Race and Ethnicity

Question 1

• refers to a social distinction based on perceived physical appearance or biological characteristics.
• NOT shared history, culture or genetics

Answer 1

Race

Question 2

• refers to the differences between people rooted in culture, language, religion, traditions, historical heritage and other similar differences.
• Ethnic groups feel culturally and socially united

Answer 2

Ethnicity

Question 3

• Groups that have limited economic and social power in a society
• Does not necessarily refer to numerical minority

Answer 3

Minority groups

Question 4

o Canadians who are neither Indigenous nor white
o Has been criticized for making whiteness the default category
o The term is being replaced by BIPOC Black, Indigenous, and people of color

Answer 4

Visible minorities

Question 5

o The process by which members of a minority group adopt the cultural traits of the dominant culture

o May be voluntary or forced
Japanese-Canadians were forced to assimilate to avoid deportation to Japan Immigrants sometimes change their names to sound more British to avoid discrimination

Answer 5

Assimilation

Question 6

• Minority ethnic groups maintain cultural practices and identities
• Dominant culture is also retained
• Promotes assimilation

Answer 6

Pluralism

Question 7

o Refers to a society in which individuals are encouraged to display and celebrate their ethnicity and difference.

o Advocates for distinct ethnicities and cultures

o Respect for all associated religions and customs

Answer 7

Multiculturalism

Question 8

• The tendency of some to see the ideas of race and ethnicity as permanent, natural human categories.
• Some inherent characteristic makes a person a part of a specific race or ethnic group.
• Sees race and ethnicity as fixed and permanent

Answer 8

Essentialism

Question 9

The theory of social construction highlights the way that social categories we consider natural and unchanging, such as race and ethnicity, are socially created.

Answer 9

Social constructionism

Question 10

race and ethnicity are not natural but created within human societies.

o Race is not a real thing — there is no biological basis for it.

o How people categorize each other is often based in historical and social contexts.

o The social construction of race has real consequences for individuals and groups.

o The role of biology in determining race and ethnicity is undermined by the fact that all humanity is 99.9% genetically similar.

o Another reason the naturalness of race is questioned is because the within-group variation is greater than between-group variation.

There are more genetic differences between 2 individuals of the same race.
People labeled “Caucasian” include people from various ethnic backgrounds People who feel ethnically French may be from various “races”

Answer 10

Social constructionists argue that

Question 11

• Refers to the idea that social constructions have real consequences.
• If people define situations as real, they have real consequences.
• Racism is a real consequence of our socially constructed ideas about race.

Answer 11

The Thomas principle

Question 12

• Defined as an organized system operating at every level of society held together by a sophisticated ideology based on racial supremacy.
• Leads to both privileges and sanctions.
• Consists of prejudice and discrimination plus power

Answer 12

Racism

Question 13

o Biases deeply embedded in societal institutions and customs

o May be hard to see

o Create ongoing disadvantages for subordinate groups

Answer 13

Systemic racism

Question 14

• Discrimination refers to the negative or positive treatment of someone as a result of their belonging in a specific group.
• Unjust actions favour one group over another group Job discrimination, unequal pay, denial of promotion

Answer 14

Discrimination

Question 15

• White applicants were 3 times more likely to be offered a job than Black applicants (1985)
• Significant discrimination exists based on “ethnic” names (2013)

Answer 15

Discrimination in employment

Question 16

o Prejudice is a negative or or hostile social attitude toward someone based solely on their membership in a group.

o Based on assumptions about their characteristics

Answer 16

Prejudice

Question 17

o A broadly believed idea about a particular group

o Reinforce prejudice through the assumption that the traits are connected to race and biologically inherited

o Once we are aware of a stereotype, we are more likely to notice examples that reinforce the stereotype (The Exception Fallacy)

Answer 17

Stereotypes

Question 18

• The Authoritarian Personality (1950).
• Tendency to admire ‘strong leaders,’ value discipline and obedience, and to feel threatened by ‘difference.’
• Product of excessively-strict socialization

Answer 18

Theodore W. Adorno

Question 19

• argued that individuals with an authoritarian personality are more likely to develop prejudicial attitudes.
• People with this personality see the world in terms of good and evil and use strict or oppressive behaviour.
• discovered a certain set of personality traits common amongst those who were pro-Fascist:
• • belief in standard social values, uncritical attitude to leaders, aggressive attitude to ‘deviants,’ emphasis on strength, seeing world as hostile, and focus on sex lives of others.

Answer 19

Adorno and his colleagues argued

Question 20

o Those from strict/disciplinarian families forced as youths to appear strong, to avoid debate, to control libidinal impulses.

In consequence, they had too much stored-up aggression, no way to let it out Leads to fear, hatred, and fascist tendencies

o Conversely, those from more free homes were accustomed to debate and being proved wrong: less need to unleash aggression.

Answer 20

Adorno and his colleagues argued that:

Question 21

In January, 2013 it was reported that a school district in Wisconsin will be reviewing a high school diversity class in which students were exposed to “radical leftist thinkers” promoting a “critical race theory that alleges white people are oppressors.” This action was precipitated by the parent of an 18-year-old student who complained that students were being indoctrinated by a radical left agenda and ideology and taught “if you’re white, you’re oppressing. If you’re non-white, you’ve been a victim”. Does our education system and courses that expose “white privilege” promote guilt and a victim mentality?

Answer 21

White privilege or white guilt?

Question 22

One of privileges conferred by racism to people with white skin colour.
o Inherent benefits possessed by white people in a racially unequal society.
o These benefits are mostly invisible to the people who possess them.

Answer 22

White Privilege

Question 23

wrote about her experiences with the advantages that occur in her life because of her white skin.

She referred to these advantages as an “invisible knapsack” or unearned assets cashed in on a daily basis.

discussed these assets in the form of statements on her white privilege.

“I can turn on the TV or open a paper and see people of my race represented.”

“I am never asked to speak for my race.”

Answer 23

Peggy McIntosh

Question 24

o Occurs when we classify people as “not one of us.”

o Such people are interpreted through stereotypes about their group.

o This contributes to the view that:
White privilege is deserved
Othered groups deserve poor treatment

Answer 24

Othering

Question 25

o The deliberate extermination of a large group of people

o Most likely to occur when:
* The dominant group is much larger than the minority
* The minority group is of little economic value to the dominant group

Examples:
* The killing of the Beothuk in colonial Canada; The Holocaust in Nazi Germany; The Rwandan massacre of Tutsi people

Answer 25

Genocide

Question 26

o Forced removal of people from an area
o Confinement of a group to a particular location

Examples:
* The deportation of Acadians from the Maritime provinces
* The deportation of Japanese Canadian to internment camps and back to Japan during WWII

Answer 26

Expulsion

Question 27

o The physical separation groups of people
* Residence, Workplace, Services (i.e. schools)

Examples:
* Black school segregation in Canada
* The segregated U.S. south
* Apartheid in South Africa

Answer 27

Segregation

Question 28

Canada include First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples. First Nations are the original residents of Canada now organized as nations represented by bands with their own institutions, governments, and cultural practices. There are 663 First Nations in Canada, including their various languages, cultural practices, and traditions.

Answer 28

Indigenous peoples in Canada

Question 29

• Gave the Canadian government the power to define who was “Indian” and regulate how First Nations lived.
• The government actively sought to assimilate First Nations by heavily restricting their cultural practices through the act.

Answer 29

The Indian Act of 1876

Question 30

• Possibly the greatest restriction on First Nations’ cultural practices.
• From 1867 to 1996, 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to leave their homes and attend residential schools.
• These schools were designed to re-socialize First Nations children and destroy First Nations cultures across the country.

sought to restrict the use of First Nations’ languages.

• Children were not allowed to speak their language in the schools and were instead forced to speak English or French.
• As a result, all but three of the original 65 First Nations languages across Canada are at risk of extinction.

Answer 30

Residential schools

Question 31

o Discrimination means societal resources are not maximized

o Racism aggravates social problems such as poverty and crime

o Too much money and time is put in to putting barriers to inclusion in place

o Prejudice and discrimination negatively impact relations between nations

Answer 31

Structural Functionalism
4 dysfunctions of racism

Question 32

o Stresses the links between race, ethnicity, and identity

o The Contact Theory

o Realistic conflict theory (RCT)

Answer 32

Theoretical Perspectives on Race– Symbolic Interactionism

Question 33

• Predicts that increasing contact between antagonistic groups will lead to recognition of similarities.
• Growing recognition of similarities will lead to less stereotyping and less prejudice, in theory.

Answer 33

Contact theory

Question 34

• Developed and used by Lawrence Bobo to understand the social roots of prejudice.
• Suggests that social context shapes people’s attitudes, particularly prejudice.
• Suggests that social context shapes people’s attitudes, particularly prejudice.

Answer 34

Realistic conflict theory (RCT)

Question 35

• Racism keeps minority group members in low-paying jobs
• This provides capital with a cheap reserve army of labour

Answer 35

Exploitation Theory

Question 36

have been criticized for creating analyses that focus on white women

• i.e. women of colour did not get the vote along with white women in 1918

Anti-racist feminism illustrates that gender is not the only source of oppression

Answer 36

Early Feminists

Question 37

Adorno’s term for a personality that is more likely to develop prejudicial attitudes. People with this type of personality tend to see the world in terms of good and evil and strictly follow rules and orders.

Answer 37

Authoritarian personality

Question 38

The negative or positive treatment of someone as a result of their belonging in a specific group.

Answer 38

Discrimination

Question 39

The belief that race and ethnicity are natural and permanent.

Answer 39

Essentialism

Question 40

Shared language, religion, and history of a particular group.

Answer 40

Ethnicity

Question 41

Coined by McIntosh, an unseen collection of unearned assets that white people use in their daily lives but about which they are expected to remain oblivious.

Answer 41

Invisible knapsack

Question 42

A society in which individuals are encouraged to display and celebrate their ethnicity and difference.

Answer 42

Multiculturalism

Question 43

A negative attitude toward someone based solely on their membership in a group.

Answer 43

Prejudice

Question 44

A social distinction based on perceived physical or biological characteristics.

Answer 44

Race

Question 45

An organized system operating at every level of society held together by a sophisticated ideology based on racial supremacy.

Answer 45

Racism

Question 46

According to Berger and Luckman, a process that involves two steps: 1) people categorize experience and then act based on those classifications; 2) they eventually forget the social origins of the categories and come to see them as natural and unchangeable.

Answer 46

Social construction