Chapter 11 Race and Ethnicity

Question 1

Minority group (subordinate group)

Answer 1

any group of people who are singled out from the others for differential and unequal treatment.
-a group of people who have less power than the dominant group.

Question 2

dominant group

Answer 2

a group of people who have more power in a society than any of the subordinate groups.

Question 3

racial group

Answer 3

biological differences between humans, defined as socially significant and presumed to divide the population into genetically distinct groups.

Question 4

ethnic group

Answer 4

shared culture, which may include heritage, language, religion and more.

Question 5

racial formation

Answer 5

a sociohistorical procession which racial categories are created, inhibited, transformed and destroyed.

Question 6

stereotypes

Answer 6

oversimplied ideas about groups of people.

Question 7

scapegoat theory

Answer 7

a theory that suggests that the dominant group will displace its unfocused aggression onto a subordinate group.

Question 8

Five Characteristics of a minority group

Answer 8

1. Unequal treatment and less power over their lives.
2. distinguishing physical or cultural traits like skin color or language.
3. involuntary membership in the group
4. awareness of subordination
5. high rate of in-group marriage

Question 9

Race

Answer 9

Human Genome Project- concluded that race as we understand it (biological category) does not exist. All humans share the same basic genetic material, and physical manifestations such as skin color represent different combinations, in greater or lesser degrees, of the same shared genes. Venter, one of the project’s lead scientists, declared in his presentation of the HGP results that “the concept of race has no genetic or scientific basis”, and in a later interview, he said, “Race is a social concept, not a scientific one”.

Question 10

Social construction of race

Answer 10

the school of thought that race is not biologically identifiable.
if we look cross-culturally - each society defines which difference are important while ignoring other characteristics that could serve as a basis for social differentiation.

Question 11

examples of racial formation

Answer 11

1. the creation of a reservation system for Native Americans in the late 1800s.
2. “one-drop rule” if a person has even a single drop of “Black blood” - that is, if any of his or her ancestors, no matter how remote, were Black - society defined and viewed that person as Black, even if he or she appeared to be White.

Question 12

prejudice

Answer 12

biased thought based on flawed assumptions about a group of people.

• it tends to perpetuate false definitions of individuals and groups.
• sometimes prejudice results from ethnocentrism.
• racism reinforces prejudice
• often leads to discrimination

Question 13

ethnocentrism

Answer 13

the tendency to assume that one’s own cultural and way of life represent the norm or are superior to all others.

Question 14

racism

Answer 14

a set of attitudes, beliefs, and practices that are used to justify the belief that one racial category is somehow superior or inferior to others.

Question 15

institutional discrimination

Answer 15

the denial of opportunities and equal rights to individuals and groups that result from the normal operations of a society.

Question 16

colorism

Answer 16

the belief that one type of skin tone is superior or inferior to another within a racial group.

Question 17

discrimination

Answer 17

prejudiced action against a group of people

Question 18

racial steering

Answer 18

the act of real estate agents directing prospective homeowners toward or away from certain neighborhoods based on their race.

Question 19

White priviledge

Answer 19

the benefits people receive simply by being part of the dominant group.

Question 20

hate-crime

Answer 20

(Hate Crime Statistics Act in 1990) - a criminal offense committed because of the offender’s bias against an individual based on race, gender, religion, ethnicity, national origin, or sexual orientation.

Question 21

racial profiling

Answer 21

a form of discrimination, the use by law enforcement of race alone to determine whether to stop and detain someone.

Question 22

affirmative action

Answer 22

refers to the positive efforts to recruit minority group members or women for jobs, promotions, and educational opportunity.

Question 23

Institutional racism

Answer 23

Racism in social institutions

Question 24

Functionalism perspective on race and ethnicity

Answer 24

• racial and ethnic inequalities must have served an important function in order to exist as long as they have. Nash (1964) focused his argument on the way racisms is function for the dominant group; justifies a racially unequal society.
• also,strengthens bonds between in-groups members through the ostracism of out-group members.

Question 25

conflict theory perspective on race and ethnicity

Answer 25

• examines the numerous past and current struggles between the white ruling class and racial and ethnic minorities, noting specific conflicts that have risen when the dominant groups perceive a threat from the minority group.
• Racism keeps minorities in low paying jobs, thereby supplying the capitalist ruling class with a pool of cheap labor. Business owners can always replace workers from the dominant group who demand higher wages with minorities who have no choice but to accept low-paying jobs. This increases the likelihood that working class members of the majority group will develop racist attitudes toward working class members of the minority groups, whom they view as threats to their jobs. As a result, they direct their hostilities not toward the capitalists, but toward other workers, thereby not challenging the structure of the existing system. This goes for immigrants as well.

Question 26

Intersection theory

Answer 26

developed by feminist sociologist Patricia Hill Collins (1990), which suggests we can not separate the effects of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and other attributes.

Question 27

exploitation theory

Answer 27

views racism as a result of the class system inherent in capitalism.

Question 28

Interactionism perspective on race and ethnicity

Answer 28

• race and ethnicity proved strong symbols as sources of identity.
• at it’s heart, racism is about division, separating the human population into us versus them.
• prejudice and discrimination are footed in fundamental beliefs about the natural order of the world. Such values provide a moral justification for maintaining an unequal society that routinely deprives the minority groups of their rights or privileges.

Question 29

contact hypothesis

Answer 29

in cooperative circumstances interracial conflict between people of equal status will cause them to become less prejudice and to abandon old stereotypes.

Question 30

Race and Ethnicity in the United States

Answer 30

Native Americans -2%
-565 federally-recognized tribes in 35 states
-the only non-immigrant ethnic group in the US
African Americans - 13.2%
-largest racial minority
Asian Americans
5.3% of the US population
Hispanic Americans-17.1%
-largest ethnic minority
75% (mexican, pueto rican, cuban origin
Arab Americans- 1.9-3.7 million (not on the census)
(middle east and parts of northern Africa)
White Ethnic Americans (non-Hispanic or Latino) -61.3%
16.5 % German decent (culturally assimilated)
More irish americans in the US than there are Irish in Ireland (assimilated)
Italian Americans -Cultural assimilation is “almost complete, but with remnant of ethnicity”

Question 31

Pluralism

Answer 31

Pluralism is represented by the ideal of the United States as a salad bowl; a great mixture of different cultures where each culture retains its own identity and yet adds to the flavor of the whole. True pluralism is characterized by mutual respect on the part of all cultures, both dominant and subordinate, creating a multicultural environment of acceptance. In reality, true pluralism is a difficult goal to reach. In the United States, the mutual respect required by pluralism is often missing, and the nation’s past pluralist model of a melting pot posits a society where cultural differences aren’t embraced as much as erased.

Question 32

Assimilation

Answer 32

Assimilation describes the process by which a minority individual or group gives up its own identity by taking on the characteristics of the dominant culture. In the United States, which has a history of welcoming and absorbing immigrants from different lands, assimilation has minimal to no impact on the majority cultural identity. Assimilation is antithetical to the “salad bowl” created b y pluralism; rather than maintaining their own cultural flavor, subordinate culture gives up their own traditions in order to conform to their new environment.