Ch 3. Racism and Ethnic Inequality Flashcards
Ethnic Group
a category of people who are distinguished by others or by themselves, on the basis of cultural or nationality characteristics. (includes: languages, country of origin, and adherence to a culture)
Members of an ethnic group share five characteristics:
- Unique cultural traits
- A sense of community
- Feeling that one’s own group is distinct
- Tendency (at least initially) to occupy a distinct geographic area.
- Membership from birth (disputed by prof)
Racialized Group
category of people who have been singled out, by others or themselves, as inferior or superior on the basis of subjectively selected physical characteristics such as skin colour, hair texture, and eye shape.
Racialized Group NOT…
Visible Minority or Minority Group
Ethnicity may be defined in two ways….
- Objectively (by group language, culture, customs, national origin, and ancestry)
- Subjectively (by self-identification of group members)
Race and ethnicity are both…
achieved statuses
Once an ethnic identity has been assigned to a group…
…it must then be asserted by it’s members
The Social Construction of Race (3)
- Originally defined in terms of biology
- However humans have not been able to decide the exact number of races based on genetics (there’s no such thing as “pure race”)
- Our definition of racial categories owes more to cultural/historical/political distinctions than to scientific differences
Internalized Dominance
all the ways that White people learn they are normal, feel included, and do not think of themselves as “other” or “different”
White privilege is normalized in the world which makes it…
…difficult to detect, and we speak about racialized people in relation to White people.
The Special Case of Indigenous Canadians (4)
- Life expectancy (gap of six years)
- Education: 12+% below non-Indigenous in receiving high school diplomas
- Income: earned about 2/3 of non-Indigenous salaries
- Incarceration: 4% of population but 20% of adults in federal custody
Prejudice
negative attitude toward another group
Discrimination
negative action based on a prejudice belief (individual or institutional)
Individual discrimination
one-on-one acts by members of the dominant group that harm members of the subordinate group or their property
Institutional discrimination
consists of the day-to-day practices of organizations and institutions that have a harmful impact on members of subordinate groups
Institutional design of omission
institutional ways of omitting racialized groups from positions of power
Anti-Semitism
prejudice and discrimination against Jews (one of the longest-standing forms of discrimination in history)
Defining Racism (5)
- A system of dominance and subordination
- An ideology that assumes the superiority of one social group over another
- A conscious or unconscious attitude or value based on an assumption about characteristics of a particular group or religion
- The institutional power to put these perceptions into practice
- Resulting in the benefit of one group over another
Interpersonal Racism
occurs between individuals and is directed at an individual because of who or what he or she stands for
Polite Racism
ways that people may couch criticisms of racialized others in bland tones or use language that appears non-prejudicial on the surface
Types of microaggressions (3)
- Micro-assaults
- Micro-insults
- Micro-invalidations
Anything that positions you as the “other than”
(First used in 1977 by Chester Pierce in his look at racial depictions in television advertisements.)
Institutional Racism
various organizational practices, policies, and procedures that discriminate, either purposely or inadvertently
Systemic Racism
embedded in the design of the organization, and formalized and legally sanctioned
Everyday Racism
notions of superiority/inferiority between groups
Active Racism
intentional exclusion of racialized groups
Passive Racism
being complicit in another’s racism
Cultural Racism
cultural values that favour dominant group interests at the expense of subordinate groups
Symbolic Interaction Theory on Racial/Ethnic Inequality
We are socialized to think of other groups in particular (racialized) ways
Racialized Socialization (symbolic interaction theory)
“a process of social interaction that contains specific messages and practices concerning the nature of one’s racialized or ethnic status”
Structural Functional Theory
Assimilation serves as a stabilizing force that minimizes differences that some fear might lead to violence and hostility
Assimilation
process by which members of subordinate racialized and ethnic groups become absorbed into the dominant culture
Pluralism (structural functional theory)
the coexistence of diverse racialized/ethnic groups with separate identities and cultures within a society
(Serves international relations (e.g., refugees) and harmonious relations between different groups within the same geographic space)
Pluralism can lead to…
…segregation (separation of groups)
Split-Labour Market Theory (Social Conflict Theory)
white people tend to work in the higher paying, more secure jobs, while non-whites tend to work in lower paying, less secure jobs
Internal Colonialism (Social Conflict Theory)
a process that occurs when members of a racialized/ethnic group are conquered or colonized and forcibly placed under the economic and political control of the dominant group
Theory of Racial Formation (Social Conflict Theory)
government substantially defines racialized and ethnic relations
(Historically, the Canadian government has determined which racial groups should be allowed into Canada, and under which circumstances.)
Gendered Racism (Feminist Perspective)
not only are visible minorities at a disadvantage, but female visible minorities are at an added disadvantage.
(Highlights the intersection of race ad gender in our society)
Critical Race Theory Principles (4)
- Racism is ordinary, not the exception
- Racism advances the interests of both the elite and working class whites
- Race is socially constructed
- Opposed to colour-blind approaches
Can Racialized and Ethnic Inequalities Be Reduced? (Each Theory)
- Interactionist: resocialize at the grass-roots level
- Functionalist: Restructure institutions
- Conflict: Political action
- Feminists and anti-racist feminists: Critical analysis from the standpoints and experiences of people
- CRT: realist and idealist responses
Systematic Racism
intentional denial of privilege
Societal Racism
The generalized, and typically unconscious patterns of interaction between people that perpetuate a racialized social order.
