Cultural Pluralism - Midterm Review

What are the 5 characteristics of ethnic groups?

1. Unique cultural traits (subcultures) 2. sense of community or a common past 3. ethnocentrism (we v. they, hierarchy system) 4. ascribed membership (no choice) 5. territoriality

What are the 4 basic questions of ethnic groups?

1. What is the nature of intergroup relations in multiethnic socities? 2. How are the various ethnic groups ranked, and what are the consequences of the ranking system? 3. How does the dominant ethnic group in a multiethnic society maintain its place at the top of the ethnic hierarchy, and what attempts are made by the subordinate groups to change their positions? 4. What are the long-range outcomes of ethnic relations?

What are the 4 dimensions of assimilation?

1. cultural assimilation - acculturation involves the adoption by which one ethnic group of another's cultural traits 2. Structural assimilation - an increasing degree of social interaction among different ethnic groups 3. Psychological - members of an ethnic group undergo change in self-identity 4. biological - intermarriage has occurred

What are the 3 types of multiethnic societies?

High (USA, CAN, ISR), medium (UK, ARG), and low (FIN, EGY, JAPAN)

Explain the difference between voluntary and involuntary immigration.

The migration of peoples' from one society to another voluntarily/involuntary

What is a charter group?

groups that are usually distinguished by ethnic group and ethnic identity and those that have played a pioneering role in the opening and development of new territories and immigrant society

What is multiethnic?

societies comprising numerous racial, religious, and cultural groups

What is ethnocentrism?

the belief by members of a group that their culture is superior to others

Explain racism?

the belief that humans are subdivided into distinct hereditary groups that are innately different in their social behavior and mental capacities and that can therefore be ranked as superior or inferior

What is discrimination?

the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex

What is cultural pluralism?

when smaller groups within a larger society maintain their unique cultural identities, and their values and practices are accepted by the wider culture provided they are consistent with the laws and values of the wider society

What are the 5 systems of pluralism?

1. Equalitarian pluralism/accommodation 2. Corporate/equalitarian pluralism 3. Inequalitarian pluralism/segregation/apart held 4. Paternalistic/competitive 5. Expulsion/annihilation

What are the three basic ideas of racism?

1. Humans are divided naturally into physical traits 2. Such physical traits as people display are intrinsically related to their culture personality and intelligence 3. The differences among groups are innate, not subject to change, and on the basis of their genetic inheritance, some groups are innately superior to others

Explain Merton's Paradigm.

Active Bigot (Extremist), Fair Weather Liberal, Timid Bigot, All Weather Liberal

Explain the differences between assimilation and pluralism.

Assimilation - groups may become more alike culturally and interact with one another more freely (increasing similarity between groups, becoming one). Pluralism - group may remain culturally distinct and socially segregated.

What are the 4 types of minorities?

Class, race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual preferences, age, disabilities, past behaviors

Explain Order Theorists v. Conflict Theorists

Conflict theorists (Marx) - see societies as held together not by broad agreements among groups but by the power of the dominant classes and ruling elites to impose will on others. Order theorists (Durkheim) - see societies as a relatively balanced system made up of differently functioning but related parts.

What is the difference between micro and macro discrimination?

Micro (individual) - overt acts committed by one individual against another. Macro (institutional) - the denial of opportunities and equal rights to individuals and groups that results from the normal operations of a society

What are the 5 characteristics of minority groups?

Social, differential power, categorical treatment, sociological and numerical meanings

What is ethnic stratification?

a rank order of groups, each made up of people with presumed common cultural or physical characteristics, interacting in patterns of dominance or subordination

What are stereotypes?

a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing