Ch 11. Race and Ethnicity

Question 1

Race

Answer 1

a socially constructed category of people who share biologically transmitted traits that members of a society consider important

(race comes into being only when the members of society decide that some particular physical trait (such as skin color or eye shape) actually matters.

Question 2

Ethnicity

Answer 2

A shared cultural heritage

Question 3

Prejudice

Answer 3

a rigid and unfair generalization about an entire category of people

Question 4

Three major findings regarding the social distance scale

Answer 4

1. The long-term trend is that students are more accepting of all minorities
2. Today’s students see less difference among various minorities
3. The concern over terrorism in the world has increased prejudice toward Arabs and Muslims.

Question 5

Racism

Answer 5

The belief that one racial category is innately superior or inferior to another

Question 6

Scapegoat

Answer 6

a person or category of people, typically with little power whom people unfairly blame for their own troubles

Question 7

Scapegoat Theory

Answer 7

Prejudice springs from frustration among people who are themselves disadvantaged.

Question 8

Discrimination

Answer 8

unequal treatment of various categories of people. practices that deny members of particular groups equal access to resources and rewards

Question 9

Racialized group or visible minority?

Answer 9

racialized group

Question 10

Self-determined (ethnicity)

Answer 10

may be ascribed by society but must be asserted by the individual.

People define themselves- or others- as members of an ethnic category based on common ancestry, language, or religion that gives them a distinctive social identity.

Question 11

The Bogardus Social Distance Scale

Answer 11

Social distance scale - How closely people are willing to interact with members of another social category

1. Strangers
2. Acquaintances
3. Colleagues
4. Friends
5. Close Family/Friends

Question 12

Neighborhood diversity index

Answer 12

The probability that one’s neighbor belongs to an ethnic/racialized/religious group other than yours.
It Maps the difference between social integration and ethnic enclaves

Question 13

Stereotypes

Answer 13

a simplified description applied to every person in some category

Question 14

Authoritarian Personality Theory (Understanding Prejudice)

Answer 14

Authoritarian personalities rigidly conform to conventional cultural values and see moral issues as clear-cut matters of right and wrong.

Question 15

Culture Theory (Understanding Prejudice)

Answer 15

Everyone has some prejudice because it is embedded in culture

Question 16

Conflict Theory (Understanding Prejudice)

Answer 16

Prejudice is used as a tool by powerful people not only to justify privilege for themselves but also to oppress others.

Question 17

Institutional Prejudice and Discrimination

Answer 17

bias built into the operation of society’s institutions, including schools, hospitals, police, and the work place

Question 18

The Thomas theorem application to stereotypes

Answer 18

“situations that are defined as real become real in their consequences” – stereotypes can become real to people who believe them and sometimes even to those who are victimized by them.

Racial differences in mental abilities result from environment, not biology

Question 19

Canada’s history of racism

Answer 19

• Slavery practiced before Confederation
• More recently, researchers found evidence of an interplay between racism, sexism, and immigration

Question 20

Majority and Minority: Patterns of Interaction (4)

Answer 20

1. Pluralism: a state in which people of all races and ethnicities are distinct but have equal social standing.
2. Assimilation: the process by which minorities gradually adopt patterns of the dominant culture.
3. Segregation: the physical and social separation of categories of people
4. Genocide: the systematic killing (erasure) of one category of people by another.

Question 21

Indigenous people in Canada (4)

Answer 21

• Are distinct and not categorized with other ethnic groups nor with immigrant groups.
• Did not choose to be a part of Canada but were forced into the union
• Discussions of Indigenous rights are problematic given their right to the land
• First among equals

Question 22

Essentialism

Answer 22

the idea that all members of a group have the same characteristics

Question 23

Intersectionality

Answer 23

the interaction of multiple social identities (statuses)

Question 24

white privilege

Answer 24

A society based on white privilege will incline white people toward racism

White people today claim to be “colour blind” as they continue to reap the rewards of a racially stratified social system

Question 25

Racial differences in mental abilities result from the environment, not…

Answer 25

…biology