Lecture 7 - Race and Ethnicity

Question 1

Define prejudice.

Answer 1

A negative attitude in which someone is judged based on a group’s characteristics (whether it’s true or false)

Question 2

Define discrimination.

Answer 2

Acting on prejudice, unfair treatment of someone due to their belonging to a particular group

Question 3

Define race.

Answer 3

PERCEIVED physical markers that are socially significant (which can perpetuate systems of social inequality)

Question 4

Define ethnicity.

Answer 4

PERCEIVED cultural markers that can perpetuate systems of social inequality

Question 5

Define scapegoat.

Answer 5

Disadvantaged person/ppl. who get blamed for other’s problems

Question 6

How do differences become significant? (Circle of racism)

Answer 6

1. Use of physical markers to create social inequality
2. Different conditions create behaviour differences
3. Perceptions of differences create stereotypes (ideas about how all members of a group should behave)

Question 7

What happens when one group becomes deeply subordinate to another?

Answer 7

Animosity can develop

Ex. Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda –> Hutu domination after Belgium colonization

Question 8

How do differences become insignificant? (Circle)

Answer 8

1. Subordinate groups overcome discrimination
2. Subordinate groups experience upward mobility, which decreases behavioural differences
3. Stereotypes of the group fade away

Question 9

Define ethnic group.

Answer 9

A group of people whose perceived cultural markers are deemed socially significant

Question 10

How do resources and economic opportunity affect racial/ethnic groups?

Answer 10

• Key to determining the economic success of a group
  Ex. Chinese/Korean Canadians are praised for their values (education. family, hard work, etc.) but it’s dependent on Canada’s immigration policy being selective

Question 11

How does inequality affect distinctions of racial/ethnic groups?

Answer 11

Increasing economic + political inequality among groups sharpens the distinctions (Decreasing does the opposite)

Question 12

Define vertical mosaic.

Answer 12

(John Porter, mid-20th century Canada) A highly ethnically + racially stratified society

Question 13

Define visible minority.

Answer 13

Government designation unique to Canada which refers to non-Indigenous POC

Question 14

What do symbolic interactionists think about race/ethnic identity?

Answer 14

• Development of racial/ethnic labels/identities is based on negotiation (from insiders VS outsiders trying to impose labels –> label can be rejected, accepted or modified)
  Ex. The term “Indian” used for Indigenous

Question 15

What are the 3 groups of Indigenous Canadians?

Answer 15

1. First Nations –> consists of Status Indians (live throughout Canada and are registered under the Indian Act) + non-status Indians (people who were once Status Indians)
2. Metis –> Indigenous + European (usually French) origin, mainly in West + Ontario
3. Inuit –> Indigenous in northern Canada

Question 16

Define symbolic ethnicity.

Answer 16

A nostalgic allegiance to the culture of the immigrant generation (pride in a tradition that isn’t incorporated into everyday behaviour)
Ex. Irish Canadians

Question 17

Define racism.

Answer 17

The belief that visual characteristics of a group indicate inferiority + justifies discrimination

Question 18

Define institutional racism.

Answer 18

The way that an organization operates, in which discrimination is built into the operating principles of the organization

Question 19

Define colonialism.

Answer 19

Ppl. from one country invading another + taking control (politically, culturally, economically)

Question 20

What are the 2 conflict theories of race + ethnic relations?

Answer 20

1. Internal colonialism –> one race/ethnic group subjugating another within a country (preventing assimilation through segregation)
2. Split labour market –> low wage workers of one race and high wage workers of another compete for the same jobs (high wage resents the presence of low wage, which leads to racism)
   Ex. Chinese head tax after the Canadian Pacific Railway was built (19th century)

Question 21

What are the 6 degrees of social separation?

Answer 21

(Most separated –> Least separated)

1. Genocide (Group extermination)
2. Expulsion (Forcible removal of a group)
3. Slavery (Legal ownership of a group)
4. Segregation (Spatial + institutional separation)
5. Pluralism (Retention of identity + equal access to basic resources)
6. Assimilation (Cultural blending of majority + minority groups)

Question 22

Define assimilation.

Answer 22

The process by which minority groups blend into the majority, eventually disappearing/reducing distinction
(Adapting to the majority through language, interracial marriage, etc.)

Question 23

Define expulsion.

Answer 23

The forcible removal of a population

Question 24

Define genocide.

Answer 24

Intentional extermination of an entire population defined as a race/a people

Question 25

Define conquest.

Answer 25

The forcible capture of land + economic and political domination of its inhabitants

Question 26

What 4 issues does the modernization of Quebec not solve?

Answer 26

1. Potential demographic decline of Quebecois
   - Quebecois women were having fewer children
2. Assimilation of immigrants into English culture
   - Immigrant preference for English schools
3. Persistent ethnic stratification
   - Jobs created for high educated francophones that work for the government in some way (management in the private sector was still Engish dominated)
4. Use of English in the private industry
   - Largest/Most advanced businesses were controlled by English speakers

Question 27

What 3 factors enhance the value of continued ethnic group membership (for white European groups)?

Answer 27

1. Economic advantages –> reliance on one’s ethnic groups for jobs/housing (tightly knit ethnic communities) + passing of businesses from one generation to the next
2. Political usefulness –> French achieving bilingualism in Canda (the 1960s), other groups getting multiculturalism in 1971
3. Providing emotional support –> sharing of cultural elements helps ppl. feel less alienated + provides support for racial/ethnic trauma

Question 28

Define transnational communities.

Answer 28

Communities whose boundaries extend b/w or among countries (made possible by technology)

Question 29

What 4 factors influence the assimilation of immigrants?

Answer 29

1. Length of time (Proportionate, longer time = greater assimilation)
2. Socioeconomic status (Proportionate, higher SES = higher assimilation)
3. Occupation segregation (Inverse, increased segregation = lower assimilation)
4. Historical + current discrimination (Inverse, increased discrimination = lower assimilation)

Question 30

What is an ethnicity’s “independent effect”?

Answer 30

AKA the effect of ethnicity controlling for other relevant factors

Members of diff. ethnic groups compared (w/ the only differing factor being ethnicity)