SOC 101: Chapter 8

Pluralism

A cultural pattern of intergroup relations that encourages racial and ethnic variation within a society (page 242)

Assimilation

A pattern of relations between ethnic or racial groups in which the minority group is absorbed into the mainstream or dominant group, making society more homogenous (page 239)

Racism

A set of beliefs about the superiority of one racial or ethnic group; used to justify inequality and often rooted in the assumption that differences between groups are genetic (page 226)

Ethnicity

A socially defined category based on common language, religion, nationality, history, or another cultural factor (page 222)

Race

A socially defined category based on real or perceived biological differences between groups of people (page 222)

Situational ethnicity

An ethnic identity that can be either displayed or concealed depending on its usefulness in a given situation (page 223)

Symbolic ethnicity

An ethnic identity that is only relevant on specific occasions and does not significantly impact everyday life (page 223)

Prejudice

An idea about the characteristics of a group that is applied to all members of that group and is unlikely to change regardless of the evidence against it (page 228)

Individual discrimination

Discrimination carried out by one person against another (page 228)

Institutional discrimination

Discrimination carried out systematically by institutions (political, economic, educational, and others) that affect all members of a group who come into contact with it (page 228)

Minority group

Members of a social group that is systematically denied the same access to power and resources available to society's dominant groups but who are not necessarily fewer in number than the dominant groups (page 226)

Passing

Presenting yourself as a member of a different racial or ethnic group than the one you were born into (page 231)

Affirmative action

Programs or policies that seek to rectify the effects of past discrimination by increasing representation and ensuring equal opportunity for any previously disadvantaged group (page 237)

Miscegenation

Romantic, sexual, or marital relationships between people of different races (page 232)

Genocide

The deliberate and systematic extermination of a racial, ethnic, national, or cultural group (page 238)

Internal colonialism

The economic and political domination and subjugation of the minority group by the controlling group within a nation (page 239)

Population transfer

The forcible removal of a group of people from the territory they have occupied (page 239)

Segregation

The formal and legal separation of groups by race or ethnicity (page 239)

Racial assimilation

The process by which racial minority groups are absorbed into the dominant group through intermarriage (page 241)

Embodied identity

Those elements of identity that are generated through others' perceptions of our physical traits (page 231)

Discrimination

Unequal treatment of individuals based on their membership in a social group; usually motivated by prejudice (page 228)

Cultural assimilation

the process by which racial or ethnic groups are absorbed into the dominant group by adopting the dominant group's culture (page 242)