Race/Minority Relations Test 1

Theories of Minority Integration

Assimilation Theory or majority-conformity Amalgamation Theory or melting-pot Accommodation Theory or pluralistic

Cultural relativism

Cultural relativism evaluates beliefs and behavior in the context of the culture. This is a more enlightened and positive alternative to ethnocentrism.

Interactions

Strangers experience a "lack of historicity"—a lack of the shared memory of those with whom they live. While social constructions of race and ethnicity are familiar to natives, they are new realities to the stranger.Migration

Amalgamation Theory

Diverse peoples blend their biological and cultural differences (through intermarriage and creation of a new culture) into an altogether new breed—the American.

Conflict Theory

Proponents of conflict theory see society as being continually engaged in a series of disagreements, tensions, and clashes as different groups compete for limited resources. The social structure fails to promote the society as a whole, as evidenced by existing social patterns benefiting some people while depriving others. Conflict theorists see disequilibrium and change as the norm. They examine the ongoing conflict between the dominant and subordinate groups in society. Conflict theorists focus on the inequalities that generate racial and ethnic antagonisms between groups.

Stratification

Social stratification is the hierarchical classification of the members of society based on the unequal distribution of resources, power, and prestige. Stratification may reduce or worsen any strains or conflicts among groups depending on how rigid and explicit or flexible and subtle the class distinctions are and discrimination based on race or ethnic group. Stratification also affects how groups within the various strata of society view one another.

Symbolic Interaction

The shared symbols and definitions people use when communicating with one another How individuals create and interpret the life situations they experience? Symbolic interaction theories are useful in understanding race and ethnic relations because they assume that minority groups are responsive and creative rather than passive.

Class Consciousness

The significance of ethnic factors in shaping an awareness of social class depends on numerous variables, including economic conditions, mobility patterns, and prevailing attitudes. The dominant group's criticism and stereotyping of the minority group probably rest in part on class distinctions. Social-class status also plays an important role in determining a minority group's adjustment to, and acceptance by, society.

Subcultures

Usually, immigrants follow a pattern of chain migration, settling in an area already containing family, friends, or compatriots who located there earlier.As ethnic subcultures in the U.S. evolve in response to conditions within the host society, immigrants sometimes develop a group consciousness unknown in their old countries.

Dominant Groups

"Dominant group" refers to a minority group's relationships with the rest of society. The Dominant group in the United States is White people

Minority-Group Characteristics

1. The group receives unequal treatment from the larger society. 2. The group is easily identifiable because of distinguishing physical or cultural characteristics that are held in low esteem. 3. The group feels a sense of group identity, that each member shares something in common with other members. 4. Membership in the minority group has ascribed status: one is born into it.* 5. Group members practice endogamy: they tend to marry within their group, either by choice or by necessity because of their social isolation.* *May not apply to non-racial/ethnic minorities

Alfred Schutz beliefs on Interactions

Alfred Schutz believed that people from the same social world mutually "know" the language, customs, beliefs, symbols, and everyday behavior patterns that the stranger usually does not. Natives respond to the daily routine without questions or reflection; however, to strangers every situation is new and is therefore experienced as a crisis.

Diversity in American Society?

Americans pride themselves as being part of a nation of immigrants. Many still call the United States a great melting pot where people of all races, religions, and nationalities come to be free and to improve their lives.

Functionalist Theorist?

Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer, Emile Durkheim, Talcott Parsons, and Robert Merton

Class Consciousness and Dominant Group

Because the dominant group usually occupies a higher stratum in the social-class hierarchy, differences in social-class values and lifestyles—in addition to ethnic cultural differences—can be sources of friction.

How do Conflict Theorist view racism?

Conflict theorists insist that racism has much to do with maintaining power and controlling resources. Racism as an ideology—a set of generalized beliefs used to explain and justify the interests of those who hold them. False consciousness—holding attitudes that do not accurately reflect the facts of the situation—can also come into play.

Convergent subcultures

Convergent subcultures- those that tend toward assimilation with the dominant society. Because the subculture is undergoing change, its members may experience marginality— living under stress in two cultures simultaneously. The older generation may seek to preserve its traditions and heritage. The younger generation may be impatient to achieve full acceptance within the dominant society.

Types of Assimilation

Cultural assimilation: The change of cultural patterns to match those of the host society. Marital assimilation: Large-scale intermarriage with members of the majority society. Structural assimilation: Large-scale entrance into the institutions of the host society

Culture as a Concept

Culture consists of all of these elements shared by members of a society and is transmitted to the next generation. Through language and other forms of symbolic interaction, the members of a society learn the thought and behavior patterns that constitute their commonality as a people. Shared cultural norms encourage a solidarity and orient the behavior of members of a particular ingroup.

Culture

Culture provides the guidelines for people's interpretations of situations they encounter and for the responses they consider appropriate.

Cultural diffusion

Cultures are inevitably influenced by other cultures. Ideas, inventions, and practices spread from one culture to another, but they may do so at different rates, depending on societal attitudes, conditions, and the distance between groups.

How do we cope with Diversity?

Despite the importance of diversity, it is sometimes met with Prejudice/discrimination Tension Sporadic outbursts of violence Melting pot vs. Salad bowl

Similarity v Attraction

Differences among various people cause each group to view other groups as strangers. Evidence exists showing greater human receptivity to strangers who are considered similar than to those who are viewed as different. Studies show that people's perception of similarity between themselves is a more powerful determinant than actual similarity.

Ethnicity and Social Class

Differences in stratification among various groups can't be explained by a single cause, although some social scientists emphasize one factor over another. In reality, structural and cultural variables intertwine. Emphasizing only social structure ignores important cultural variables such as values about education. Emphasizing only culture can lead to blaming people who do not succeed.

Pluralistic Reality

Each group tends to preserve its own language, institutions, and cultural heritage, but also that democracy gave each group the right to do so.

Ethnic groups

Ethnicity goes beyond racial similarity to encompass shared cultural traits, religion and/or national origin

Importance of Ethnocentrism?

Ethnocentrism is crucial in understanding motivation, attitudes, and behavior when members of racially or ethnically distinct groups interact because it often helps explain misunderstandings, prejudice, and discrimination.

Ethnocentrism

Ethnocentrism refers to people's tendency to identify with their own ethnic or national group as a means of fulfilling their needs for group belongingness and security. Ingroup A group to which individuals belong and feel loyal. Example - Majority groups vs. minority groups Outgroup Those who are not members of one's ingroup.

Eurocentrism vs Afrocentrism

Eurocentrism: is a variation of ethnocentrism in which the content, emphasis, or both in history, literature, and other humanities primarily, if not exclusively, concern Western culture. Afrocentrism: emphasizes African culture and its influence on Western civilization and the behavior of American blacks.

Interactionist Theory

Examines the microsocial world of personal interaction patterns in everyday life rather than the macrosocial aspects of social institutions and their harmony or conflict. Essential to this perspective is how people define their reality through a process called the social construction of reality. People create cultural products: material artifacts, social institutions, ideologies, and so on (externalization). Over time, they lose awareness of having created their own social and cultural environment (objectification). Subsequently, they learn these supposedly objective facts of reality through the socialization process (internalization).

Functionalist Theory

Functionalist theory emphasizes that the various parts of society have functions, or positive effects, that promote solidarity and maintain the stability of the whole. Sometimes called structural functionalism. Functionalists view dysfunctions as temporary maladjustments to an otherwise interdependent and relatively harmonious society. Functionalists emphasize that all issues regarding minorities can be resolved through adjustments to the social system that restore it to a state of equilibrium. They prefer smaller corrections in the already functioning society.

Structural Conditions

In addition to cultural considerations, relations between dominant and minority groups are influenced by structural conditions

Minority groups reaction to culture

Many minority groups adapt their distinctive cultural traits to those of the host society through acculturation. Yet most groups retain some aspects of their original cultures. An important component of intragroup cultural variations, seldom a part of the acculturation process, is religion. Religion has many connections to prejudice and social conflict.

Types of Culture

Material culture- physical objects created by members of a society and the meanings/significance attached to them. Examples: Cars, cells phones, DVDs, iPods, jewelry, or clothing Nonmaterial culture- the abstract human creations and their meanings/significance in life. Attitudes beliefs, customs, ideas, languages, norms, social institutions, and values

Melting Pot v Salad Bowl

Melting Pot: is a metaphor for describing the assimilation of immigrants into American culture. It relies on the image of people from different cultures and backgrounds mixing and melting together into one big cultural pot. The melting pot metaphor comes from the fusing together of melted metal material. Salad Bowl: concept suggests that the integration of the many different cultures of United States residents combine like a salad, as opposed to the more traditional notion of a cultural melting pot.

Norms

Norms are a culture's rules of conduct—internalized by the members—embodying the society's fundamental expectations.

The Reality Construct

Our perception of reality is related to our culture, and through our culture, we learn how to perceive the world around us. Cultural definitions help us interpret the sensory stimuli from our environment and tell us how to respond to them. Culture is a learned behavior, acquired chiefly through verbal communication, or language. Words reflect culture, and one word may have different meanings in different cultures Because we use words to symbolically interpret the world, the linguistic relativity of language may connote both intended and unintended prejudicial meanings. Same for body language

Perceptions

People perceive strangers primarily through categoric knowing—the classification of others on the basis of limited information obtained visually and perhaps verbally. People make judgments and generalizations on the basis of little information, confusing an individual's characteristics with typical group- member characteristics.

Persistent subcultures

Persistent subcultures are subcultures that do not assimilate with the dominant society. A minority group's insistence on the right to be different usually has not been well- received among dominant-group members. Ex: Native Americans

Structural Assimilation

Primary structural assimilation involves close, personal interactions among dominant- and minority-group members in small group settings i.e. parties, social clubs, and other gatherings. Secondary structural assimilation involves the more interpersonal public sphere of social interaction i.e. intergroup mingling in civic, recreational, school, or work environments.

Race is....

Race is a categorization in which people sharing visible biological characteristics regard themselves or are regarded by others as a single group on that basis. Considered a distinct group by the people in the group as well as those outside the group Race has both physical and social components

What is Racism?

Racism is the linking of biological conditions with alleged abilities and behavior to assert the superiority of one race. Race and racism are human inventions, a good example of the social construction of reality Racial Prejudice is the attitudinal form of racism, attitudes and beliefs that tend to favor one group over another or to cause unequal treatment on the basis of race

Dynamics of Intergroup Relations

Relationships in and between groups continually change for various reasons Industrialization Urbanization Migration patterns Social movements Economic trends

Types of Social Stratification

Resources Income, property, and borrowing capacity (credit) Power The ability to influence or control others Prestige Status, either ascribed or achieved

Ethnogenesis

Shaped partly by the core culture in selectively absorbing some elements and modifying others, the group also retains, modifies, or drops elements from its cultural heritage as it adapts to its new country

Social Class

Social class refers to people's place in the stratification hierarchy, identifying people in each grouping who share similar levels of income and status, amounts of property and power, and types of lifestyle. Social class becomes important in intergroup relations because it provides a basis for expectations and also serves as a point of reference in others' responses and in one's self-perception. Race and religion also factor into one's status. People have a tendency to cluster together according to certain socioeconomic similarities.

Sociological Perspectives

Sociologists seek to determine the social forces that influence behavior and to identify recurring patterns that help them better understand that behavior. Sociologists use three major perspectives to shape their study of minorities Functionalist Theory (macrosocial) Conflict Theory (macrosocial) Interactionist Theory (microsocial)

What is a Minority Group?

Sociologists use the term "minority group" to indicate a group's relative power and status in a society. Doesn't necessarily involve size of populations The definition of a minority group encompasses any physical or cultural trait, not just race or national origin. Another approach in defining minority groups rests on the relationships between groups in terms of each group's position in the social hierarchy. This stresses a group's social power, which may vary from one country to another. Example - Jews in Russia vs. Jews in Israel

German sociologist Georg Simmel

Strangers represent both nearness (physically close) and remoteness (different reactions, values, and ways of doing things). Because strangers are unknown/unfamiliar, natives see them only generally, as representatives of a "different" group. Strangers perceive natives in specific, individual terms. They are more objective because their geographic mobility enhances their mental mobility.

The Dillingham Flaw

The Dillingham Flaw refers to any inaccurate comparison based on simplistic categorizations and anachronistic judgments. It is faulty logic that makes incorrect assumptions about the past and applies stereotypes to the present to compare two groups. An example is in criticism of the slow acculturation of today's immigrants as different from the Americanization of past immigrants.

The Thomas Theorem

The Thomas theorem is further testimony to the truth of reality constructs: Human beings respond to their definitions of stimuli rather than to the stimuli themselves. Through cultural transmission, each generation transmits its culture to the next generation, which learns those cultural definitions at an early age.

Structural pluralism

The coexistence of racial and ethnic groups in sub- societies within social-class and regional boundaries. (less noticeable)

Social distance

The degree of closeness or remoteness individuals prefer in interaction with members of other groups. Ranking social distance is an useful technique for evaluating how perceptions of similarity attract closer interaction patterns.

Assimilation Theory

The functioning within a society of racial or ethnic minority-group members who no longer possess any marked cultural, social, or personal differences from the people of the dominant group.

How Interactionist Theory important to understanding the relationship between the dominant and minority relations?

The interactionist perspective can be particularly helpful in understanding some of the false perceptions that occur in dominant- minority relations.

Immigration

The movement of people into a new country to become permanent residents.

Migration

The movement of people into and out of a specified area, either within a country or from one country to another.

Emigration

The movement of people out of a country to settle in another.

Social Structure

The organized patterns of behavior among the basic components of a social system that establishes relatively predictable social relationships among the different peoples in a society. The nature of the social structure influences not only the distribution of power resources (economic, political, and social), but also the accessibility of those resources to groups that seek upward mobility.

Racial Formation

The process which defines what the racial groups in society are and how the meaning of race is understood Historical process, constantly changes over time

Accommodation Theory

This theory recognizes the persistence of racial and ethnic diversity. Theorists argue that minorities simultaneously can maintain their distinctive subcultures and interact with relative equality in the larger society.

Cultural pluralism

Two or more culturally distinct groups living in the same society in relative harmony. (most noticeable)

Cultural contact

When people's assumptions are jolted through contact with an unfamiliar culture that supports different expectations, they often experience culture shock, characterized by feelings of disorientation and anxiety and a sense of being threatened. Culture shock may not always occur, and people from two different cultures may peacefully coexist, with gradual cultural diffusion occurring.

Is There a White Culture?

White values, attitudes, shared understandings, and behavior patterns are often unrealized by group members because they are taken-for- granted. Recognizing the existence of a white culture could be a first step toward building a truly multiracial society.

Is Race a social construct?

Yes; physical characteristics define race only in the context of decisions made by people/society to consider those characteristics relevant