Chapter 11 Terms

Question 1

affirmative action

Answer 1

positive efforts to recruit minority group members or women for jobs, promotions, and educational opportunities

Question 2

amalgamation

Answer 2

the process through which a majority group and a minority group combine to form a new group

Question 3

anti-semitism

Answer 3

anti-jewish prejudice

Question 4

apartheid

Answer 4

a former policy of the South African government, designed to maintain the seperation of blacks and other non-whites from the dominant whites

Question 5

assimilation

Answer 5

the process through which a person foresakes his or her cultural tradition to become part of a different culture

Question 6

black power

Answer 6

a political philosphy, promoted by many younger blacks in the 1960s, that supported the creation of black controlled political and economic institutions

Question 7

color-blind racism

Answer 7

the use of the principle of race neutrality to defend a racially unequal status quo

Question 8

contact hypothesis

Answer 8

an interactionist perspective which states that in cooperative circumstances, interracial contact between people of equal status will reduce prejudice

Question 9

discrimination

Answer 9

the denial of opportunities and equal rights to individuals and groups becuase of prejudice or other arbitrary reasons

Question 10

ethnic group

Answer 10

a group that is set apart from others primarily because of its national origin or distinctive cultural patterns

Question 11

ethnocentrism

Answer 11

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

Question 12

exploitation theory

Answer 12

a Marxist theory that views racial subordination in the US as a manifestation of the class system inherent in capitalism

Question 13

genocide

Answer 13

the deliberate, systematic killing of an entire people or nation

Question 14

glass ceiling

Answer 14

an invisible barrier that blocks the promotion of qualified individual in a work envirnment because of the indivduals gender, race or ethnicity

Question 15

institutional discrimination

Answer 15

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

Question 16

minority group

Answer 16

a subordinate group whose members have significantly less control or power over their lives than the members of a dominant or majority group have over theirs

Question 17

model, or ideal, minority

Answer 17

a subordinate group whose members supposedly have succeeded economically, socially, and educationally despite past prejudice and discrimination, and without resorting to confrontations with whites

Question 18

pluralism

Answer 18

mutual respect for one anothers cultures among the various groups in society, which allows minorities to express their cultures without experiencing prejudice

Question 19

prejudice

Answer 19

a negative attitude toward an entire category of people, often an ethnic or racial minority

Question 20

racial formation

Answer 20

a sociohistorical process in which racial categories are created, inhabited, transformed, and destroyed

Question 21

racial group

Answer 21

a group that is set apart from others because of physical difference that have taken on social significance

Question 22

racism

Answer 22

the belief that one race is supreme and all others are innately inferior

Question 23

segregation

Answer 23

the physical seperation of two groups of people in terms of residence, workplace, and social events; often imposed on a minority group by a dominant group

Question 24

stereotype

Answer 24

an unreliable generalization about all members of a group that does not recognize individual differences within the group

Question 25

symbolic ethnicity

Answer 25

an ethnic identity that emphasizes concerns such as ethnic foods or political issues rather than deeper ties to one’s ethnic heritage

Question 26

transnational

Answer 26

an immigrant who sustains multiple social relationships that link his or her society of origin with the society of settlement

Question 27

white privilege

Answer 27

rights or immunities granted to people as a particular benefit or favor simply because they are white