- examines structural features, external to the individual, that perpetuate gender inequality

What is the functionalist perspectives on race and ethnic relations?

- explain how members of subordinate racial and ethnic groups become a part of the dominant group (do not account for the persistent racial segregation and economic inequality) - macro level intergroup processes

What is the conflict perspectives on race and ethnic relations?

- focus on economic stratification and access to power in their analyses of race and ethnic relations - power/economic differentials between dominant and subordinate groups - caste, class, and internal colonialism perspectives

What are different types of racism?

- overt or subtle

A definitive study of sexuality conducted by researchers at the University of Chicago established three criteria for identifying people as homosexual or bisexual. What are they?

- sexual attraction - sexual involvement - self-identification

What are the five main characteristics for an ethnic group?

1. Unique cultural traits 2. A sense of community 3. a feeling of ethnocentrism 4. Ascribed membership from birth 5. Territoriality

What are the four types of Merton's typology of Prejudice and Discrimination?

1. Unprejudiced nondiscriminator 2. Unprejudiced discriminator 3. Prejudiced nondiscriminator 4. Prejudiced discriminator

In the context of racial plurality in the United States, between 2000 and 2010, the percentage of Americans identifying as more than one race increased by ______ percent.

32

Historically, who has been considered the subordinate group in the U.S?

African Americans and other persons of color

- a person has an overriding obsession with food and thinness that constantly controls his or her activities and eating patterns, resulting in a body weight of less than 85 percent of the average weight for a person of that individual's age and height group

Anorexia

What is the fastest growing minority group in the United States today?

Asian Americans (Latinos are second)

- a personality type characterized by excessive conformity, submissiveness to authority, intolerance, insecurity, a high level of superstition, and rigid, stereotypic thinking (Developed by Adorno)

Authoritarian personality

What is the critical race theory?

Belief that racism is such an ingrained feature of U.S. society that it appears to be ordinary and natural to many people

- how a person perceives and feels about his or her body

Body consciousness

- the process of deliberately cultivating an increase in the mass and strength of the skeletal muscles by means of lifting and pushing weights

Bodybuilding

- a person binges by consuming large quantities of food and then purges the food by induced vomiting, excessive exercise, laxatives, or subsequent fasting

Bulimia

- views racial and ethnic inequality as a permanent feature of U.S. society (because of structural elements such as the law)

Caste Perspective

- emphasize the role of the capitalist class in racial exploitation

Class Perspective

- Point out that contact between people from divergent groups should lead to favorable attitudes and behavior when certain factors are present (Members of each group must have equal status, pursue the same goals, cooperate with one another to achieve their goals, and receive positive feedback)

Contact hypothesis

- a male who dresses as a woman or a female who dresses as a man but does not alter his or her genitalia

Crossdresser

- racial separation and inequality enforced by custom

De facto segregation

- laws that systematically enforced the physical and social separation of African Americans in all areas of public life

De jure segregation

- Organizationally prescribed or community-prescribed action that intentionally has a differential and negative impact on members of subordinate groups

Direct institutionalized discrimination

- actions or practices of dominant-group members (or their representatives) that have a harmful effect on members of a subordinate group

Discrimination

- a racial or ethnic group that has the greatest power and resources in a society

Dominant group

- a situation in which ethnic groups coexist in equality with one another

Equalitarian pluralism (accomodation)

- a policy of "cleansing" geographic areas by forcing persons of other races or religions to flee- or die

Ethnic cleansing

- a collection of people distinguished, by others or by themselves, primarily on the basis of cultural or nationality characteristics (Ex: Jewish Americans, Irish Americans, Italian Americans)

Ethnic group

- the coexistence of a variety of distinct racial and ethnic groups within one society

Ethnic pluralism

- one's cultural background or national origin (Hispanic or Latinx)

Ethnicity

- refers to the tendency to regard one's own culture and group as the standard- and thus superior- whereas all other groups are seen as inferior

Ethnocentrism (maintained and perpetuated by stereotypes)

What is prejudice rooted in?

Ethnocentrism and stereotypes

- states that people who are frustrated in their efforts to achieve a highly desired goal will respond with a pattern of aggression toward others

Frustration-aggression hypothesis

- the culturally and socially constructed differences between females and males found in the meanings, beliefs, and practices associated with "femininity" and "masculinity"

Gender

- includes all the ideas regarding masculine and feminine attributes that are held to be valid in a society

Gender belief system

- a person's perception of the self as female or male

Gender identity

- the attitudes, behavior, and activities that are socially defined as appropriate for each sex and that are learned through the socialization process

Gender role

- gender is one of the major ways by which social life is organized in all sectors of society

Gendered institutions

- the interactive effect of racism and sexism on the exploitation of women of color

Gendered racism

- the deliberate, systematic killing of an entire people or nation

Genocide

What did Robert K. Merton identify about prejudice and discrimination?

He identified four combinations of attitudes and responses to show that prejudice and discrimination do not always coexist.

- describes an ideological system that denies, denigrates, and stigmatizes any nonheterosexual form of behavior, identity, relationship, or community

Heterosexism

- extreme prejudice and sometimes discriminatory actions directed at gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgender persons, and others who are perceived as not being heterosexual

Homophobia

- Refers to practices that have a harmful effect on subordinate-group members even though the organizationally or community-prescribed norms or regulations guiding these actions were initially established with no intent to harm

Indirect institutionalized discrimination

- behavior consisting of one-on-one acts by members of the dominant group that harm members of the subordinate group or their property

Individual discrimination

- exists when specific ethnic groups are set apart from the dominant group and have unequal access to power and privilege

Inequalitarian pluralism (segregation)

- A pattern of social institutions - such as governmental organizations, schools, banks, and courts of law - giving negative treatment to a group of people based on their race

Institutional Racism

- the day-to-day practices of organizations and institutions that have harmful effect on members of subordinate groups (Ex: a bank might consistently deny loans to people of a certain race)

Institutional discrimination

- according to conflict theorists, a practice that occurs when members of a racial or ethnic group are conquered or colonized and forcibly placed under the economic and political control of the dominant group (Ex: Trail of Tears)

Internal Colonialism

- Harmful action intentionally taken by a dominant-group member against a member of a subordinate group (one person)

Isolate discrimination

Sociologist Joe R. Feagin has identified four major types of discrimination, what are they?

Isolate discrimination, small-group discrimination, direct institutionalized discrimination, and indirect institutionalized discrimination

- a hierarchical system of social organization in which cultural, political, and economic structures are controlled by women

Matriarchy

- defined as a BMI of 30 and above

Obesity

Many Iranian Americans refer to themselves as "Persian" rather than "Iranian" because

Of the perceived negativity associated with the political history of the country of Iran

- more blatant and may take the form of public statements about the "inferiority" of members of a racial or ethnic group

Overt racism

- a hierarchical system of social organization in which cultural, political, and economic structures are controlled by men

Patriarchy

- a negative attitude based on faulty generalizations about members of specific racial, ethnic, or other groups

Prejudice

- is prejudiced and has a discriminatory attitude (Ex: A baseball umpire who is personally prejudiced against persons of color may intentionally call a play incorrectly based on that prejudice)

Prejudiced discriminator

- is prejudiced but does not have a discriminatory attitude (Ex: Sports teams' owners and coaches who hold prejudiced beliefs may hire a player of color to enhance the team's ability to win)

Prejudiced non-discriminators

- the genitalia used in the reproductive process

Primary sex

- a category of people who have been singled out as inferior or superior, often on the basis of real or alleged physical characteristics such as skin color, hair texture, eye shape, or other subjectively selected attributes

Race

What is the social significance of race?

Race is a socially constructed way of categorizing people, without a biological basis, that has significant social consequences

In what way does race differ from ethnicity?

Race is based on physical characteristics, whereas ethnicity is based on culture and national origin.

- a set of attitudes, beliefs, and practices that is used to justify the superior treatment of one racial or ethnic group and the inferior treatment of another racial or ethnic group

Racism

- a person or group that is incapable of offering resistance to the hostility or aggression of others (often used as substitutes for the actual source of the frustration)

Scapegoat

- the physical traits (other than reproductive organs) that identify an individual's sex (larger breasts, wider hips)

Secondary sex characteristics

- the spatial and social separation of categories of people by race, ethnicity, class, gender, and/or religion (may be enforced by law and custom)

Segregation

- the biological and anatomical differences between females and males

Sex

- the subordination of one sex, usually female, based on the assumed superiority of the other sex

Sexism

- an individual's preference for emotional-sexual relationships with members of the different sex (heterosexuality), the same sex (homosexuality), or both (bisexuality)

Sexual Orientation

- Harmful action intentionally taken by a limited number of dominant-group members against members of subordinate groups

Small-group discrimination

- the division of the economy into two areas of employment: a primary sector or upper tier, composed of higher-paid (usually dominant-group) workers in more secure jobs, and a secondary sector or lower tier, composed of lower-paid (often subordinate-group) workers in jobs with little security and hazardous working conditions

Split-labor market

- overgeneralizations about the appearance, behavior, or other characteristics of members of particular categories

Stereotypes

Farooq, a Muslim Asian immigrant in the United States, joins an automobile plant as an assembly-line worker. He interacts with his coworkers but only gradually gains acceptance in everyday interaction with members of the dominant group. Over time, he becomes close friends with one of his white American coworkers. This scenario exemplifies ______.

Structural assimilation

- a group whose members, because of physical or cultural characteristics, are disadvantaged and subjected to unequal treatment and discrimination by the dominant group

Subordinate group

- hidden from sight and more difficult to recognize

Subtle racism

- the idea that actions of the government substantially define racial and ethnic relations in the United States

Theory of racial formation

Which of the following is a reason for the relatively high average household income of Filipino American families?

They have one of the highest level of educational attainment among Asian Americans

- an individual whose gender identity (self-identification as woman, man, neither, or both) does not match the person's assigned sex (identification by others as male, female, or intersex based on physical/genetic sex)

Transgender person

True or False. Throughout American History, definitions of race have fluctuated.

True

- Does not have a prejudiced attitude but has a discriminatory attitude (Ex: Players may hold no genuine prejudice toward players from diverse racial or ethnic origins but believe that they have to impress their "friends" by making disparaging remarks about persons of color)

Unprejudiced discriminators

- does not have a prejudiced or discriminatory attitude (Ex: two players on a professional sports team may be best friends even if they are of different races)

Unprejudiced nondiscriminator

In the U.S., who has been considered the dominant group?

Whites with northern European ancestry have been considered to be the dominant group for many years.

- a process by which members of subordinate racial and ethnic groups become absorbed into the dominant culture

assimilation

In the 1950s, many African Americans participating in the civil rights movement tried to combat racial inequality through nonviolent action seeking to change a policy or law by refusing to comply with it. This tactic is called

civil disobedience

The social significance of gender stereotype is illustrated by what?

eating disorders

Native Americans have historically been exploited and marginalized in the United States. The "Trail of Tears" was an intentional act of

forced migration

According to symbolic interactionists, when individuals meet someone who does not conform to their existing stereotype, they frequently _____

ignore any behavior that contradicts the seterotype

- an individual who is born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that does not correspond to the typical definitions of male or female; in other words, the person's sexual differentiation is ambiguous

intersex person

Sociologists emphasize that race___________.

is a socially constructed reality, not a biological one

How does "White Flight" impact educational opportunities in communities?

lowers the local tax base, thereby reducing educational funds

Many sports teams such as the Atlanta Braves, Cleveland Indians, and Washington Redskins use Native American mascots and depict them with feathers, buckskins, beads, spears, and "warpaint." Such depictions are examples of ______

stereotyping

Leah, a white American sports journalist, describes African American athletes as naturally gifted people with athletic abilities who are more suitable for team positions that require agility rather than information processing. However, she describes white athletes as intelligent people who are better suited for decision-making positions. This scenario exemplifies _____racism.

subtle

Which is an example of institutional racism?

the banking industry practice of redlining

How do families primarily build and store wealth?

through home equity