Ch9: Race

Question 1

Race

Answer 1

Group of people who share a set of characteristics– typically, but not always, physical ones– and are said to share a common bloodline

Question 2

Racism

Answer 2

Belief that members of separate races possess different and unequal traits, coupled with the power to restrict freedoms based on those differences. Characterized by 3 beliefs:
1. Humans are divided into distinct bloodlines and/or physical types
2. These bloodlines/ physical traits are linked to distinct cultures, behaviors, personalities, and intellectual abilities.
3. Certain groups are superior to others

Question 3

Scientific Racism

Answer 3

19th century theories of race that characterize a period of feverish investigation into the origins, explanations, and classifications of race

Question 4

Ontological Equality

Answer 4

Philosophical and religious notions that all people are created equal

Question 5

Social Darwinism

Answer 5

Application of Darwinian ideas to society (“survival of the fittest”)

Question 6

Eugenics

Answer 6

Pseudoscience that postulates that controlling the fertility of populations could influence inheritable traits passed on from generation to generation

Question 7

Nativism

Answer 7

Movement to protect and preserve indigenous land or culture from the allegedly dangerous and polluting effects of new immigrants

Question 8

One-drop rule

Answer 8

Belief that “one drop” of Black blood makes a person Black

Question 9

Miscegenation

Answer 9

Technical term for interracial marriage

Question 10

Ethnicity (def and differences w race)

Answer 10

One’s ethnic quality / affiliation. It is self defined, voluntary, non-hierarchical, fluid and multiple, based on cultural differences, and planar. Contrastingly, race is externally imposed, involuntary, hierarchical, exclusive, based on physical differences, and unequal.

Question 11

Symbolic Ethnicity

Answer 11

Nationality, not in the sense of carrying rights and duties of citizenship but in the sense of identifying with a past or future nationality

Question 12

Straight-line assimilation (Park)

Answer 12

Immigrants:
1. Arrive
2. Settle in
3. Mimic the practices and behaviors of the people are already there
4. Achieve full assimilation in a newly homogenous country

Question 13

Gordon’s stages of assimilation

Answer 13

1. Cultural: change of cultural patterns to those of host society
2. Structural: large-scale entrance into cliques
3. Marital: large-scale intermarriage
4. Identification: development of sense of collective identity based exclusively on host society
5. Attitude reception: no prejudice
6. Behavior reception: no discrimination
7. Civic: no value or power conflicts

Question 14

Primordialism (Geertz)

Answer 14

Ethnic ties are strong because they are fixed and deeply felt or primordial ties to one’s homeland culture

Question 15

Pluralism

Answer 15

Presence and engaged coexistence of numerous distinct groups in one society

Question 16

Segregation

Answer 16

Legal or social practice of separating people on the basis of their race or ethnicity

Question 17

Genocide

Answer 17

Mass killing of a group based on racial, ethnic, or religious traits

Question 18

Group responses to domination and oppression

Answer 18

1. Withdrawal (fleeing)
2. Passing (blending in with dominant group)
3. Acceptance (feigning compliance and hiding feelings of resentment)
4. Collective resistance (organized effort to change a power hierarchy on the part of a less powerful group in society)

Question 19

Prejudice

Answer 19

Thoughts and feelings about an ethnic or racial group, which lead to preconceived notions and judgements (often negative) about the group

Question 20

Merton’s chart of prejudice and discrimination

Answer 20

Active Bigot: Prejudiced and discriminates
Timid Bigot: Prejudiced but doesn’t discriminates
Fair-Weathered Liberal: Non-prejudiced and discriminates
All-weather Liberal: Isn’t prejudiced and doesn’t discriminate

Question 21

“Color-Blind Racism”

Answer 21

View that racial inequality is perpetrated by a supposedly color-blind stance that ends up reinforcing historical and contemporary inequities, disparate impact, and institutional bias by “ignoring” them in favor of a technically neutral approach