Chapter 4 - Development of dominant-minority group relations in pre-industrial America

The struggle of land and labor created what 3 minority groups?

African Americans Native Americans Mexican Americans

The labor supply problem

Agriculture is a labor intensive industry The Plantation System had to be done at a large scale to make a profit White indentured servants from the British Isles began to dwindle so the colonists turned to Africa to satisfy the need for labor (West India Trading Company)

2 primary forms of resistance for slaves?

Arson & running away

Blauner Hypothesis (Mexican Americans)

Both land and labor controlled by Mexicans was converted Close to their homeland and they could move back and forth as labor needs changed The suppression of their culture was part of the process by which the dominant culture was established - language property rights

Blauner Hypothesis

Colonization and immigration - minority groups created by colonization will experience more intense prejudice, racism, and discrimination than those created by immigration The disadvantaged status of colonized groups will be more difficult to overcome that for those groups created by colonization Minority groups created by colonization experience harsher rejection and oppression than groups formed by immigration Immigration has some control over their destination and position in host society These 2 positions at opposite ends of a continuum but there are positions in between

Blauner hypothesis (Native Americans)

Colonized minority group who faced high levels of prejudice and discrimination, controlled by paternalistic (reservation) and coercively acculturated

Noel hypothesis (Native Americans)

Competition for land Banished to west and again competed for land, eventually pushed onto reservations

Noel Hypothesis (Mexican Americans)

Competition for land began with first contact, prejudice (ethnocentrism) began from the southerners moving into Texas who transferred their ideas about Africans to Mexicans, differential power by region

Contact situation

Conditions under which groups first come in contact Single most significant factor in the creation of minority status The extent of racial or ethnic stratification Levels of racism and prejudice and the possibility of assimilation and pluralism

Indentured servants

Contract laborers who are obligated for a specific number of years

Pseudo-tolerance

Expressed positive emotions while maintaining a repressive system of control Achieved by unequal interactions between elites and slaves Slaves could not reject their position

Land and labor

Focus in early settlements until 19th century was agricultural Agricultural society requires control of land and labor

Differential in power-size

Group and degree of organization can make a difference and the resources to achieve the group goals Power is HOW the dominant groups' will is imposed

Noel Hypothesis

If 2 or more groups come together in a contact situation characterized by ethnocentrism, competition, and a differential power then some form of racial or ethnic stratification will result

Culture

In spite of horrible treatment of slaves, they maintained their African traditions They endured forced acculturation: forced to adopt American (english) customs

Origins of slavery in America

Indentured servants Dutch brought Africans to America, who were then pressed into labor By 1750, slavery was defined in law and custom. The idea that people could be owned was thoroughly institutionalized Africans were being brought to the US at the rate of 5,000/year 1/4 million slaves in the US made wealth in agriculture possible

Mexican Americans

Initial contact primarily in Texas, Cali, New Mexico, and Arizona In New Mexico, the Mexicans had more power and weren't reduced to a minority group as quickly as other states In Texas, they remained in their villages but US government colonized them by treaties In Cali, they passed laws to make it difficult and almost impossible for Mexicans to own land (had to show that deeds were valid)

Paternalism

Key element Vast power differentials and huge inequalities between dominant and minority groups Slaves were not allowed to be literate or marry Slavery was like a caste system-closed stratification system

Gender (Native Americans)

Many tribes were materialistic Women lost their power Land was the womens' power base

Abolitionism

Movement to abolish slavery Underground railroad

Creation of American Slavery

Noel hypothesis- ethnocentrism white indentured servants Africans and American Indians were seen differently Competition- dominant group controlled the land (except for that owned by Indians) and the two groups competed over control of the labor DIFFERENTIAL OF POWER IS THE KEY TO EXPLAINING WHY AFRICANS WERE ENSLAVED American Indians could escape (ability to survive off land and had family support to assist them) Africans were a COLONIZED group and suffered accordingly

Native Americans

Not limited to one group (multiple tribes) American Indians have diminished greatly Result of contact situation as almost genocide

Gender (Mexican Americans)

Patriarchal society Men had to leave their families to find work Women were in charge and often had to work outside of the home This shift lead to increased matriarchy and more working mothers

Dimensions of minority group status

Plantation elite used their power to maintain institutional discrimination control over slaves (power and inequality) Used prejudice and racism to rationalize and explain the justification for exploitation- passed down through generations, the Blauner Hypothesis states that subordination of colonized minority groups is perpetuated through time

Gender relations

Southern agrarian society was stratified by race, gender, and socioeconomic class African women were stratified in 3 different ways: black, slave, and female Female slaves had to do double duty - work in fields, take care of domestic duties

Dominant-Minority Relations are a function of what?

Subsistence technology

Assimilation

Suggests that slavery was beneficial Opposite view: slavery stripped them of their heritage and culture

Ethnocentrism

Tendency to judge other groups, societies or lifestyles by the standards of one's own culture It tells the dominant group WHO to dominate

Competition

The stronger group, if there is competition (usually over resources), will become the dominant group It tells the dominant group WHY it should establish a structure of dominance