Ch 2: Theoretical Background and Foundation

Question 1

What is a minority (non-dominant group) ?

Answer 1

Minority/Non-dominant- subordinated to the majority in terms of power, prestige, and privilege.

Characteristics will follow (4)

Question 2

Identifiability with Dominant and Non-Dominant groups

Answer 2

For subordinating systems to work, minority and majority must have distinguishing characteristics that singles them out for differential treatment.

Question 3

Differential Power with Dominant and Non-Dominant Groups

Answer 3

Power- the ability to control others
Differential power allows those with more power to have more control than those who have less

Question 4

Discrimination with Dominant vs Non-dominant groups

Answer 4

• Differential and pejorative actions that aim to limit the social, political, or economic opportunities of members in particular groups.

Question 5

Employment Discrimination

Answer 5

Personal characteristics of applicants or workers that are unrelated to productivity are valued in the labour market.

Question 6

Group Awareness

Answer 6

-Consequence of subordination by the majority and its discriminatory practices

-The realization that one is subjected to differential treatment because of the group they belong to.

Question 7

Broad Heading: Categorization and Identity: How you are perceived based on your group category

Prejudice vs Discrimination

Answer 7

Prejudice- irrationally based, negative attitudes about certain groups of people

Discrimination- actions that limit social, economic, and political opportunities- based on the attitude.

Question 8

Stereotypes

Answer 8

Overgeneralization of characteristics to large human groups

Question 9

Prescriptive Stereotyping vs. Descriptive Stereotyping

Answer 9

Prescriptive Stereotyping- perceptions on how people should behave based on their group- Asians should be smart

Descriptive Stereotyping- perceptions of how people will behave based on their group- Asians will take off their shoes before entering someone’s house

Question 10

Social Categorization and Social Identity

Answer 10

SC- tendency to perceive oneself and others as belonging to particular groups

Social Identity- individual’s self-concept which originates from- their membership in a particular group, and value and emotional; significance attached to that particular group

Question 11

Consequences of Social Categorization and Social Identity

Answer 11

1. In-group Favouritism and out-group biases
2. Attribution errors- the tendency to give credit to internal. personal attributes for success, and to blame external forces for issues/failures

Errors in estimating the influence of internal and external forces

3. Multiple Group Memberships
4. Non-dominant groups as the in group: Can become ingroup based on perception- Women may prefer women in hiring, minority groups may prefer themselves and hire like themselves. In that way a non-dominant group can be an in-group (which is happening now; whites are not really prefered- especially white male)

Question 12

Stuff relating to attribution errors

Answer 12

1. More internal attribution for positive acts and less internal att acts by in-group than out-group members.
2. More attribution of out-group than in-group failure to lack of ability, and “explain ing away” out-group success to good luck, high effort or an easy task. preference for in-group serving
3. Preference for in-group serving rather than out-group serving attributions for group differences.

Question 13

Privilege (Normalizing and preserving inequality)

Answer 13

Privilege: having greater access to rewards, valued resources and unearned advantages because of the group they belong to.

Question 14

Allies

Answer 14

Dominant group members and others not oppressed in the particular circumstance; advocating for those who are oppressed.

Question 15

Aversive Racism, Ambivalent Sexism, and other New-isms

Answer 15

Aversive Racism: Persons who believe that all are equal, but still (inadvertently) display actions that have discriminatory undertones

New-Racism: Beliefs that racism is a thing of the past and that Blacks have attained excessive, unfair gains through programs like affirmative action.

Ambivalent Sexism: the simultaneous holding of both hostile and benevolent sexist beliefs about women-

Hostile sexism- antipathy toward women based on faulty and inflexible generalizations (e.g. negative stereotypes)

Benevolent Sexism: set of interrelated attitudes toward women that are sexist (stereotypical), but seen as positive from the attitude holder (helping and attraction- the reason they do it). Can be expressed by comments on her appearance, which can undermine her being taken seriously at work.

Neo-sexism: similar to aversive racism- believes in an egalitarian view, but that conflicts with their negative view about women

Question 16

Discrimination Systems

Answer 16

Disparities that systematically favour or disfavour certain groups and which are reinforcing.

So it can be like this- location is related to quality of education and level of policing. Education is related to access to employment, which is related to housing and credit.

So for the blacks in a ghetto area- they are somewhat constrained to a system that negatively affects their access to safety, quality education, quality jobs and housing.

The whites don’t have this problem.

Question 17

Recommendations for Individuals and Organizations

Answer 17

Individual: Awareness- lead aversive racists to see the inconsistencies in their beliefs and behaviours

Encourage group members to see themselves as of a single group- rather than two separate groups

Org: Org leadership, Zero Tolerance for discrimination, accountability, and control and monitoring (of the initiatives)