Sociology of Diversity

On average, women and men with the same amount of education, earn the same amount.

False

Race is biological.

False

Institutional Racism

Is distinguished from the explicit attitudes or racial bias of individuals by the existence of systematic policies or laws and practices that provide differential access to goods, services and opportunities of society by race.

Sexism

People in some societies view women as "delicate," "too emotional," and physically weak for the demands of "manly" occupations. (In the U. S. and other societies, these ideas about gender were also racialized, applying only to white women. The same men who placed white women "on a pedestal" didn't hesitate to send enslaved women into the fields to perform the most difficult, physically demanding tasks.) Even in the most progressive societies, women possess many characteristics of a minority group, especially a pattern of disadvantage based on group membership marked by visible characteristics.

Black Lives Matter (BLM)

People throughout the United States organized to call attention to the perceived indiscriminate shooting deaths of Black youths. An activist movement using the hashtag #BlackLivesMattersurfaced and continued to gain strength with each ensuing incident that seemingly showed that a Black life did not matter to a law-enforcement officer. Began as a call to action in response to state-sanctioned violence and anti-Black racism. Specifically, enraged by the murder of an unarmed, Black teenager (Trayvon Martin) and the subsequent acquittal of his killer, Black Lives Matter was created. Their intention from the very beginning was to connect Black people from all over the world who have a shared desire for justice to act together in their communities. The impetus for that commitment was, and still is, the rampant and deliberate violence inflicted on us by the state.

Migration

People who emigrate to a new country often find themselves a minority in that new country. Cultural or physical traits or religious affiliation may set the immigrant apart from the dominant group Migration is the general term used to describe any transfer of population

Race

Physical differences that groups and cultures consider socially significant.

Color-blind Racism

"I don't see color" "I don't have a racist bone in my body" "I'm the LEAST racist person I know" "I'm not racist, but...." "Some of my best friends are Black/Latinx/Asian" Many sociologists are extremely critical of colorblindness as an ideology. They argue that as the mechanisms that reproduce racial inequality have become more covert and obscure than they were during the era of open, legal segregation, the language of explicit racism has given way to a discourse of colorblindness. But they fear that the refusal to take public note of race actually allows people to ignore manifestations of persistent discrimination. An important aspect of color-blind racism is the recognition that race is rarely invoked in public debates on social issues. Instead, people emphasize lower social class, lack of citizenship, or immigration status; these descriptions serve as proxies for race. Furthermore, the emphasis is on individuals failing rather than on recognizing patterns of groups being disadvantaged. Together, these aspects of color-blind racism lead many White people to declare that they are not racist and do not know anyone who is racist.

For many years following the American Civil War, practices such as poll taxes and rigged literacy tests (designed to ensure failure) prevented African Americans in the South from voting. This is an example of _________.

...Institutional Discrimination...

__________ is a negative attitude toward an entire category of people. It involves attitudes, thoughts, and beliefs—not actions.

...Prejudice...

_________ refers to the preparation of newcomers to become members of an existing group and to think, feel, and act in ways the group considers appropriate.

...Socialization...

Hate Crime

A crime is considered a Hate crime when offenders choose a victim because of some characteristic—for example, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or disability—and provide evidence that hatred prompted them to commit the crime. Dallas Men Plead Guilty to Hate Crimes After Using Dating App to Target Gay Men Colorado Man Charged with Federal Hate Crime for Plotting to Blow Up Synagogue Texas Man Sentenced to 24 Years for Hate Crime in Burning Down Mosque in Victoria, Texas

Stop-and-Frisk

A crime-prevention strategy that had been a staple of policing in the United.It allows police officers to detain someone for questioning on the street, in public housing projects or in private buildings where landlords request police patrols. During Michael R. Bloomberg's tenure as mayor of New York City, police officers stopped and questioned people they believed to be engaged in criminal activity on the street more than five million times. Officers often then searched the detainees — the vast majority of whom were young black and Latino men — for weapons that rarely materialized. In 2009, black and Latino people in New York were nine times as likely to be stoppedby the police compared to white residents/ Only 14 out of every 10,000 stops conducted during the Bloomberg era turned up a gun, and just 1,200 out of every 10,000 ended with a fine, an arrest or the seizure of an illegal weapon, according to police data analyzed by the New York Civil Liberties Union.

Title IX

A federal civil rights law passed as part of the Education Amendments of 1972. This law protects people from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive Federal financial assistance.

Minority Group

A minority group is a group that experiences a pattern of disadvantage or inequality, has a visible identifying trait, and is a self-conscious social unit. Membership is usually determined at birth, the group members tend to form intimate relations within the group. Minority groups are at a disadvantage in society compared to dominant groups. They don't receive equal access to quality education, well-paying jobs, quality healthcare, financial services, and other valued resources

Islamophobia

A range of negative feelings toward Muslims and their religion. Those feelings range from generalized intolerance to hatred. The current xenophobic expressions against Muslims are strikingly different than earlier expressions of xenophobia because, in the twenty-first century, they have taken on a decidedly patriotic fervor; that is, many people who overtly express anti-Muslim or anti-Arab feelings also believe themselves to be pro-American. For example, in 2015 then-presidential candidate Donald Trump called for a ban on all Muslims entering the United States pending thorough background checks

Intersectionality

A view that acknowledges that everyone has multiple group memberships and that these crisscross or intersect to create different experiences for people with varying combinations of statuses.

Racial Profiling

According to the Department of Justice, racial profiling is any police-initiated action based on race, ethnicity, or national origin rather than the person's behavior. Generally, profiling occurs when law-enforcement officers, including customs officials, airport security, and police, assume that people fitting certain descriptions are likely to be engaged in an illegal activity. Racial profiling has become a more visible part of the national discussion in recent years.

Glass Ceiling

As subordinate-group members are able to compete successfully, they sometimes encounter attitudinal or organizational bias that prevents them from reaching their full potential. They have confronted what has come to be called the glass ceiling. This term refers to the barrier that blocks the promotion of qualified workers because of gender or minority-group membership There are many reasons for the existence of glass ceilings. It may be that one Black or one woman vice president is regarded as enough, so the second potential minority candidate faces an obstacle to upward movement through the organization. Decision-makers may be concerned that their customers will not trust them if they have too many people of color in top management, or they may worry that a talented woman could become overwhelmed with her duties as a mother and wife and thus perform poorly in a high-level job.

White Privilege

Being White is not the same as being Black or Latino. Being White in the United States may not ensure success and wealth, but it does limit encounters with intolerance. Having white privilege does not mean that you grew up rich, have access to unlimited resources, and that you have not faced any struggles. Refers to the rights or immunities granted as a particular benefit or favor for being White. This advantage exists unconsciously and is often invisible to the White people who enjoy it

Subordinate Group

Can emerge through migration, annexation, and/or colonialism. A group with subordinate status faces several consequences. These differ in their degree of harshness, ranging from physical annihilation to absorption into the dominant group. Extermination: -Genocideis the deliberate, systematic killing of an entire people or nation. -This term is often used in reference to the Holocaust, Nazi Germany's extermination of 12 million European Jews and other ethnic minorities during World War II. The Holocaust was the state-sponsored systematic persecution and annihilation of European Jews by Nazi Germany and its collaborators.

Gender Norms

Gender roles in society means how we're expected to act, speak, dress, groom, and conduct ourselves based upon our assigned sex. For example, girls and women are generally expected to dress in typically feminine ways and be polite, accommodating, and nurturing. Men are generally expected to be strong, aggressive, and bold.

Social Classes

Groups of people who command similar amounts of valued goods and services, such as income, property, and education. We often define social class by the amount of income people earn. Lower-class, middle class, upper-middle class, upper class

Assimilation

Is the process by which a subordinate individual or group takes on the characteristics of the dominant group and is eventually accepted as part of that group. Dictates conformity to the dominant group, regardless of how many racial, ethnic, or religious groups are involved. To be complete, assimilation must entail an active effort by the minority-group individual to shed all distinguishing actions and beliefs and the unqualified acceptance of that individual by the dominant society. In the United States, dominant White society encourages assimilation. The assimilation perspective tends to devalue alien culture and to treasure the dominant. For example, assimilation assumes that whatever is admirable among Blacks was adapted from Whites and that whatever is bad is inherently Black. The assimilation solution to Black-White conflict has been typically defined as the development of a consensus around White American values. Very difficult. The person being assimilated must forsake his or her cultural tradition to become part of a different, often antagonistic culture. However, cross-border movement is often preceded by adjustments and awareness of the culture that awaits the immigrant. Does not occur at the same pace for all groups or for all individuals in the same group. Typically, the assimilation process is not completed by the first generation—the new arrivals.

Examples of Resistance

Manifests itself in social movements such as the civil rights movement, the feminist movement, and gay rights efforts. The passage of such legislation as the Age Discrimination Act or the Americans with Disabilities Act marks the success of oppressed groups in lobbying on their own behalf. Social media platforms provide a new vehicle for resistance and change. For example, the 2013 acquittal of a man who shot to death Trayvon Martin, an unarmed African American youth, mobilized Blacks and other groups concerned about violence against Black youth.

Marginalized Group

Marginalized refers to the relegation to the fringes of society due to a lack of access to rights, resources, and opportunities

Example of Institutional Discrimination

Poll Taxes and Literacy test Refusing to hire members of minority groups. (women, Black people, Latinx people, people with disabilities. 1Q testing favors middle-class children, especially White middle-class children, because of the types of questions included on the test. The entire criminal justice system, from the patrol officer to the judge and jury, is dominated by Whites who find it difficult to understand life in poverty-stricken areas. Hiring practices often require several years' experience at jobs only recently opened to members of subordinate groups. Many jobs automatically eliminate people with felony records or past drug offenses, a practice that disproportionately reduces employment opportunities for people of color.

Prejudice

Prejudice is a negative attitude toward an entire category of people. The important components in this definition are altitude and entire category. Prejudice involves attitudes, thoughts, and beliefs—not actions.

Institutional Discrimination

Refers to a pattern of unequal treatment, based on group membership, built into the daily operations of institutions, whether or not it is consciously intended.

Ethnicity

Refers to shared culture, such as language, ancestry, practices, and beliefs.

Explicit Bias

Refers to the attitudes and beliefs we have about a person or group on a conscious level. Much of the time, these biases and their expression arise as the direct result of a perceived threat.

Environmental Racism

Refers to the way in which minority group neighborhoods are burdened with a disproportionate number of hazards, including toxic waste facilities, garbage dumps, and other sources of environmental pollution and foul odors that lower the quality of life. All around the globe, members of minority groups bear a greater burden of the health problems that result from higher exposure to waste and pollution. This can occur due to unsafe or unhealthy work conditions where no regulations exist (or are enforced) for poor workers, or in neighborhoods that are uncomfortably close to toxic materials. Environmental justice refers to efforts to ensure that hazardous substances are controlled so that all communities receive protection, regardless of race or socioeconomic circumstance. The failure by the city of Flint, Michigan to properly treat its municipal water system after a change in the source of water, resulted in elevated lead levels in the city's water and an increase in city children's blood lead levels. Lead exposure in young children can lead to decrements in intelligence, development, behavior, attention and other neurological functions. This lack of ability to provide safe drinking water represents a failure to protect the public's health at various governmental levels.

The difference between sex and gender

Sex refers to the anatomical and other biological differences between females and males that are determined at the moment of conception and develop in the womb and throughout childhood and adolescence. Generally, we assign a newborn's sex as either male or female (some US states and other countries offer a third option) based on the baby's genitals. Once a sex is assigned, we presume the child's gender. Gender, on the other hand, is a social classification based on one's identity, presentation of self, behavior, and interaction with others. Individuals may identify with a different gender than what they were assigned at birth. Cis, which is short for cisgender, refers to people whose gender identity matches the sex they were assigned at birth.

Example of Institutional Racism

Slavery While marijuana use is similar in black and white communities, blacks are 3.73 times as likely to be arrested for possession of marijuana as whites. The National Academy of Sciences stated that blacks are more likely than whites to received prison terms rather than community service. Black people are imprisoned at twice the rate of white people in the U.S., according to the US Department of Justice

Social Location

Social location is a person's place in society, generally determined by a combination of aspects of a person's identity such as race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and social class status. Sociologists study how people's social locations shape their experiences and their place in society.

Race-Averse

Sociologists speak of race-averse (homes where race is not discussed) and race-aware households (homes where race is openly discussed). Children who grow up in race-averse homes tend to have a more difficult time dealing with race when they get older because they have less experience wrestling with it in their youth. White people are, by and large, living in race-averse communities that support their desire to not discuss race and thus often ending up struggling with how to deal with this complex, nuanced, emotional subject. This is not progress. Calling yourself color-blind is not progress—it's insulting. Engaging with race, making serious efforts to understand race, understanding how systems shape our world and how white people consistently benefit from those systems to the detriment of others, and rejecting the backwards notion of white victimhood—that is the path to progress.

Social Construct

Something that exists not in objective reality, but as a result of human interaction. It exists because humans agree that it exists.

Stratification

Stratification is the hierarchal ranking of societal groups that results in an unequal distribution of goods and services. (Income, job opportunities, and other valuable resources)

Gender Wage Gap

The average difference between the remuneration for men and women who are working. Women are generally considered to be paid less than men. There are two distinct numbers regarding the pay gap: non-adjusted versus adjusted pay gap.

Example of Prejudice

The belief that women are not qualified to serve in the military. Assuming that someone is on government assistance because of their race. A college student requests a change after arriving at school and learning that his new roommate is Black. They do this because they have preconceived beliefs about Black people. Islamophobia

Microaggressions

The commonplace daily verbal indignities that members of a minority group experience. For example, calling on a Latina classmate or coworker to comment on immigration policy, or telling a prospective Black job candidate, "I believe the most qualified person should get the job. Regardless of race." Can be intentional or unintentional, and the perpetrator is often unaware of the insult.

Discrimination

The unequal treatment of people based on their group membership. For example, an employer might not hire someone because they are African American (or Puerto Rican, Jewish, Chinese, etc.). If the unequal treatment is based on the individual's group membership (e.g., race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion), the act is discriminatory.

Racial Minority Group

The first and most important defining characteristic of a minority group is its inequality. The second defining characteristic of a minority group is some visible traitor characteristic that sets them apart and that the dominant group holds in low esteem. (Language, religion, style of dress, skin color, facial features) The third characteristic of minority groups is that the members are aware of their differentiation from the dominant group and their shared disadvantage. The fourth characteristic of minority groups is that, generally, membership is an ascribed statusgiven to them, often at birth. The traits that identify minority group membership are typically hard to change. Thus minority status is usually involuntary and for life. The fifth characteristic is the intimate relationships minority group members tend to form with people like themselves. Members of the dominant group have these types of relationships too.

Dominate Group

The group that benefits from and typically tries to sustain minority group subordination. In terms of race/ethnicity, the dominant group in the U.S are Non-Hispanic Whites.

Segregation

The physical separation of two groups in residence, workplace, and social functions. Generally, the dominant group imposes segregationon a subordinate group. Segregation is rarely complete, however. Intergroup contact inevitably occurs even in the most segregated societies. The dissimilarity index is the most commonly used measure of segregation between two groups, reflecting their relative distributions across neighborhoods within a city or metroarea. It can range in value from 0, indicating complete integration, to 100, indicating complete segregation. In most cities and metro areas, however, the values are somewhere between those extremes.

Affirmative Action

The positive effort to recruit subordinate-group members, including women, for jobs, promotions, and educational opportunities. People often associate Affirmative Action with African Americans. Affirmative Action is for members of any underrepresented group. Affirmative Action is intended to diversify institutions. Has been an important tool for reducing institutional discrimination. Whereas earlier efforts were aimed at preventing individual acts of discrimination, federal measures under the "affirmative action" heading have been aimed at procedures that deny equal opportunities, even if they are not intended to be overtly discriminatory. The basis of the affirmative action argument is that "minority groups, which include women, have been discriminated against historically, and that there is a constitutional protection that they should have equal opportunity. Opponents of affirmative action believe the policy is outdated and no longer necessary, and that it leads to reverse discrimination by disadvantaging majority groups. Example: Many white students believe Affirmative Action hurts their chances of getting in particular universities. Either by admitting minority applicants over white ones who are more qualified, or by prioritizing minority applicants over white applicants who are otherwise on a level playing field.

Socialization

The preparation of newcomers to become members of an existing group and to think, feel, and act in ways the group considers appropriate. A central process in social life. Its importance has been noted by sociologists for a long time, but their image of it has shifted over the last hundred years. This first goal is accomplished naturally: as people grow up within a particular society, they pick up on the expectations of those around them and internalize these expectations to moderate their impulses and develop a conscience. Second, socialization teaches individuals how to prepare for and perform certain social roles—occupational roles, gender roles, and the roles of institutions such as marriage and parenthood. Third, socialization cultivates shared sources of meaning and value. Through socialization, people learn to identify what is important and valued within a particular culture.

Racism

The systemic subordination of members of targeted racial groups who have relatively little social power in the United States (Blacks, Latino/as, Native Americans, and Asians), by the members of the dominant group who have relatively more social power. Racism involves actual actions whether that is at the is at the micro, meso, or macro level

Implicit Bias

The unconscious attribution of particular qualities to a member of a certain social group. Implicit stereotypes are shaped by experience and based on learned associations between particular qualities and social categories, including race and/or gender.

The Myth of Reverse Racism

Tries to ignore the fundamental question of who holds more power/privilege between the individuals/groups involved; the myth of reverse racism assumes that racism occurs on a so-called level playing field. Racism is about institutional power and privilege. For the most part, Non-Hispanic Whites hold all of the institutional power in our society. When a group of people has little or no power over you institutionally, they don't get to define the terms of your existence, and they can't limit your opportunities.

Gender is a social construct.

True

In the United States, the dominant racial group is Non-Hispanic Whites.

True

Stereotypes

Unreliable generalizations about all members of a group and do not take individual differences into account. Examples: Women are sensitive and they need to be protected./ People that receive government assistance are lazy.

Wealth Inequality

Wealth is a measure of what a household owns minus what it owes. It is a more inclusive term than income and encompasses all of a person's material assets, including land, stocks, and other types of property. Wealth allows one to live better; even modest assets provide insurance against the effects of job layoffs, natural disasters, and long-term illness, and they allow individuals to borrow money at much lower interest rates. Wealth allows children to graduate from college with little or no debt. This simple fact reminds us that for many people, wealth is not always related to assets but also can be measured by indebtedness.

Examples of Marginalized Groups

Women Immigrants Refugees Members of the LGBTQIA+ community Disabled People Racial Minorities (Anyone who is not Non-Hispanic White) *This list is not exhaustive