Sociology In Conflict and Order: Chapter 11: Race

What Are the Two Explanations of Racial and Ethnic Inequality Deficiency Theories?

1) Biological Deficiency 2) Cultural Deficiency

What are Explanations of Racial and Ethnic Inequality?

1) Deficiency Theories (Biological and Cultural) 2) Bias Theories 3) Structural Discrimination Theories

Explanations of Racial and Ethnic Inequality- Deficiency Theories

A number of analysts have argued that some groups are disadvantaged because they are inferior. That is, when compared with the majority, they are deficient in some important way. There are two variations of deficiency theories.

Racial Stratification and Unemployment

African Americans and Latinos are more likely than Whites to be unemployed.

Color-Blind Racism

Color-blind racism is the belief that ignoring race and racial differences will produce equality.

Racial Stratification from the Conflict Model

Conflict theories are critical of assimilation theories for ignoring social conditions that exclude racial minorities from full participation in US society. Most conflict theories emphasize the deep-lying roots of racial and ethnic inequalities in the US economy. Conflict theories argue that racial-ethnics were never meant to assimilate. Racial stratification exists because certain segments of society benefits from it. Racial-ethnics are located in the larger society in ways that prevent their assimilation. The melting pot does not apply to people of color. Differences between Whites and people of color produce conflict, not consensus, across race lines.

The Moynihan Report (Which Deficiency Theory of Racial and Ethnic Inequality Did it Explain?)

Daniel Patrick Moynihan's famous 1967 report, which charged that the "tangle of pathology" within Black ghettos was rooted in the deterioration of the Negro family. High rates of martial dissolution, female-headed households, out-of-wedlock births, and welfare dependency were said to be the residues of slavery and discrimination, a complex web of pathological patterns passed down through the generations. The Moynihan report was widely criticized for being a classic case of blaming the victim. It explained the cultural deficiency theory of racial and ethnic inequality.

Determining Who is a Minority

Determining who is a minority is largely a matter of history, politics, and judgment—both social and political. Population characteristics other than race and ethnicity—such as age, gender, sexual orientation, or religious preference—are sometimes used to designate minority status. However, race and ethnicity are the characteristics used most often to define the minority and majority populations in contemporary US society.

Environmental Racism

Environmental racism is the disproportionate exposure of some racial groups to environmental toxic substances. Race is the strongest predictor of hazardous waste facilities in the country, even after adjustment for social class

Ethnic Groups (Definition)

How is race different from ethnicity? Whereas race is an invention used for socially marking groups based on presumed physical differences, ethnicity is a social category that allows for a broader range of affiliation. Ethnic groups are distinctive on the basis of national origin, language, religion, and culture.

Explanations of Racial and Ethnic Inequality- Deficiency Theories (Cultural Deficiency)

Many explanations of racial subordination rest on group-specific cultural traits handed down from generation to generation. According to this explanation, the cultural beliefs and practices of minority groups are dysfunctional when compared to the dominant group. In addition, these groups remain at the bottom because they fail to take advantage of the opportunities in society. From this perspective, minorities are disadvantaged because of their own heritage and customs.

Contemporary Trends and Issues in US Racial and Ethnic Relations

Racial diversity presents new social conditions that reflect differences in group power and access to social resources. Three major trends reveal old and new forms of racial inequality: growing racial strife, the economic polarization of minorities, and a national shift in US racial policies. These trends are occurring in a global context, closely associated with macro social forces.

Campus Racial Tensions

Recent headlines about racism on college campuses have surprised many people because educational institutions are formally integrated. Yet campus racism is widespread. Over the past few years, students of color have reported dramatic increases in act of racial discrimination, intolerance, hate crimes, and insensitivity among cultures at institutions of higher education.

Social and Economic Isolation is US Cities: Hispanics

Rising poverty rates among Latinos have led many policy makers and media analysts to conclude that Latinos have joined inner-city African Americans to form a hopeless underclass. Although changes in the US economy have also hit Latinos hard because of their low educational attainment and their labor market position, structural unemployment has a different effect on the many diverse Latinos barrios across the nation. The loss of jobs in the Rust Belt cities has left many Puerto Ricans living in a bleak ghetto economy. Mexicans living in the Southwest, where low-paying jobs remain, have not suffered the same degree of economic dislocation. Despite high levels of poverty, Latino communities do not conform to the conventional portrait of the underclass.

The Bias of Light Skin

Skin color complicates racial differences because it is a basis of ranking that favors lighter skin over darker skin. Both within and across racial and ethnic groups, lighter-skinned people have more advantages than those with darker skin. Global events add still more complexity to the color lines.

Social and Economic Isolation in US Cities: African Americans

Social and economic changes have removed jobs and resources from inner-city residents. This reality is a better explanation of poverty among African Americans. In large cities across the nation, African Americans are much more likely than Whites to live in communities that are geographically and economically isolated from the economic opportunities, services, and institutions that people need to succeed. Without jobs, cars, or phones, inner-city residents are utterly vulnerable to urban disasters. This social entrapment can be explained structurally.

Race as a Social Construct

Sociologists agree that race is socially constructed. This means that some groups are racially defined, even though races, per se, do not exist. What does exist is the idea that races are distinct biological categories. Races are real insofar as they are socially defined. In other words, racial categories operate as if they are real.

Modern Asian American Immigration/Population

The Asian population in the US is extremely diverse, giving rise to the term Pan-Asian, which encompasses immigrants from Asian and Pacific Island countries and native-born citizens descended from those ethnic groups.

The Major 2 Connotations of Racial-Ethnic Groups

The term racial-ethnic group refers to groups that are socially subordinated and remain culturally distinct within US society. It includes (1) the systematic discrimination of socially constructed racial groups and (2) their distinctive cultural arrangements.

Minority Group

Those holding little or no power in society- not necessarily minority in numbers.

Majority/Dominant Group

Those holding superior power in a society- not necessarily majority in numbers.

Factors that Explain Racial Stratification and Education

What explains the minority education gap? Recent research points to larger social conditions. Neighborhood segregation, unequal schools, and social class differences all work together to produce different educational opportunities. Minority participation in higher education has risen since the 1960s. Nevertheless, there are large racial gaps in college enrollment. All these disparities translate into economic inequalities. Yet education alone is not the answer. This is compounded by the fact that education does not pay equally. Minority membership, regardless of level of education, is underpaid compared with Whites of similar education.

How to Think about Racial and Ethnic Inequality

Why are some groups dominant and others subordinate? The basic reason is power—power derived from superior numbers, technology, weapons, property, or economic resources. Those holding superior power in a society—the majority group—establish a system of inequality by dominating less powerful groups. This system of inequality is then maintained by power.

Institutional Racism

Institutional racism is structural. It comprises more than attitudes or behavior. It is structural, that is, a complex pattern of racial advantage built into the structure of society—a system of power and privilege that advantages some groups over others.

Explanations of Racial and Ethnic Inequality- What the Theories Agree On

1) History is important in determining present conditions and resistance to change. Historically, institutions defined and enforced norms and role relationships that were racially distinct. 2) Discrimination can occur without conscious bigotry. Everyday practices reinforce racial discrimination and deprivation. With or without malicious intent, racial discrimination is the normal outcome of the system. 3) Finally, institutional discrimination is reinforced because institutions are interrelated. These inequalities are cumulative.

Social and Economic Isolation in US Cities: Overall Trends

A structural analysis of concentrated poverty does not deny that inner cities are beset with a disproportionate share of social problems. As poverty is more concentrated in inner cities, crime and violence proliferate. The poor may adopt violence as survival strategies. A structural analysis focuses on social conditions, not immoral people. Vanishing jobs and many forms of unemployment are related to changes in the organization of work that accompany corporate globalization.

Pan-Asian

A term that encompasses immigrants from Asian and Pacific Island countries and native-born citizens descended from those ethnic groups. The characteristics of Asians vary widely according to their national origins and time of entry into the US. Whereas most of the pre-WWII Asian immigrants were peasants, the recent immigrants vary considerably by education and social class. These differences are reflected in the differences in income and poverty level by ethnic category. Asian Americans taken together have higher average incomes than do other groups in the US. Although a large segment of this population are financially well-off, many are poor.

Type of Employment

African Americans and Latinos have always been an important component of the US labor force. However, their job prospects and the jobs they hold are different from those of other people in the US. Minorities are twice as likely as Whites to be unemployed: they are more likely to work in low-skilled occupations and less likely to work in managerial or professional occupations. Black and Latino workers are more likely to be in jobs with pay too low to lift a family of four above the poverty line. Racial inequalities in workplace recruitment, hiring, firing, job levels, pay scales, promotion, and degree of autonomy on the job. Immigrants generally work the lowest rungs of the low-wage workforce

Minorities and Job Ceilings

Although Hispanic and Native American minorities are in the least-rewarding jobs, and many face discrimination in hiring and promotion, the occupational status of minorities improved slowly during the last decade. Despite these gains, however, a huge gap remains. As more minorities enter high-status work, they are confronting new forms of job discrimination in the form of "job ceilings," that keep them out of executive suites and boardrooms.

The Native American Renaissance and Rise of Pan-Indian Organizations

Although Third World conditions prevail on many reservations, a renaissance has occurred in American Indian communities. In cities, modern pan-Indian organizations have been successful in making the presence of American Indians known to the larger community and have mobilized to meet the needs of their people. A college-educated Indian middle class has emerged, American Indian business ownership has increased, and some tribes are creating good jobs for their members.

Asian Americans as the "Model Minority"

Asian Americans are seen as the "model minority," a well-educated and upwardly mobile group. But this stereotype is misleading. Not only is it used to blame other racial minorities for their own inequality, but it also ignores both the history of discrimination against Asians and their wide differences.

Modern African American Immigration/Population

Before 1990, virtually all descended from people who were brought involuntarily to the US before the slave trade ended in the 19th century. In the past two decades, the Black population has changed due to immigration from African and the Caribbean. In fact, more Blacks are coming from Africa than during the slave trade. The increase in Black immigration from Africa and the Caribbean is making the population more diverse and posing challenges to today's Black immigrants. The increase in Black immigration is also changing what it means to be Black. It has sparked a new debate about the African American label. It ignores the enormous linguistic, physical, and cultural diversity of the peoples of Africa. The term Black is also problematic in that it risks conflating the people of African descent who were brought here as salves with recent immigrants from African and the Caribbean.

Racial Policies in the New Century

By the end of the 1980s, the US had become a very different society from the one in which civil rights legislation was enacted. Economic restructuring brought new dislocations to both Whites and minorities. As racial minorities became an ever larger share of the US population, racial matters grew more politicized. Many Whites began to feel uncomfortable with race-conscious policies in schools and the workplace. The social climate fostered an imaginary White disadvantage, said to be caused by affirmative action multiculturalism. Although there is no research evidence for White disadvantage, a powerful conservative movement is producing new debates about the fairness of racial policies. A new form of racism has emerged. Color-blindness is the basis for the current downsizing of policies related to affirmative action, school desegregation, and voting rights. Growing racial populations are controlled through many different forms of discrimination, including employment practices, neighborhood and school segregation, and other inequalities discussed in this chapter. In addition, the demise of the welfare state and the retreat from health care and other forms of social responsibility have caused minorities to lose ground. Finally, international systems of dominance.

Resurgence of Cultural Deficiency Theory in Explaining Racial and Ethnic Inequality

For over 4 decades, many social scientists strongly opposed cultural explanations. However, the culture of poverty is now back on the sociological agenda, this time using new definitions of culture and arguing that culture and social structural conditions work together to produce poverty and racial inequality. Still, the old cultural approach dominates in popular thought.

Minority Job Crisis

Globalization and shifts in the US economy have diminished work opportunities across the land and have produced a job crisis in minority communities. Because African Americans and Latinos established successful niches in civil service, they are also being replaced by government downsizing. The new economy will be increasingly made up of people of color. If they continue to be denied equal access to higher-paying jobs, the entire society will be at risk for poverty and other problems associated with economic inequality.

Racial Formation (Who and What?)

Immigration from Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean is also changing the character of race and ethnic relations. Sociologists Michael Omi and Howard Winant call this racial formation, meaning that society is continually creating and transforming racial categories.

Racial Stratification and Education

In 1954, the Supreme Court outlawed segregation in the schools. Yet the landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling did not end segregation. In fact, schools are now rapidly resegregating. Black and Latino segregation is usually race and class segregation, both from Whites and from middle-class students. Among young adults, Hispanics have the lowest educational attainment, while Whites and Asians have the highest. This is a growing problem, since most new jobs in the new century will require education beyond high school.

William K. Wilson's Study

In his classic studies of African American poverty at the end of the 20th century, sociologist William K. Wilson found that the social problems of the inner city are due to transformations of the larger economy and to the class structure of ghetto neighborhoods. The movement of middle-class Black professionals from the inner city has left behind a concentration of the most disadvantaged segments of the Black urban population. Wilson's research reveals how family dissolution and welfare are connected to the structural removal of work from the inner city.

Racial-Ethnic Groups

In the US, race and ethnicity both serve to mark groups as different. Groups labeled as race by the wider society are bound together by their common social and economic conditions. As a result, they develop distinctive cultural or ethnic characteristics. Today, we often refer to them as racial-ethnic groups (or racially defined ethnic groups).

Individual Racism

Individual racism is related to prejudice. It consists of individual behavior that harms other individuals or their property.

Institutional Derogation

Institutional derogation occurs when minority groups and their members are made to seem inferior or to possess negative stereotypes through legitimate means by the powerful in society. The portrayal of minority-groups in the media is often derogatory. Such stereotypes are controlling images that define perceptions of minorities. The media also provide us with explanations and interpretations intended to help us make sense of our society, including its multiracial composition

Factors that Explain Racial Stratification and Income

Many factors explain the difference in White and minority earnings. Racial-ethnics are concentrated in the South and Southwest, where incomes are lower for everyone. Another part of the explanation is the differing age structure of minorities. They are younger, on average, than is the White population. A group with a higher proportion of young people of working age will have a lower average earning level, higher rates of unemployment, and lower rates of labor-force participation. The degree of inequality increases after the teenage years. Racial disparities become greater in peak earning years. This fact suggests that another part of the explanation for racial inequalities in earnings lies in the lack of education and skill levels required to move out of poor-paying jobs.

Are Bias Theories Correct?

Many sociologists have argued that prejudiced attitudes are not the essence of racism. For example, David Wellman has challenged the notion that the hostile attitudes of White Americans, especially lower-class Whites, are the major cause of racism. Instead, he shows that many unprejudiced White people defend the traditional arrangements that negatively affect minorities. Research by Lawrence Bobo shows that although prejudice has declined, most White Americans are still unwilling to support social practices and policies to address racial inequalities. The focus strictly on prejudice is inaccurate because it concentrates on the bigots and ignores the structural foundations of racism. The determining feature of majority-minority relations is not prejudice, but differential systems of privilege and disadvantage. Thus, institutional and individual racism generate privilege for whites. Racist acts, in this view, are based not only on stereotypes, hatred, or prejudgment, but are also rational responses to the struggle over scarce resources by individuals acting to preserve their own advantage.

Explanations of Racial and Ethnic Inequality- Structural Discrimination Theories (Institutional vs. Individual Racism)

Many sociologists have examined race as a structural force that permeates every aspect of life. Those who use this framework make a distinction between individual racism and institutionalized racism. Individual racism is related to prejudice. It consists of individual behavior that harms other individuals or their property. Institutional racism is structural. It comprises more than attitudes or behavior. It is structural, that is, a complex pattern of racial advantage built into the structure of society—a system of power and privilege that advantages some groups over others. Because institutional racism views inequality as part of society's structure, individuals and groups discriminate whether they are bigots or not.

Modern Native American Population

Once thought to be destined for extinction, the Native American or American Indian population today is larger than it has been for centuries. Native Americans have more autonomy and are more self-sufficient than at any time since the last century. Nevertheless, the population remains barred from full participation in US society. The tribes located in North America were and are extremely heterogeneous, with major differences in physical characteristics, language, and social organization. The current political and economic status of American Indians stems from the process that forced them into US society. Many factors led to the disparities we now observe between Native Americans and others. Important changes have occurred in the social and economic well-being of the Native American population from 1960 to the present. At the end of the 20th century, Native Americans were better off than they were in the 1900s. Over the past few decades, Native Americans have made important gains in cutting poverty rates and increasing their educational levels. Yet even with these gains, Native Americans are nowhere near poverty with White Americans.

Racial Stratification from the Order Model

Order perspectives of race and ethnic relations have assumed that the US is a land of opportunity, and that all groups—ethnic and racial—would eventually assimilate or blend into the country's social melting pot. This was the experience of the European immigrants who came to the US in the 19th and early 20th centuries and who were absorbed into the broader society a few generations after they arrived. Order theories accent patterns of inclusion, orderly integration, and the assimilation of racial and ethnic groups. Order theories are concerned with how minorities adapt to the core society. These theories see the situations of Blacks and non-Whites as similar to those of earlier White immigrants. Just as White ethnics made a place for themselves in the land of opportunity, so should racial minorities. With the right motivation and behaviors, minorities can lift themselves up and succeed in the US mainstream.

Modern Immigrant Races vs. Old European Immigrant Races

Race and ethnicity have differed in how they incorporated groups into society. Race was the social construction setting people of color apart from European immigrant groups. Groups identified as races came into contact with the dominant society through force and state-sanctioned discrimination in work that was unfree and offered little opportunity for upward mobility. In contrast, European ethnics migrated to the US voluntarily to enhance their status or to market their skills in a land of opportunity. They came with hope and sometimes with resources to provide a foundation for their upward mobility. Unlike racial groups, most had the option of returning if they found the conditions here unsatisfactory. The voluntary immigrants came to the US and suffered discrimination in employment, housing, and other areas.

Racial/Ethnic Categorization

Racial categories are a basis of power relations and group position. Because race relations are power relations, conflict is always present. Overt conflict is most likely when minority groups try to change the distribution of power. Size is not crucial in determining whether a group is the most powerful. A numerical minority may in fact have more political representation than the majority. Thus, the most important characteristic of a minority group is that it is dominated by a more powerful group.

Profiling and Maltreatment

Racial discrimination in the criminal justice system has drawn scrutiny in recent years. The past three decades have seen numerous cases of race-related police brutality and misconduct, and official acknowledgements of systematic racial profiling. Blacks and dark-skinned Latinos are disproportionately targeted by police officers. Lower-class communities where minorities reside are subjected to a higher level of policy suspicion, stops, interrogations, and searches. Since September 11, Arab Americans, Muslims, and other Middle Easterners have been the targets of threats, gunshots, firebombs, and other forms of vigilante violence.

Racial Profiling/ "Driving While Black"

Racial profiling is the use of race and ethnicity as clues to criminality and potential terrorism. Racial profiling on the highways has become so prevalent that a term has emerged to explain it: driving while Black.

Racial Stratification and Race

Racial stratification offers better occupational opportunities, income, and education to White people. These patterns are found throughout the world, even as societies become more racially and ethnically diverse.

Racial Formation (Definition)

Society is continually creating and transforming racial categories.

Why is the US structured along Racist Lines?

Structural theorists have a long-standing debate over the relative importance of race and class in shaping racial stratification. Those emphasizing class contend that the economy and the class system are what produce racial inequality. Some scholars argue that modern race relations are produced by world capitalism. Using the labor of non-white peoples began as a means for White owners to accumulate profits.Other structural theories point to race itself as a primary shaper of inequality. For example, racial-formation theory proposes that the US is organized along racial lines from top to bottom.

Systematic Racism

Systematic racism also argues that race is paramount in explaining inequality. Systematic racism includes a diverse assortment of structural practices. Systematic racism is both structural and interpersonal. At the macro level, large scale institutions routinely perpetuate racial subordination and inequalities. These institutions are created and recreated by routine actions at the micro level by individuals.

More Racially Based Groups and Activities

The Southern Poverty Law Center documented 1000 hate groups in 48 states and the District of Columbia in 2010, a number that has swelled by 66% since 2000. Hate groups include White supremacist groups with such diverse elements as the Ku Klux Klan, Neo-Confederate groups, Nazi-identified parties, and skinheads. Many groups use the Internet to spread their literature to young people. As a result, more than half of all hate crimes are now committed by young people, ages 15 to 24. In addition to racist websites, cyber extremism flourishes on email and in discussion groups and chat rooms.

Optional Ethnicity (Definition)

The ability to choose whether or not to identify with one's group of origin, and which cultural traits to keep.

Explanations of Racial and Ethnic Inequality- Structural Discrimination Theories

The alternative view is that racial inequality is not fundamentally a matter of what is in people's heads, not a matter of their private individual intentions, but rather a matter of public institutions and practices that create racism on keep it alive. Structural discrimination theories move away from thinking about racism in the head toward understanding racism in the world.

Racial Stratification and Income

The average income for White families and households is greater than the average income for those of Blacks and Hispanics. Racial income disparities have remained unchanged over time. Although the racial income gap is wide, the racial wealth gap is even wider. White families are generally wealthier than Black or Latino families. White families generally have greater resources for their children and bequeath them as assets at death. Sociologists call this the "cost of being Black." According to this line of though the African American disadvantage will persist until the wealth divide is closed. Poverty rates for all minority groups are higher than those of Whites. Although most poor people are White, Blacks remain disproportionately poor, followed by Hispanics and then Whites.

Explanations of Racial and Ethnic Inequality- Bias Theories

The deficiency theories blame minorities for their plight. Bias theories, on the other hand, blame the members of the dominant group. They blame individuals who hold prejudiced attitudes toward minorities. Gunnar Myrdal, for example, argues in his classic book An American Dilemma that prejudiced attitudes toward an entire group of people are the problem. This argument reduces racism to the prejudiced acts of individual White Americans

Growing Racial Strife

The growing immigrant and minority presence together with the economic crises gripping the nation are adding new tensions in society. Anti-Hispanic incidents increased steadily during the last two decades. Crimes against Hispanics are on the rise. Anti-immigration movements often translate into hate-related activities. Surge in incidents of vigilantism—unauthorized attempts to enforce immigration laws by ordinary citizens. We also see new expressions of anti-Muslim/anti-Arab racism. Like old-fashioned forms of bigotry and hate crimes, this racism is also fueled by misbeliefs about minorities. Racial conflict is often associated with uncertain economic conditions. Lack of jobs, housing, and other resources can add to fear and minority scapegoating on the part of Whites. In Florida and many parts of the West and Southwest, perceptions that Hispanics are taking jobs from Anglos have touched off racial tensions. Racial tensions often erupt in violence between Whites and minorities and among minorities themselves as individuals compete for a shrinking number of jobs and other opportunities. Instead of moving society past race, the historic election of the first African American president has thrust some incidents of racial conflict onto center stage.

Racial Stratification and Health

The health of the US population is distributed unevenly across race. Hispanics are the most likely to be without health coverage. Many are unfamiliar with the US health care system, and a few are illegal immigrants who are afraid to seek medical assistance. Health disparities are affected by social conditions. For example, racial minorities are more likely than other groups to live near hazardous waste facilities. The health disadvantages of living in impoverished neighborhoods cannot be overstated. Those living in high opportunity neighborhoods, which are typically White, can expect to live up to 20 years longer than residents of a low opportunity neighborhood in the same city. Racial disparities are found in access to health care and treatment of serious disease. Minorities receive lower-quality health care than Whites, even when their insurance and income are the same, because of racial prejudice and difference in the quality of health care plans

Modern Hispanic Immigration/Population

The size of the US Latino population has now surpassed the African American population to become the nation's largest minority. In many respects, the Latino population is the driving force of this society's racial and ethnic transformation. They are a varied collection of ethnic groups. They include diverse people who originate from Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Spain. Because the population is so diverse, there is no precise definition of group membership. Even the term Latino, which many prefer, is a new invention. The national origins of Latinos are diverse, and so is the timing of their arrival in the US. Hispanics are found in many legal and social statuses. Such diversity means that there is no "Hispanic" population in the sense that there is a Black population. Hispanics do not have a common history. They do not compose a single community. Rather, they are a collection of groups with different national origins, languages, racial identifications, and socioeconomic statuses.

Discrimination Against Blacks and Hispanics: Continuity and Change

The treatment of Blacks and Hispanics has been disgraceful throughout American history. Since WWII the government has led the way in breaking down these discriminatory practices. Yet having made it in the US does not shield African Americans from discrimination. No matter how affluent or influential, Black people are vulnerable to micro-insults. Substantial growth of the minority middle class has not erased the problem of segregation. A class divide now characterizes minority communities across the country. The present segregation of African Americans cannot be dismissed as wrongs committed in the past. Today, US neighborhoods remain segregated. Residential segregation deprives minorities of economic and educational opportunities.

Explanations of Racial and Ethnic Inequality- Deficiency Theories (Biological Deficiency)

This classical explanation for racial inferiority maintains that group inferiority is the result of flawed genetic traits. This is the position of Arthur Jensen, Richard Herrnstein, and Charles Murray. Their book, The Bell Curve, claims that Blacks are genetically inferior to Whites, and this explains differences in the successes of racial groups. There is no definitive evidence for the thesis that racial groups differ in intelligence.

Overall Racial Trends

To summarize this section, the combined population of the four racial minority groups accounts for 30% of the total US population. New waves of immigration from non-European countries, high birth rates among these groups, and a relatively young age structure account for the rapid increase in minorities. By the middle of the 21st century, today's minorities will comprise nearly one-half of the US population.

Acceptance of Mix Races among the Young

We can expect that the use of the mixed-race or multiracial option will grow, especially among the younger population. Marrying across racial lines is on the increase, as attitudes toward interracial unions become more tolerant. Already, children are much more likely to identify themselves as multiracial than adults.

Whiteness as the "Ideal Standard"

We tend to see race through a Black/White lens, thereby neglecting other rapidly growing racial groups. At the same time, we think of Whites, the dominant group, as raceless, or having no race at all. In this view, whiteness is the natural or normal condition. It is racially unmarked and immune to investigation. This is a false picture of race. In reality, the racial order shapes the lives of all people, even Whites who are advantaged by the system.

2000 US Census and Hispanics

While the Census Bureau has begun to capture the complex mix of racial groups in the US, it uses a confusing classification for Hispanics. According to the 2000 US guidelines, Hispanics were considered to be an ethnic group, not a race. The Census Bureau acknowledges that the distinction between race and ethnicity is flawed. In reality, Hispanics are racialized in the US. Although classified as an ethnic group, Hispanic encompasses a range of ethnic groups. At the same time, although Hispanics are not officially defined as a race, they are socially defined in racial terms. In other words, the dominant society treats them as racially inferior.

Optional Ethnicity and White Immigrants

White ethnic groups were incorporated into society while keeping their cultures alive in their families or for cultural celebrations. Sociologists call this optional ethnicity, that is the ability to choose whether or not to identify with their group of origin and which cultural traits to keep. This option is possible for some White groups, but generally not for people of color who remain different from the dominant society because racial discrimination sets them apart from others. In the US some groups have given up their ethnic customs, while others remain distinctive. Expanding communications networks and the increased social interaction that have resulted from immigration have not suppressed ethnic conflicts.

The "Cost of Being Black"

White families generally have greater resources for their children and bequeath them as assets at death. Sociologists call this the "cost of being Black." According to this line of though the African American disadvantage will persist until the wealth divide is closed.