Sociology Week 7

De jure segregation

Segregation that is enforced by law

White ethnic Americans

- 77.7% of the US population identifies themselves as white alone - Started with German and Irish immigrants - Germans were significantly less oppressed, but did face anti-German sentiment in the US during WWII - Irish were very oppressed and seen as dirty -

Stereotypes

- Oversimplified generalizations about a group of people - Can be based of race, gender, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, almost any characteristic - Doesn't take individual differences into account

Prejudice

- Refers to the beliefs, thoughts, feelings, and attitudes someone holds about a group - A prejudgement originating outside actual experience

Native Americans

- The only nonimmigrant group in the US - Only 0.9 percent of the population as of 2010

Discrimination

Actions against a group of people. Can be based on age, religion, health, and other indicators

What is discrimination?

Based actions against a group or individual

This is an example of a numerical majority being treated as a subordinate group

Blacks under apartheid in South Africa

The first Asian immigrants to come to the United States in the mid-nineteenth century were

Chinese, they were drawn in by the Gold Rush

Who is seen as the model minority group within the Hispanic group?

Cuban Americans

Genocide

Deliberate annihilation of a targeted (usually subordinate) group, is the most toxic intergroup relationship.

Ethnicity

Describes shared culture—the practices, values, and beliefs of a group.

Amalgamation

Describes the process by which a minority group and a majority group combine to form a new group

Assimilation

Describes the process by which a minority individual or group gives up its own identity by taking on the characteristics of the dominant culture.

Scapegoat theory shows that

Dominant groups blame subordinate groups for their problems

When we speak of descent through such cultural backgrounds as Irish, Italian American, Russian, Jewish, and Serbian we are actually discussing

Ethnicity

Conflict theorist perspective on racism and ethnic inequalities

Examines the numerous past and current struggles between the white ruling class and racial and ethnic minorities, noting specific conflicts that have arisen when the dominant group perceived a threat from the minority group.

Why did most white ethnic Americans come to the United States?

For a better life and to escape oppression

The Indian Removal Act of 1930

Forced the relocation of any native tribes east of the Mississippi River to lands west of the river.

Mexican Americans

Form the largest Hispanic subgroup and also the oldest - Most have immigrated illegally

In order to justify their severely discriminatory behavior, slaveholders and their supporters had to view blacks as

Innately inferior

Many Arab Americans face _______________, especially after 9/11.

Islamophobia

Which of the following is the best explanation of racism as a social fact?

It does not need to actions of individuals to continue

What is the one defining feature of a minority group?

Lack of power

What intergroup relationship is represented by the "salad bowl" metaphor?

Pluralism

Symbolic interactions

Race and ethnicity provide strong symbols as sources of identity. Some of these sociologists propose that symbols of race, not race itself, are what lead to racism.

Functionalist perspective on racism and ethnic inequalities

Racial and ethnic inequalities must have served an important function in order to exist as long as they have. Views racism as strengthening bonds between in-groups members through the ostracism of out-group members. Consider how a community might increase solidarity by refusing to allow outsiders access.

Racial steering

Real estate agents direct prospective homeowners toward or away from certain neighborhoods based on their race.

Indian Self-Determination Act of 1975 and the Education Assistance Act

Recognized tribal governments, gave them more power.

Scapegoat theory (developed from Dollard's Frustration-Agression Theory)

Suggests that the dominant group will displace its unfocused aggression onto a subordinate group

Intersection theory (Patricia Collins)

Suggests we cannot separate the effects of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and other attributes.

The ________ focuses on how race and ethnicity provide strong symbols as sources of identity.

Symbolic interactionist theory

Dominate group

Term often used to describe a group that is in the majority

Which federal act or program was designed to allow more Hispanic American immigration, not block it?

The Bracero Program

The first Asian immigrants to come to the United States in the mid-nineteenth century were ________.

The Chinese

White privilege

The benefits people receive simply by being part of the dominant group

As a Caucasian in the United States, being reasonably sure that you will be dealing with authority figures of the same race as you is a result of:

White privilege

De facto segregation

Segregation that occurs without laws but because of other factors

Arabian Americans

- Their country of origin has not existed for centuries - Represent all religious practices, despite the stereotype that all Arabic people practice Islam - Geographically, the Arab region comprises the Middle East and parts of northern Africa. People whose ancestry lies in that area or who speak primarily Arabic may consider themselves Arabs - Came here in order to escape persecution

5 characteristics of a minority group (Wagley, Harris)

1) Unequal treatment/less power over their lives 2) Distinguishing physical or cultural traits like skin color or language 3) Involuntary membership in the group 4) Awareness of subordination 5) High rate of in-group marriage

Social construction of race

A more sociological way of understanding racial categories. Research in this school of thought suggests that race is not biologically identifiable and that previous racial categories were arbitrarily assigned, based on pseudoscience, and used to justify racist practices

Racism

A stronger type of prejudice used to justify the belief that one racial category is somehow superior or inferior to others

Historically, the concept of race has changed across cultures and eras, and has eventually become less connected with ___________________, and more concerned with ____________________________.

Ancestral and familial ties, superficial physical characteristics

Colorism

Another kind of prejudice, in which someone believes one type of skin tone is superior or inferior to another within a racial group. For example, studies suggest that darker skinned African Americans experience more discrimination than lighter skinned African Americans

Minority group (Wirth) AKA subordinate group

Any group of people who, because of their physical or cultural characteristics, are singled out from the others in the society in which they live for differential and unequal treatment, and who therefore regard themselves as objects of collective discrimination.

Model minority stereotype

Applied to a minority group that is seen as reaching significant educational, professional, and socioeconomic levels without challenging the existing establishment.

Which subordinate group is often referred to as the "model minority?"

Asian Americans

Which of the following theories would suggest that racial and ethnic inequalities must have served an important purpose in order to exist as long as they have?

Functionalist

The Indian Appropriation Acts

Funded further removals and declared that no Indian tribe could be recognized as an independent nation, tribe, or power with which the U.S. government would have to make treaties. This made it even easier for the U.S. government to take land it wanted.

Which intergroup relation displays the least tolerance?

Genocide

The Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968

Guaranteed Indian tribes most of the rights of the United States Bill of Rights.

Expulsion

Refers to a subordinate group being forced, by a dominant group, to leave a certain area or country.

Segregation

Refers to the physical separation of two groups, particularly in residence, but also in workplace and social functions.

Culture of prejudice

Refers to the theory that prejudice is embedded in our culture.

Institutional racism

Refers to the way that racism is embedded in the fabric of society

Pluralism

Represented by the ideal of the United States as a "salad bowl": a great mixture of different cultures where each culture retains its own identity and yet adds to the flavor of the whole.

The Dawes Act of 1877

Reversed the policy of isolating Native Americans on reservations, instead forcing them onto individual properties that were intermingled with white settlers, thereby reducing their capacity for power as a group.

What doctrine justified legal segregation in the South?

Separate but equal

The focus of ________ theory would be on the inequalities of gender, social class, education, race, and ethnicity.

Social conflict

Speedy Gonzales

Stereotyping

African Americans

The exemplar minority group in the United States whose ancestors did not come here by choice.

Racial profiling

The use by law enforcement of race alone to determine whether to stop and detain someone