Week 10: Race and Ethnicity

Question 1

How do sociologists define racial and ethnic inequality?

Answer 1

the difference in wealth, status, and power that minority racial and ethnic groups have within society

Question 2

What is a minority group?

Answer 2

those who are disadvantaged compared to the dominant group

Question 3

How do race and ethnicity differ?

Answer 3

race is a set of visible physical traits that characterize a population while ethnicity is a set of cultural qualities that characterize a population, such as shared language r history

Question 4

What is an ethnic group?

Answer 4

a group whose members share a distinct awareness of a common cultural identity

Question 5

How do sociologists measure racial and ethnic inequality?

Answer 5

measured by variations in average socioeconomic outcomes among racial and ethnic groups

Question 6

What racial/ethnic group has the highest rate of unemployment?

Answer 6

Black (5.6%)

Question 7

What racial/ethnic group has the highest poverty rate?

Answer 7

Black (18.8%)

Question 8

What racial/ethnic group has the highest high school drop out rate?

Answer 8

Hispanic (7.8%)

Question 9

What racial/ethnic group has the highest rate of formal education attainment?

Answer 9

Asian (78%)

Question 10

What racial/ethnic group has the highest household median income?

Answer 10

Asian

Question 11

What racial/ethnic group has the highest homeownership rate?

Answer 11

White (72.7%)

Question 12

What racial/ethnic group has the highest household median wealth

Answer 12

Asian

Question 13

According to Thomas Shapiro, what is the importance and utility of wealth?

Answer 13

wealth represents ownership and control of resources and is used to launch social mobility, create opportunities and status, or pass along advantages to one’s children

Question 14

What are the incarceration rates of Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics?

Answer 14

Black - 33%
Hispanic - 23%
White - 30%

Question 15

How do sociologists define racism?

Answer 15

the attribution of characteristics of superiority or inferiority to a population sharing certain physically inherited characteristics

Question 16

How do racial prejudice and racial discrimination differ?

Answer 16

prejudice refers to negative attitudes held towards members of racial or ethnic groups, while discrimination refers to behaviors that deny these members opportunities and resources

Question 17

What is individual discrimination?

Answer 17

when an individual member of a racial or ethnic group is intentionally treated unfavorably (e.g. denied employment)

Question 18

What is institutional discrimination?

Answer 18

when laws, public policies, or common practices systematically disadvantage racial or ethnic minorities (egg, public school funding, redlining, racial profiling, drug possession penalties)

Question 19

What is overt racism?

Answer 19

explicit and undisguised racial prejudice and discriminatory behaviors (e.g. Jim Crow era)

Question 20

What is aversive racism?

Answer 20

racial attitudes and behaviors expressed in terms of discomfort and uneasiness (unconscious and explicit biases)

Question 21

According to Devah Pager, what is the effect of race on employer callbacks?

Answer 21

race continues to play a dominant role on shaping employment opportunities

*white applicants with a criminal record or more likely to receive a callback than black applicants without a criminal record

Question 22

According to William Julius Wilson, what structural change contributed to the economic decline of black inner-city communities?

Answer 22

the transition from a manufacturing economy to a service economy - service jobs were far away and required a degree, which many black inner-city communities did not have

*loss of center-city industries led to the decline of city revenues and worsened funding for school district, police, etc. - resorting to crime - criminal justice began to ‘crack down’

Question 23

How did the covid pandemic impact employees with varying levels of education?

Answer 23

those with higher levels of education could work from home, while many lower and middle income workers cannot – the wealthy became wealthier

Question 24

How did the covid pandemic affect the median wealth of different racial and ethnic households?

Answer 24

The wealth of Whites and Asians increased while the wealth of Black and Hispanics remained declined

Question 25

According to Jennifer Lee and Min Zhou, what is the success frame for 1.5- and second-generation Chinese and Vietnamese Americans?

Answer 25

success frame: there is considerable variation among social groups as to what constitutes success

*they have a narrowly defined success frame that has high educational and occupational expectations

Question 26

Why is the success frame so consistent among Chinese and Vietnamese American interviewees?

Answer 26

changes in U.S. immigration law in the 1960s led to a wave of immigrants that were more highly educated - parents socialize their children to internalize the success frame