ch 7- race and ethnicity Flashcards
Race
human beings attempt to identifiy biologically distinct groupings based on physical appearance
why are classification systems problematic?
people do not always fit neatly into a single category
Race and biology/genetics
- race is NOT a biological category
- physical variations between groups are a product of geographical adapatations
-all humans are 99.9% genetically identical (race is not a genetic characteristic)
why is race considered a social contruct?
- a product of human thought and interaction
- physical characteristics are used to distinguish racial groups and reflect cultural meanings
- the way we think about race varies by time and culture
example of how the concept race has changed over time
the “ethically ambiguous” instagram face
what is the “instagram face”
filters that mixes features to represent different ethnicities
-represents a shift to more diverse appearances and away from dichotomous thinking about race
ethnicity
a learned cultural heritage shared by a category of people that can include common national origin, ancestry, styles of dress, language, dietary habits and ideology
ethnic group
a group set apart from others based on its national origin or distinctive cultural patterns
characteristics of ethnic groups
- may evolve in history
- may merge in place of migration
- one country/continent may comprise of many different ethnic groups
ethnic dress
the dress of a particular group of people indigenous to a particular area, although one need not have lived there to claim ethnic affliation
people can demonstrate their ethnic affiliation by
- wearing certain colors, shilouttes, patterns
-wearing particular garments - wearing jewelry
- making body modifications
cultural authentication
process by which a foreign object (clothing/dress) becomes incorporated into a culture and becomes authetic to that culture
4 stages of culture authentication
- selection- adopting the object
- characterization- when the culture gives meaning to the new object
- incorporation- communicating about the object
- transformation- altering the object for cultural distinctivness
example of dress and change
tracthen- 16th century german dress of the Black Forest, still exists in contemporary culture but chaneged overtime to reflect more contemporary societies
what is “lived practice” in terms of traditional ethnic dress
dress that evolves with the technology and social patterns of modern life
Racism
a set of beliefs about the claimed superiority of one racial group: used to justify inequality and often rooted in the assumption that differences among groups are genetic
microaggress
“brief” everyday exchanges that send denigrating messages to certain individuals based on their group memebership
characteristics of microaggressions
- expressed towards marginalized groups
- can be verbal, non-verbal or behaviorals
- are constant and consistent experiences of marginalized groups in everyday society
perpetrators may be unaware that they have been demeaned recepients
outcomes of microaggressions
- lower self esteem
- produce anger and frustration
- sap psychic energy
- diminsh feelings of worthiness
- create health problems
- reduce life expectancy
- deny equal access and opportunity to education, emplyment, and health care
racial profiling
the use of race of ethnic appearances by law officers to predict criminal behavior
examples of racial profiling
- searching individuals with an arab/muslim appearance at airports after 9/11
- identifying asian American youth in CA as potential gang memebers
- using codenames to flag black customers for in-store survelliance
colorism
process of discrimination that privilleges light skinnes poeple of color over their darker counterparts
characteristics of colorism
- rooted in european colonization
- related to racism, but not the sane
- empowers people with light skin, so encourages darker skin individuals to partcipate in skin lightening
black womens hair in contemporary beauty ideals
many black women in the US feel pressured to change their hair to fit in with white beauty aestheitcs, many natural black hairstyles have been deemed unprofessional and banned in workplaces
cultural appreciation
- when a person tries to understand and learn another culture as a way to expand their perspective and to relate to others cross-culturally
-involves understanding the meaning behind the symbols used from other culturees and using them appropriately
positives of cultural appreciation
creates cultural awareness and leads to the appreciation of other cultures
cultural appropriation
- adopting part of a culture that is not your own and using it for your own purpose or interest without understanding what it means in the original culture
negatives of cultural appropration
can be harmful to those whose culture you are sharing and with those whom you are sharing it with, can create sterotypes of the culutre your are using
acculturation
changes individuals under go as they move away from their society of origin to a society of settlement
- where they are a culutrally non-dominant group
Barry’s Bi-dimensional model
increasing identifcation with one culutre does not necessitate diminishing identification with another
what are the 4 strategies of Barry’s Bi-dimensional model
- integration- a desire to maintain key features of heritage culture while adopting characteristics of majority group (most adoptive and associated with biculturalism)
- assimilation- maintenance of heritge culutre is seen as undesirable while adaptive to majority is seen as highly important
- separation- preference to maintain features of heritage culture while rejecting the culture of the majority group
- maginalization- reject both heritage culture and majority culture (least adaptive)
Latina Immigrants to the us
- individuals struggled to fit in at school based on the lack of access to name brand clothing
- resisted developing a look that would undermine their “true self” or change their culutral identity
adolescent immigrant somali girls
- their clothing (headscarf) was perceived as a reason for discrimination
- decison to continue wearing the headscarf portrayed girls self exploration
- strong cultural identity wore headscarf
- those that abandoned their headscarf were more at risk for discrimination or rejection from their own cultural group
