Chapter 4 Race Relations

Labeling theory

A perspective addressing how other's categorizations affect one's self-identity and behavior

Split labor market

A concept explaining ethnic antagonism on the basis of conflict between higher-paid and lower-paid labor.

Middleman minority

A minority group occupying an intermediate occupational position in trade or commerce between the top and bottom strata.

Social segregation

A situation in which participation in social, fraternal, service, and other types of activities is confined to members of the in-group.

Accommodation (pluralistic) theory

A tendency to accept the situation as its exists, without seeking to change it or make others conform.

Cultural assimilation

Changing cultural patterns of behavior to those of the host society; acculturation

vicious-circle phenomenon

Dynamics of intergroup relations where prejudice and discrimination serve as reciprocal stimuli and responses to reinforce one another.

Americanization movement

The effort to have ethnic groups quickly give up their cultural traits and adopt those of the dominant U.S. group.

Primary structural assimilation

Integration in which dominant and minority-group members share close, personal interactions in churches, families, social clubs, or gatherings.

Amalgamation (melting pot) theory

The biological and cultural blending of two or more groups of people into a distinct new type; the melting-pot theory. A synonym is marital assimilation.

Spatial segregation

The physical separation of a minority groups from the rest of society, such as in housing or education.

Assimilation theory

The process by which members of racial or ethnic minorities are able to function within a society without indicating any marked cultural, social, or personal differences from the people of the majority group.

Negative self-image

The result of social conditioning, differential treatment, or both, causing people or groups to believe themselves inferior.

Marginality

The situation of individuals who are the product of one culture but are attempting to live within another, and therefore are not fully a part of either one.

structural pluralism

coexistence of racial and ethnic groups in separate sub societies; also may be divided along social class and regional boundaries

Secondary structural assimilation

integration in which dominant and minority group members share the more impersonal public sphere of civic, school, recreational or work settings.

Cultural pluralism

two or more culturally distinct groups coexisting in relative harmony