Transcript Chapter 9
Chapter 9 Inequalities of Race and Ethnicity Chapter 9, Lesson 1 Minority, Race and Ethnicity minority ethnic minority Minority refers to a group who has less control or power over their own lives than members of the dominant or majority group have over theirs. Examples of minorities in the U.S. could include children, illegal immigrants and Buddhists. Ethnic minority is a similar group whose status is based on their ethnicity. Examples of ethnic minorities in the U.S. could include those who emigrated from Nigeria, Korea and Russia. race A race refers to a group of people united or classified together on the basis of a shared history, nationality or geographic distribution. The first attempts of identifying race are largely controversial today as most attempts were based on physical characteristics. Today, the attempts of defining race are biological in nature, looking at genes. Cultural anthropologists today consider race to be a social construct rather than an objective biological one and therefore challenge any definition along such lines. Chapter 9, Lesson 2 Racial and Ethnic Relations assimilation Assimilation is the process by which a person foregoes their own cultural tradition to take on a different culture. People who convert to a religion like Judaism or Islam go through this process as the change tends to be not just religious but also cultural. The most common example are people who decide to immigrate to another country. Some immigrants may decide to abandon their own values for those of their new home. cultural pluralism Cultural pluralism, better known as multiculturalism, refers to various cultural groups living within the same area without any one dominant culture. The movements that have characterized the social conflict within the United States during the 20th-century are an example of a merging multicultural society, as seen with the civil rights efforts of African-Americans, Latinos and Amerindians. accommodation Accommodation is a choice by a minority group to maintain its own culturally unique way of life independent from the dominant culture. While the native culture is maintained and practiced, the person still recognizes and uses the dominant culture when dealing with people from that side of the equation. The Amish of Pennsylvania and Cuban-Americans in Miami are two examples of this type of approach. subjugation Subjugation is the act of bringing someone or some group under control or to make them subservient. Subjugation can also refer to the enslavement of a people. de jure segregation de facto segregation De jure segregation is that which is established by law and enforced by the government. South Africa’s apartheid policy for most of the 20th-century was an example. De facto segregation is that which is not enforced by any government but happens because of natural forces. Ethnic neighborhoods found in major cities would be an example. genocide Genocide is the deliberate, systematic killing of an entire people or nation. Modern examples of genocide include Nazi Germany’s attempt against European Jews, the Hutu attacks on the Tutsis in Rwanda, the Cambodia Khmer Rouge slaughter of the “bourgeoisie” and the Serbian massacre of Kosovo Albanians. Chapter 9, Lesson 3 Theories of Prejudice and Discrimination prejudice and discrimination Prejudice is a negative attitude toward an entire group of people, such as a racial or ethnic minority. Researchers have connected prejudice to the “fear of the stranger,” religious/nationalist chauvinism and fear of economic competition and can be reduced through greater interaction. Discrimination is acting upon prejudice. When a person treats another person on the basis of the former’s prejudicial attitudes, that is discrimination. Discrimination can be done on racial, ethnic, gender, age, religious and political grounds. racism Racism is the belief that one race is supreme and all other races are inherently inferior. Throughout the history of the United States, in conjunction with prevailing attitudes in the western world, Africans, Amerindians, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Mexicans and other minority groups have faced racism from the dominant culture. stereotype A stereotype refers to unreliable generalizations about all members of a certain group, failing to recognize the individual differences within a group. Stereotypes are often used to judge or characterize a group of people, essential as a part of labeling theory. hate crime Hate crime is that crime which is directed at others because of their race, religion, ethnicity or sexual orientation. While the efforts to pass hate crime legislation by various states have met with success in the United States, there have been those who oppose hate-crime legislation because, in essence, it attempts to outlaw certain ideas and beliefs. In other words, it is an attempt to eliminate free thought. self-fulfilling prophecy The notion of self-fulfilling prophecy refers to people who act on the basis of stereotypes which tends to verify their pre-conceived notions and further validates their judgments. This is also seen as part of the labeling theory. If a society continues to characterize or portray a person or group of people as criminals, they begin to behave in that way and the stereotype is reaffirmed. Chapter 9, Lesson 4 Minority Groups in the United States institutionalized discrimination Institutionalized discrimination refers to the denial of opportunities and equal rights to individuals and groups that results from the normal operations of society. In the southern part of the United States, prior to the Civil Rights movement, black Americans were often denied, as a matter of course, all matter of things from home loans, to voting, to equal access to education. Such discrimination tends to go hand-to-hand with de jure segregation. hidden unemployment Hidden unemployment refers to unemployed workers that are not taken into account in official labor statistics. In the United States, citizens who have given up looking for work are not considered a part of the data, as well as those who are underemployed (working less than they want) and those who are in jobs that underutilize their talents and skill sets. From an economic point of view, these people are not considered unemployed.