Ch. 8 Sociology: Race and Ethnicity

Passing

Presenting yourself as a member of a different group than the stigmatized group you belong to

Racial Assimilation

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

Cultural Assimilation

Racial or ethnic group absorbed into dominant group by adopting the dominant groups culture.

Cultural Appropriation

The adoption of cultural elements belonging to an oppressed group by members of the dominant group, without permission and for the dominant groups gain. -Art, music, dress, language, religious rituals. -could be as simple as taking a theme for a college party

Symbolic Ethnicity

A Ethnic identity that is only relevant on specific occasions and does not specifically effect everyday life -Holidays like St. Patricks Day, or passover, or Cinco de Mayo.

Pluralism

A cultural pattern of intergroup relations that encourages racial and ethnic variation and acceptance with in a society. - Also Multiculturalism

Minortiy

A group that is smaller in numbers than the dominant group.

Race

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

Ethnicity

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

Race Consciousness

An awareness of the importance of race in our everyday lives and in our dealings with social institutions.

Situational Ethnicity

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

Color Blind Racism

An ideology that removes race as the explanation for any form of unequal treatment -Judging people by the "content of their character", rather than the color of their skin.

Prejudice

An inflexible attitude about a particular group of people rooted in generalizations and stereotypes. Often unchangeable - "All Irish are drunks", "All Mexicans are lazy"

Genocide

Deliberate and systematic extermination of a racial, ethnic, national, or cultural group; worst possible outcome between dominant and subordinate group.

Individual Discrimination

Discrimination carried out by one person against another. -Racist teacher could give student lower grade than he deserves for being Mexican.

Racism

Ideology or set of beliefs that claimed superiority of one racial or ethnic group; used to justify inequality and often rooted in the assumption that differences among groups are genetic. Presumes that one group is better than another.

Assimilation

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

People who are recognized belonging to a social category and who suffer from unequal treatment as a result of that status and denied access to power and resources because of it.

Segregation

Physical and legal separation of groups by race or ethnicity.

Internal Colonialism

The exploitation of a minority group with in the dominant groups own borders. -The British Empire having control of India, West Indies, Africa, Australia, and even the United States at one point.

Population Transfer

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

Embodied Identity

The way we are perceived in the physical world; other perceptions of our physical traits.

Privilege

Unearned advantage accorded to a member of dominant social groups (Males, whites, heterosexuals,..)

Discrimination

Unequal treatment of individuals based on their membership in a social group; usually motivated by prejudice. -Turned down for a loan because one is Hispanic/Latino.

Double Concsiousness

W.E.B Dubois's term for the divided identity experienced by blacks in the united states. -Could one be black and also claim rights as an american?

Institutional Discrimination

When institutions (governments, schools, banks, politics, etc.) practice discriminatory policies that affect whole groups of individuals.