Final Test Flashcards
Minority Status
there are categories of people that are
disproportionally concentrated in the lower ranks of the status hierarchy
What is minority status based on?
this may be based on one, or a
combination of, factors such as class/caste, sex/gender, race/ethnicity, religious affiliation, etc.
In American society today, (Minority status) there is a
complex intersection of these social statuses that continue to influence individuals’ life chances
Theorizing Race
What are the two tendencies?
According to Omi and Winant (Racial Formation in
the US) there are two tendencies regarding the
concept of race:
The temptation to see race as essential,
something that is real, concrete and objective
The opposite temptation is to see race as a mere illusion—a “pigment” of the social imagination
Racial Markers:The important thing to remember about race is that
it is only important to the extent that society
continues to treat it as such
There is nothing “natural” about racial
distinctiveness
Why do we continue to have distinct racial groups like white/black/asia/latino
Bceause of our historical tradition of racial prejudice and ethnic discrimiation
Ethnic Markers: In societies that don’t have clear racial distinctions, inequailty is based on what?
other social
markers of position within the social hierarchy—
e.g., gender, ethnic, class/caste, religious
distinctions
Ethnic Markers: In every society we learn how to distinguish people as
being higher/lower ; similar/different
based on physical, cultural, material traits
Race/Ethnicity:Often times, what is a racial category vs. an ethnic category may become
Name an example as well
blurred—people can potentially “pass” as “White”
For example, Irish-Americans were once
thought of as a distinct race, while now they are
seen as White ethnics
Some relatively “light-skinned” minorities are in
a similar position today
Prejudice and Discrimination:Prejudice is a
rigid and unfair generalization (i.e.,
belief or attitude) about a category of people
Prejudice and Discrimination: Discrimination is
the unequal treatment of various
categories of people
Prejudice and Discrimination: Institutional Discrimination involves
bias that is built into the operation of society’s institutions
Critical Race Theory (CRT):Main proponents of this perspective argue thatissues of race and racism are largely ignored by
issues of race and racism are largely ignored by the mainstream or dominant culture (White-Middle Class)
Critical Race Theory (CRT): What does CRT highlight?
Highlights current conditions that reject a post-racial
reading of contemporary American society (residential
segregation, unemployment, incarceration, wealth gap,
health outcomes)
Critical Race Theory (CRT): Race is?
What is it in american life?
is a social construction and different ethnic and
minority groups have been racialized throughout US history
(none for as long or as thoroughly as Blacks)
Race and racism as endemic in American life
Critical Race Theory (CRT):Whites have little incentive todeal with
deal with racism and its effects as they gain major material and economic advantages and privilege from their whiteness
Critical Race Theory (CRT):Race as a social hierarchy is deeply embedded
White priviledge still what?
deeply embedded within American social institutions (Institutional Discrimination)
White privilege still exists, despite the
mainstream’s reluctance to call it as such
Social Distance and Segregation:Although there are no longer overt, formal
mechanisms for discriminating against certain
categories of people,feelings of
feelings of social distance can create or perpetuate segregation and exclusion from socialnetworks
Social Distance and Segregatio: For some groups, social distance becomes insignificant as distinct categories of people
start to
distinct categories of people
start to intermarry and have “mixed race” children
Current Rates of Intermarraige:Intermarriage between Whites and Blacks,
although still relatively rare, increased from 65,000 in 1960 to 363,000 in 2000
Overall, intermarriage is most likely for Asians and Hispanics and least likely for Blacks and Whites
W. J. Wilson: Jobless Poverty: In the 1950s the urban Black areas were poor, but
By 1990’s what happen next? The effects?
most families had a working adult—69% of adult males
By the 1990s most adults in inner-city
neighborhoods were not officially employed—37%
The disappearance of work has negative,
cumulative effects on individuals, families and
entire communities
Evidence of Discrimination:Bertrand and Mullainathan (2004)
conducted an experiment by
sending out resumes in response to help-wanted ads and measured callback rates based on whether the resumes had ”White-sounding” (e.g., Emily, Greg) vs. “African-American”-
sounding names (e.g., Lakisha and Jamal). In effect, the names are racial “markers” or “cues”
Applicants with White names need about 10 resumes to get a
callback vs. 15 resumes for a callback for “African-American”
names
White poepl get more callbacks as a 8 year expierenced african american
Massey and Denton, American Apartheid:They argue that racial segregation
They argue that racial segregation is the key structural factor responsible for black poverty in the US
It creates the culture of poverty, welfare dependency, and the jobless ghetto.
Massey and Denton, American Apartheid:Moreover, the inner-city ghetto helps to
perpetuate racist stereotypes and other forms of institutional racism (schools, mass media focus on crime and social disorder).
Massey and Denton, American Apartheid: It is the lack of
spatial mobility(movement or travel from one to another) that has created separate, unequal communities were subcultural differences become increasingly pronounced
Persistent Segregation:Although government programs can attempt to dismantle the ghetto,
racial segregation will likely persist until there is a moral commitment to desegregation that white America has historically lacked
Bruce Western, Punishment and
Inequality in America:
Between 1980 and 1999 the US population in prisons and jails grew:
How many were black youths?
Between 1980 and 1999 the US population in prisons and jails grew from ½ million to almost 2 million
By 1995, 1/3 of black male youths were under some form of state supervision and nearly 7% of all black males were incarcerated
Bruce Western, Punishment and
Inequality in America:In the early 1990s, US rates of incarceration were about
5-10 times greater than other OECD countries,
but for American blacks the rate was 20 times greate
Causes for the Sharp Increase: Western argues that these huge differences were not due to higher US crime rates, but rather the result
of more aggressive prosecutions, tougher sentencing standards, and the intensification of drug-related arrests
Causes for the Sharp Increase: One of the short-term effects of this is to
keep unemployment rates in the US artificially low as the US government does not count the
incarcerated population as unemployed
Effects of Mass Incarceration: The long-term effects of incarceration are especially
severe for
black youths
Disrupts transitions from school to work
Hinders the acquisition of work experience
Channels ex-offenders into low-wage jobs
Higher rates of long-term unemployment
These effects have been shown to persist even after 15
years for black youth
Trends are showing a decline in incarceration rates,
especially for African-Americans
Devah Page, Marked: Tests the
extent that race and criminal background (both social markers) effect employment opportunities by using matched pairs of applicants for entry-level jobs
A criminal record is a
long-term negative mark on the social status of ex-offenders and regulates access to resources—social, economic, political, etc
Key Findings: A criminal record resulted
in a 50% reduction in callbacks for Whites
Incarceration of Ethnic “Others”:
We should also note our current and past inclination to lock up or deport any ethnic minority that is somehow seen as a “threat” to the mainstream:
The periodic arrest and deportation of Mexican
immigrants to the US
Japanese Internment during WWII
