Chapter 8 Review Sheet

Act

Discrimination is a

People who share a common culture

How do sociologists define ethnicity?

Institutional discrimination is more widespread

How is institutional discrimination different from individual discrimination?

Functions, dysfunctions, describing the social structures

Structural Functionalism

Symbols, meanings, individuals, socialization

Symbolic Interactionism

Assimilation

What is it called when a minority group is absorbed into the dominant group?

To increase diversity

What is the goal of affirmative action?

Coming from a non-English speaking country

What makes someone most likely to drop out of school?

Assimilation

a 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.

Racism

a set of beliefs about the superiority of one racial or ethnic group; used to justify inequality and often rooted in the assumption that differences between groups are genetic.

Ethnicity

a socially defined category based on common language, religion, nationality, history, or another cultural factor.

Race

a socially defined category based on real or perceived biological differences between groups of people.

Passing

presenting yourself as a member of a different racial or ethnic group than the one you were born into.

Minority Group

social group that is systematically denied the same access to power and resources available to society's dominant groups though they are not necessarily fewer in number than the dominant groups.

Race

Biological differences

Considerable and usually unacknowledged privilege

Caucasian ethnic identity is characterized by:

Miscegenation

Cohabitation or marriage between two people of different racial groups

Owners, workers, power, resources, inequality, social structures

Conflict theory

Ethnicity

Cultural differences

Belief

Prejudice is a

Pluralism

Societies that encourage racial and ethnic diversity have embraced the value of:

Double-Consciousness

W.E.B. DuBois's term for the divided identity experienced by blacks in America.

Pluralism

a cultural pattern of intergroup relations that encourages racial and ethnic variation and acceptance within a society.

Situational Ethnicity

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

Symbolic Ethnicity

an ethnic identity that is only relevant on specific occasions and does not significantly impact everyday life.

Prejudice

an idea about the characteristics of a group that is applied to all members of that group and is unlikely to change regardless of the evidence against it.

Individual Discrimination

discrimination carried out by one person against another.

Institutional Discrimination

discrimination carried out systematically by institutions (political, economic, educational and others) that affect all members of a group who come into contact with it.

Discrimination

unequal treatment of individuals based on their membership in a social group; usually motivated by prejudice.