Sociology Ch. 9: Race and Ethnicity

Why do Asian Americans have a higher average income?

1: Family life 2: Educational Achievement 3: Assimilation into mainstream culture

Population Transfer

1: Indirect is achieved by making life so miserable for members of a minority that they leave "voluntarily" 2: Direct occurs when a dominant group expels a minority

How does a group become a minority?

1: The expansion of political boundaries 2: Migration

Spillover Bigotry

A stereotype that lumped Asians together, depicting them as sneaky, lazy, and untrustworthy

Internal Colonialism

Describe the way in which a country's dominant group exploits minority groups for its economic advantage

Institutional Discrimination

Discrimination is woven into the fabric of society

Split Labor Market

The division of workers along racial-ethnic and gender lines

Assimilation

The dominant group absorbs the minority group

Multiculturalism (Pluralism)

The dominant group encourages racial and ethnic variation; when successful, there is no longer a dominant group

Population Transfer

The dominant group expels the minority group

Internal Colonialism

The dominant group exploits the minority group

Forced Assimilation

The dominant group refuses to allow the minority to speak its native language, to practice its religion, or to follow its other customs

Segregation

The dominant group structures the social institutions to maintain minimal contact with the minority group

Genocide

The dominant group tries to destroy the minority group

Dominant Group

The group that has the greater power and privilege; possesses political power and unified by shared physical and cultural traits, the dominant group uses its position to discriminate against those with different and supposedly inferior traits

The Primary Difference between Sociological and Psychological Theories of Prejudice

The key to understanding prejudice is either found inside them, or outside them

Selective Perception

The labels we learn affect the ways we perceive people; they lead us to see certain things while they blind us to others

What was the significance of the U.S. Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson?

It was a reasonable use of state power to require "separate but equal" accommodations for blacks; 1896

Discuss the diversity among Latinos and show how this diversity distinguishes one Latino group from another

Latinos may identify themselves as black, white, or Native American; The countries that they maybe from are highly significant; Separated by social class; half-million Cubans who fled Castro's rise to power in 1959 were mostly well-educated, well-to-do professionals or businesspeople, but the "boat people" who fled later were mostly lower-class refugees, people with whom the earlier arrivals would not have associated in Cuba

Racism

When the basis of discrimination is someone's perception of race

Multiculturalism

a.k.a. pluralism; permits or even encourages racial-ethnic variation

In what four states do two-thirds of all Hispanic residents of the United States live?

1) California 2) Texas 3) Florida 4) New York

What are the Sociological Theories of Prejudice?

1) F: Prejudice is functional and is shaped by the social environment; Muzafer and Sherif 2) CT: Divisions among workers deflect anger and hostility away from the power elite and direct these powerful emotions toward other racial and ethnic groups; by using a split labor market, the bosses can weaken the workers so they won't unite and cause issues 3) SI: The labels we learn affect the ways we perceive people; words overpower us with emotions, blocking out rational thought about the people to whom they refer

What are the four ethnic groups that compose Switzerland and serve as an excellent example of pluralism?

1) French 2) Italian 3) German 4) Romansh; these groups have kept their own languages and they live peacefully in political and economic unity; multiculturalism has been so successful that none of these groups can properly be called a minority

Identify and describe the six major patterns of minority and dominant group relations.

1) Genocide 2) Population Transfer 3) Internal Colonialism 4) Segregation 5) Assimilation 6) Multiculturalism (Pluralism)

What are the Psychological Theories of Prejudice?

1) Prejudices are the result of frustration; Dollard; scapegoat to blame 2) Prejudices correspond with people's personalities; Adorno; those that supported anti-Semitism also supported authoritarian leaders and ethnocentrism; the less educated are more prejudiced; people who are older, less educated, less intelligent, and from a lower social class are more likely to be authoritarian

Race

A group of people with inherited physical characteristics that distinguish it from another group; there are no pure races; biologists and anthropologists cannot even agree on how many races there are; race depends more on the society in which we live than on our biological characteristics

Prejudice

A prejudging of some sort, usually in a negative way

Rising Expectations

African Americans expected that these sweeping legal changes would usher in better conditions in life

What is race? How is it defined biologically and sociologically and the common myths associated with race?

Bio-inherited physical characteristics; Soc-society groups us into certain groups 1) Pure Races 2) Fixed Number of Races 3) Race is Fixed by Biology 4) Racial Superiority

Indian Removal

Confine Native Americans to specified areas called reservations

Pan-Indianism

Emphasis on common elements that run through their cultures is an attempt to develop an identity that goes beyond the tribe

Positive Prejudice

Exaggerates the virtues of others, as when people think that some group is superior to their own group

White Ethnics

Immigrants from Europe whose language and other customs differed from theirs

Negative Prejudice

Involves prejudging a group as inferior

Scapegoat

Often a racial-ethnic or religious minority

Internalization of the norms of the dominant group

People being prejudiced against others within their own group; EX: light skin vs. dark skin

Minority Group

People who are singled out for unequal treatment and who regard themselves as objects of collective discrimination; not necessarily a numerical minority; their physical or cultural traits are held in low esteem by the dominant group, which treats them unfairly, and they tend to marry within their own group; these conditions tend to create a sense of common destiny, a sense of identity among minorities, or we-ness; Louis Wirth

Discuss the similarities and differences between prejudice and discrimination. Is it possible to be prejudice but not discriminate or to discriminate without being prejudice? Defend your answer with examples

Prejudice is attitudinal and discrimination is behavioral; Prejudice may be a feeling, thought, or even a predisposition towards others; Discrimination may be speech, mistreatment, illegal or legal, and behavioral (our actions); Merton identified four types of people: an All-Weather Liberal is neither prejudiced nor does he/she discriminate. These people tend to be very educated, non-traditional, and open-minded individuals who fail to remember that others rarely feel the same way they do. A Fair-Weather Liberal is not prejudiced but does discriminate. These people tend to be those who go along with the crowd or obey orders. They may feel guilty because they act under pressure in contrast to their inner values. EX: a non prejudiced person moves out of the neighborhood when someone of another racial-ethnic group moves in because he/she believes the housing values will drop. Timid Bigots are prejudiced but won't discriminate. These people tend to be afraid of acting on their prejudices, not wanting be caught or punished. Active Bigots are both prejudiced and they discriminate. These people tend to be extremely disconnected to mainstream values and harbor a profound sense of entitlement in regards to acting as they desire regardless of the laws, norms, and morals of society.

Discuss the similarities and differences between race and ethnicity. Give an example of each.

Race: Bio characteristics; Ethnicity: Cultural heritage and common ancestry; EX:Think of an African who just recently immigrated to the United States. While they would be categorized as black, they are totally ethically distinct from most black Americans who have lived here for centuries; EX: Race-Caucasian is white, but that's not his ethnicity because he maybe from Ireland, Scotland, England, or Israel; Race can be used to describe other elements of biological and regional differences. For instance, you can be born Jewish (which is usually referred to as a religion), but it does not mean that you have embraced the Jewish customs or religious beliefs. In such cases, the same term can be used to describe either ethnicity or race; Ethnicity-Ethnicity gives us room to change because we can reject our own and embrace another. You can move from one region to another and assimilate your beliefs, actions and customs to identify with that ethnic orientation. You cannot do the same with race.

Ethnicity/Ethnic

Refer to cultural characteristics; refer to people who identify with one another on the basis of common ancestry and cultural heritage; their sense of belonging may center on their clan, country, or region or origin, distinctive foods, clothing, language, music, religion, or family names and relationships

Ethnic Work

Refer to the way people construct their ethnicity; how they enhance and maintain their group's distinctions-from clothing, food, and language to religious practices and holidays

What were Jim Crow laws?

Segregate blacks and whites; Functional because the whites benefited, but dysfunctional because the blacks did not benefit and caused an upheaval in southern society

Genocide

The attempt to destroy a group of people because of their presumed race or ethnicity

Permissible Assimilation

The minority adopts the patterns of the dominant group in its own way and at its own speed

Individual Discrimination

The negative treatment of one person by another

Assimilation

The process by which a minority group is absorbed into the mainstream culture

Segregation

The separation of racial or ethnic groups

Authoritarian Personality

These people believe that things are either right or wrong; ambiguity disturbs them, especially in matters of religion or sex; they become anxious when they confront norms and values that are different from their own; to view people who differ from themselves as inferior assures them that their own positions are right; Adorno

Why are Native Americans are called the invisible minority?

They are having trouble trying to establish an identity in society, and they receive very little help from the government and charities. Also, they are trying to hold on to the Traditions passed down to them from their forefathers, but they also want to live in the present. Its like they're in between two different worlds.

Compartmentalize

To separate their acts of cruelty from their sense of being good and decent people; labeling the targeted group as inferior or less fully human facilitates genocide

Reserve Labor Force

Unemployed

Discrimination

Unfair treatment directed against someone; can be based on many characteristics like age, sex, height, weight, skin color, clothing, speech, income, education, marital status, sexual orientation, disease, disability, religion, and politics

WASPS

White Anglo Saxon Protestants; held deep prejudices against other whites