Chapter 8 - Ethnic & Race Relations Flashcards
Canada is considered one of the most ___________ societies in the world.
Multicultural
What is a people’s assumed but socially significant physical or genetic characteristics?
Race
What is a category composed of me and women who share biologically transmitted traits that members of a society deem socially important?
Race
Is there a biologically pure race?
No, only 3 broad categorical types
What percentage do our genes differ in?
6%
What is a social distinction and relations among individuals and groups based on cultural characteristics?
Ethnicity
What is race often used synonymously with?
Ethnicity
Who was the first to study ethnic groups?
Herodotus
Which studies emphasize a shared sense of belonging?
First Ethnicity Studies
Who proposed the idea of collective conscience?
Emile Durkheim
What happens when groups develop social solidarity on basis of shared moral values, collective conscience and leads to the differentiation between “us” and “them”?
Collective conscience
What did Weber say about social groups?
Social group formation involves practices of inclusion and exclusion
What is a monopolistic closure?
Members of the “in-group” have access to resources, while others are excluded
What did Weber have to say about ethnicity and race?
They are a source of common identity. Ethnicity involves common ethnic markers. Race denotes common identity based on biological heredity
What do sociologists say about racialization today?
Racialization describes processes and practices by which biological characteristics come to define and differentiate social groups.
What do the processes of racialization involve?
Social group labelling
What are hierarchal dichotomies?
Social positions of superiority and inferiority
What is the practice of judging another culture by the standards of one’s own culture?
Ethnocentrism
What is the practice of evaluating a culture by its own standards?
Cultural relativism
What is the belief that one racial category is innately superior or inferior to another?
Racism
What is a biased characterizations of some category of people?
Stereotype
What is a rigid or irrational generalization about an entire category of people?
Prejudice
What is a European colonialism way of categorizing people?
Race
What is a socially constructed category of people, distinguished by physical or cultural traits, who are socially disadvantaged?
Minority
What are the 2 major characteristics of a minority?
1) share a distinctive identity
2) occupy a subordinate status
What are theories of prejudice?
1) scapegoat theory
2) authoritarian personality theory
3) cultural theory
4) conflict theory
What is the theory that say disadvantaged people unfairly blame minorities for their own problems?
Scapegoat theory
What is the prejudice theory about rigid moralists with little education who see things in black and white?
Authoritarian personality theory
What is the theory suggesting that everyone has some prejudice because it is embedded in culture?
Cultural theory
What is the prejudice theory pointing out self-justification for the rich and powerful in North America?
Conflict theory
What is the prejudice theory that suggests we tend to isolate from people who are different?
Cultural theory
What is an action that involves treating various categories of people unequally?
Discrimination
What is the difference between prejudice and discrimination?
Prejudice - unequal/unfair thought
Discrimination - unequal/unfair action
What term refers to bias in attitude or action inherent in the operation of a society’s institutions (racial profiling)?
Institutional prejudice and discrimination
What for ways to Robert Merton suggest that prejudice and discrimination tend to combine?
1) active bigot
2) timid bigot
3) fair-weathered liberal
4) all-weather liberal
What did Thomas theorem say that prejudice and discrimination form?
Vicious cycle
What is the “two founding nations” thesis?
The idea of the Canada was founded by the British and French peoples. It is historically inaccurate
What is a state in which racial and ethnic minorities are distinct, but have social parity, such as Switzerland?
Pluralism
What do residential schools, or attempts to assimilate the First Nations, actually amount to?
Cultural genocide
Why was an influx of immigrants required in order to continue building Canada?
Abocide (extermination of a people) devastated indigenous populations
What were early immigration policies based on?
Cultural compatibility
What are the immigration acts?
They set terms for entrance groups, they are exclusionary policies aimed at those with health issues, disabilities, and unassimilable
What was introduced in 1967 in the Canadian immigration policy to make it more objective?
The points system
Which category of immigrants formed the largest class in 2015?
Economic immigrants
Where do most immigrants tend to settle?
Urban versus rural areas
Up until multiculturalism in 1971 what was Canadian society marked by?
Ethnocentrism
What is a set of processes and social practises by which members of minority groups are fused into a dominant culture?
Assimilation
What is acquiring the values of dominant groups, example residential schools?
Behavioural assimilation
What is the integration of others in to Socio economic and political life?
Structural assimilation
What refers to economic, political and social practises that define boundaries and set limits to ethnic and racial group relations?
Multiculturalism
What is in practice in order to maintain social order or manage social change in Canada?
Multiculturalism
What are the four dimensions of multiculturalism?
1) demographic fact
2) ideology based in cultural relativism, promoting tolerance and diversity to achieve national goals
3) terrain of competition among groups for economic and political resources
4) government programs that transform ideology into social initiatives
What were factors in the emergence of multiculturalism in Canada?
Political pressure from ethnic groups for recognition, need to counterbalance western alienation and Quebec nationalism, and strategy to expand Liberal party support
What was the original aim of the multicultural policy introduced by Trudeau in 1971?
Not to re-dress racism, discriminate, but to celebrate differences
What did the multiculturalism act in 1988 introduce?
Instrumentalist approach to culture (economic resource)
What has civic multiculturalism orient towards since 1990s?
Society building
What did early criticisms of multiculturalism focus on?
Limited cultural nature, lack of addressing underlying inequalities, cultural barriers, lack of addressing socio-political struggles
What have criticisms of multiculturalism since 1990s considered?
Reproduced ethnic stereotypes, weakened Canadian unity, Undermined special claims of Francophone and indigenous people
What does multiculturalism normalize in regards to ethnic difference?
Diversity of cultures, customs as Canadian
Why did Quebec criticize multiculturalism?
Saw it as a means to undermine Quebec nationalism, reducing status of French Canadians to just one of many ethnic groups
What have Quebec government developed policies of in order to maintain their sense of nationalism?
Interculturalism - Recognizing French as language of public life, respects liberal-political values of rights, equality of opportunity and pluralism
Why are indigenous people apprehensive of multiculturalism?
They have unique rights is the first inhabitants, in the constitution, and multiculturalism does not address their Socio-economic condition of living in poverty
What challenges do the post 911 era bring for multiculturalism?
Multiculturalism supports cultures and religions that are intolerant and multiculturalism is a recipe for homegrown terrorism
Where can racism often stem from?
Labour problems and competition for employment
What is the term for members of dominant groups having better, high paying jobs, when minorities are found in low paying, less secure positions?
Split labour market
What is institutional racism?
Operates in economic, educational, and political institutions
What are impersonal, covert practises that penalize members of minorities?
Systemic discrimination
What is a Canadian form of racism based on contradictions in conflict over social values?
Democratic racism
What is ethnic and racial groups share in common values, histories, languages and geography?
Culturalism
What is wealth, prestige, and power on equally distributed to intersecting hierarchies of class, gender, race, ethnicity?
Political economy
Who developed the concept of a vertical music to describe intersection of ethnicity and social class and Canadian society?
Porter
What is the idea of the vertical mosaic?
White people hold positions of power while coloured people are in lower positions
Why is Canada said to be marked by a colour coded vertical mosaic?
Income inequality is between visible minorities and indigenous people and non-visible groups on the other
