SOC-101 Ch. 8 Q

What has modern science determined about racial categories?

Biologically there is no such thing as a pure race.

How is prejudice different from discrimination?

Prejudice is an attitude; discrimination is an action.

African American and Hispanic communities are much more likely to be located near toxic waste dumps than white communities. What does this tell you about race in America?

Race can have an effect on health.

Brazilians have many other racial categories, including moreno, mulato, neguinho, and pretinho. Most of these terms do not have an equivalent in the United States. What does this tell you?

Race is a social construct.

Pablo lives in the United States, where most people assume that he is Arab until they learn his name and hear his accent. They are surprised when Pablo tells them that he is from Spain and identifies as white, not Hispanic. Some even tell Pablo that he isn't really white. What does this suggest about race?

Race is socially defined and the criteria used to determine a person's race varies.

For a long time, the fact that immigrants from eastern Europe, Asia, and Latin America tended to be shorter than native-born Americans was taken as evidence that there were inherent racial differences between these populations. However, the immigrants had children who grew up to be as tall as anyone else. Geneticists now tell us that, although there can be considerable variation in height within a group due to genetics, height differences between groups are largely caused by diet. What does this demonstrate?

Racial differences are socially constructed and not genetic.

Plantation owners in America often argued that enslaved Africans were better off because they did not have the mental capacity to run their own lives. Today, this seems both racist and idiotic. How could such racist beliefs flourish?

Such beliefs justify social arrangements between dominant and minority groups that benefit those who accept them.

In the 1900s, there was a strong prejudice against Irish immigrants and their descendants. What does this tell you about the history of the Irish in the United States?

The Irish were once considered to be a separate race.

How do the current demographics of California challenge the way the term "minority" has been used in the past?

Whites are now less than half of the population of California.

Texas has never had a Hispanic governor and the percentage of Hispanic Americans in Texas state government is low. However, many Hispanic Americans live in Texas. In 2012, they made up nearly 40 percent of the state's population. Would a sociologist in Texas call Hispanic Americans a minority group?

Yes, because they are denied access to power and resources.

How do sociologists define a minority group?

a group whose members are denied access to power and resources

How do sociologists define ethnicity?

a group with a shared ancestry or shared cultural heritage

How do sociologists define race?

a social category based on real or perceived biological differences

The 2000 Census was the first time that Americans were allowed to ________ when identifying their race.

check more than one box

What has it been referred to as when minority group members are prejudice against themselves or their own group?

internalized racism

In the early nineteenth century, Native Americans survived clashes with the U.S. Army, but were forcibly removed to reservations. This is an example of

population transfer.

The belief that members of one racial group are genetically predisposed to be more intelligent than members of another racial group is an example of

prejudice.

Displays of ethnic identity that only occur on special occasions are called

symbolic ethnicity.

According to a study, black defendants on trial for murder in Pennsylvania were 40 percent more likely to receive the death penalty than whites convicted of similar crimes. This indicates that

the criminal justice system has a racial bias.

In the early 1900s, native-born Americans, usually Protestants, did NOT consider Irish, Italian, or Jewish immigrants to be white. What does this illustrate?

the social construction of race