Sociology Ch. 10

minority

a group of people who may be treated differently and unequally because of their physical, cultural, or other characteristics.

individual discrimination

harmful action on a one-to-one basis by a dominant group member against someone in a minority group.

racial-ethnic group

people who have distinctive physical and cultural characteristics.

ethnic group

people who identify with a common national origin or cultural heritage.

racial group

people who share visible physical characteristics that members of a society consider socially important.

contact hypothesis

posits that the more people get to know members of a minority group personally, the less likely they are to be prejudiced against that group.

institutional discrimination

unequal treatment and fewer opportunities that minority groups members experience because of the everyday operations of a society's laws, rules, policies, practices, and customs.

racism

a set of beliefs that one's own racial group is inherently superior to other groups.

prejudice

an attitude that prejudges people, usually in a negative way.

stereotype

an oversimplified or exaggerated generalization about a group of people.

dominant group

any physically or culturally distinctive group that has the most economic and political power, the greatest privileges, and the highest social status.

discrimination

behavior that treats people unequally or unfairly because of their group membership.

assimilation

conforming to the dominant group's culture, adopting its language and values, and intermarrying with that group.

scapegoats

individuals or groups whom people blame for their own problems or shortcomings.

miscegenation

marriage or sexual relations between a man and a woman of different races.

pluralism

minority groups maintain many aspects of their original culture while living peacefully with the host culture.

gendered racism

the overlapping and cumulative effects of inequality due to racism and sexism.

segregation

the physical and social separation of dominant and minority groups.

acculturation

the process of adopting the language, values, beliefs, and other characteristics of the host culture.

genocide

the systematic effort to kill all members of a particular ethnic, religious, political, racial, or national group.