SOC 101 Chapter 9 - Race

Place the historical events in chronological order.

1)The U.S. Supreme Court decides Plessy v. Ferguson. 2)Allied forces fight the racist regime of Nazi Germany. 3)The U.S. Supreme Court decides Brown v. Board of Education. 4)Mandatory busing is used to desegregate schools. 5)Integration of schools through compulsory busing is widely rejected as unacceptable.

Symbolic ethnicity today is a matter of choice for white middle-class Americans, but not for black middle-class Americans. Identify the factors behind this difference.

Factor(s): -For a black person, in the eyes of society, skin color is a defining characteristic. -A black person cannot choose to be considered (for instance) Kenyan or Nigerian. -A black person cannot choose to be considered either white or black. -For a white person, in the eyes of society, skin color is not a defining characteristic. -A white person can choose to be considered (for instance) Irish or German. Not Factor(s): -A white person can choose to be considered either white or black.

Identify the correct and incorrect statements about race.

Correct: Race is a social construct. Race is about bloodlines. Incorrect:Race is by definition always about differences in physical appearance. Race is not real.

Identify the examples of collective resistance.

Example(s): -An oppressed group engages in a campaign of nonviolent protest. -An oppressed group rises up in organized, armed rebellion. Not Example(s): -An oppressed group develops a means of quietly coping with their circumstances. -An oppressed group relocates to a place where they can live in peace.

Segregation

Involuntary separation of groups by legal or social means, based on race or ethnicity.

Match each population of Hispanic Americans to its approximate share of the total Hispanic population.

Dominican, Cuban, and Puerto Rican: 16.5% Central American: 8.3% Spanish: 1.4% Mexican: 64.1% South American: 5.5%

Assimilation

Merging into the larger culture and shedding one's separate identity

In the video, sociologist Jennifer Lee describes the evolution of color-based social divisions in the United States.Which line does Lee say is replacing the white-black divide?

A black-nonblack divide

Identify the beliefs that characterize racism.

Belief(s): -that bloodlines or physical characteristics are linked to distinct cultures, behaviors, and intellectual abilities -that humans are divided into distinct bloodlines and/or physical types -that certain groups are, by virtue of their bloodlines or physical characteristics, superior to others Not Belief(s): -that acquired characteristics, like a dark tan due to life in a sunny climate, are hereditary -that certain groups are, by virtue of their language and culture, superior to others

Pluralism

Engaged coexistence of distinct racial or ethnic groups.

What is the single largest ethnic group in the United States today?

German Americans

Fill in the blanks to complete the passage about a newly emerged form of racism.

Old-fashioned racism is based on the idea of UNCHANGEABLE traits that make some people better than others. The new racism, called "LAISSEZ-FAIRE" racism, uses RACE NEUTRAL rhetoric; it blames the troubles of minority groups on their different CULTURES.

Identify the consequences of making everyone (whites and others) more aware of whiteness as a racial category.

Consequence(s): -It removes the assumption that whiteness is normal and nonwhiteness is deviant. -It encourages some whites to embrace white consciousness in racist fashion. Not Consequence(s): -It reinforces white privilege. -It eliminates white privilege.

Identify the ways in which the Burakumin in Japan demonstrate the process of racialization.

Demonstrates Process of Racialization: -The Burakumin are treated as a distinct group, unrelated to other Japanese. -The Burakumim are barred from full participation in Japanese society. -The Burakumin have poorer health, less educational achievement, and lower income than their fellow Japanese citizens. Does Not Demonstrate Process of Racialization: -The Burakumin are not genetically distinct from their fellow Japanese. -The Burakumin were a group of displaced individuals in the fourteenth century.

In American law, a rule once widely used declared that "one drop" of black blood makes one black. Identify the effects of the one-drop rule.

Effect(s): -It put all blacks on the same level. -It was used to enforce antimiscegenation laws. Not Effect(s) -It introduced differences between "pure" whites and "impure" whites. -It provided an easy, logical test of who was black and who was not.

Institutional racism occurs when a seemingly race-neutral policy or social dynamic disadvantages minority groups. Identify the examples of institutional racism.

Example(s): -Higher penalties associated with crack cocaine than with the powdered form. -The phenomenon of "white flight," which holds down home values in predominantly black neighborhoods. -Tax laws that ease the tax burden on the very wealthy. Not Example(s): -Police officers who habitually pull black motorists over more readily than whites. -Businesses that have an unstated policy of avoiding hiring certain minorities in preference over other minorities.

In the 1940s, Gunnar Myrdal studied white Americans who had reservations about full equality and integration for blacks. What did Myrdal find was most important to these whites?

Maintaining distance between the races in personal relationships, especially in marriage.

Match each statement to the racial-ethnic group it describes.

Native Americans: They have the lowest average socioeconomic status of all racial-ethnic groups. Middle Eastern Americans: Today, members of this group often arrive in the United States seeking refuge from tumultuous political situations. African Americans: They experience the highest rates of incarceration of all racial-ethnic groups. Latino: They are very diverse in their racial identifications. Asian Americans: They comprise the fastest-growing racial group in the United States.

Identify the true and false statements about Arabs in the United States.

True Statement(s): -They are united by a common geographic origin. -They are united by a shared linguistic heritage. -They are united by shared culture and cuisine. False Statement(s) -They are united by shared physical characteristics. -They are united by a common religion.