Sociology CH. 8

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.

Ethnicity

A socially defined category based on common language, religion, nationality, history, or another cultural factor.

Race

A socially defined category based on real or perceived biological differences between groups of people.

Situational Ethnicity

An ethnic identity that can be either displayed or concealed depending on its usefulness in a given situation.

Symbolic Ethnicity

An ethnic identity that is only relevant on specific occasions and does not significantly impact everyday life.

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.

Individual Discrimination

Discrimination carried out by one person against another.

Institutional Discrimination

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

Internal Colonialism

The economic and political domination and subjugation of the minority group by the controlling group within a nation.

Population Transfer

The forcible removal of a group of people from the territory they have occupied.

Segregation

The formal and legal separation of groups by race or ethnicity.

Functionalism

o Race creates social ties and strengthens group bonds. o Useful: • Strengthens assimilation of "new" immigrants. • How prejudice and discrimination are maintained. o Less Helpful: • Racial divisions over time.

Symbolic Interactionism

o Race, class, and gender intersect to produce an individual's identity. o Individual point of view o Race explained in lived experience - everyday interaction

Conflict Theory

o Struggle for power and control over scarce resources. o Market = racism o Also points to government policy for institutionalizing racial divisions. o While Supremacist Ideology - mechanism for inequality o Not helpful in race in the absence of class

Pluralism

A cultural pattern of intergroup relations that encourages racial and ethnic variation within a society.

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.

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 group.

Miscegenation

Romanic, sexual, or marital relationships between people of different races.

Racial Assimilation

The process by which racial minority groups are absorbed into the dominant group through intermarriage.

Cultural Assimilation

The process by which racial or ethnic groups are absorbed into the dominant group by adopting the dominant group's culture.

Embodied Identity

Those elements of identity that are generated through others' perceptions of our physical traits.

Discrimination

Unequal treatment of individuals based on their membership in a social group; usually motivated by prejudice.