Transcript Race and Ethinicity

Race and Ethnicity
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Chapter Nine
Race: Myth and Reality
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Myth 1— Idea That Any Race is Superior
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All Races Have Geniuses and Idiots
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Hitler, Hutus and Tutsis, Serbia practiced
genocide (systematic attempt to annihilate a
people because of their race and ethnicity)
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Myth 2—Idea that Any Race is Pure
Anthropologists and biologists can’t even
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agree how many races there are (2- 2,000)
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Human Characteristics Flow Endlessly
together
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Idea of race is a powerful force in everyday
lives
Ethnic Groups
Race has little meaning biologically due to
interbreeding in the human population.
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Socially constructed reality, not a biological
one
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Ethnicity refers to cultural characteristics
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Common Ancestry
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Cultural Heritage
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Nations of Origin
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In an ethnic enclave, people interact with
others in their ethnic group and feel a sense
of shared identity
Minority and Dominant Groups
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Minority Group— a category of people who have been
singled out as inferior or superior, on the basis of real or
alleged physical characteristics such as skin color, hair texture,
eye shape, or other attributes
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People singled out for unequal treatment and regard
themselves as objects of discrimination
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Minority Group can be racial or ethnic
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Minority group not necessarily numerical minority
Minority and Dominant Groups
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Dominant Group—
group with most…
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Power
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Privileges
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Highest Social Status
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View minority group as
inferior
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Group has shared physical
and cultural traits
Emergence of Minority Groups
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Minority groups occur because of…
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Expansion of Political Boundaries- when a group
expands it incorporates people with different
cultures, languages into same political entity and
discriminates against them (Native Americans)
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Migration- people move from one place to another
and become minority (Latinos, Africans) can be
voluntary and involuntary
Shared Characteristics of Minority Groups
A.
Membership is an ascribed
status
B.
Physical or cultural traits
held in low esteem by
dominant group
C.
Unequal treatment
D.
Marry within own group
E.
Feel strong group
solidarity
Constructing Racial-Ethnic Identity
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Feel firm boundaries between
“us” and “them”
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Size of group, power, appearance,
degree of discrimination heighten
or reduce ethnic identity
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Some people have a strong sense
of this identity some have a low
sense
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Ethnic Work- ideas designed to
discover, enhance and maintain
ethnic and racial identification
Prejudice
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A negative attitude based on
generalizations about members of
selected racial, ethnic, or other groups
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Ethnocentrism: tendency to regard
one’s own culture and group as the
standard
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Stereotypes: overgeneralizations
about the appearance, behavior, or
other characteristics of members of
particular categories
Prejudice and Discrimination
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Common throughout the world
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Discrimination is an action
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Unfair treatment directed toward
someone
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Racial discrimination is racism
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Discrimination results from prejudice
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Attitude (usually negative, can be
positive)
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Based on race, religion, etc.
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Ku Klux Klan and Neo-Nazis
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Prejudice and Discrimination
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Learning Prejudice- not born with prejudice, learn it from those
around us. People that are prejudice against one group are usually
prejudiced against other groups
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Internalizing Dominant Norms- prejudice against your own groupAfrican- Americans and skin color (internalize norms of dominant
group)
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Implicit Association Test by Anthony Greenwald word association equal
with both blacks and whites
Extent of Prejudice
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Each Racial-Ethnic group
views other groups as
inferior in some way
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Dislike of one group
associated with dislike of
other groups
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Older, less educated more
prejudiced
Two Major Categories of Discrimination
Individual Discrimination- negative
treatment of one person by another
(isolate and small group)
Institutional Discriminationnegative treatment of a group that is
built into societies institutions (direct
and indirect)
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Four Types of Discrimination
1.
2.
3.
4.
Isolate discrimination
A prejudiced judge giving
harsher sentences to African
American defendants
Small-group discrimination
Small group of white students
defacing a professor’s office with
racist epithets
Direct institutionalized
discrimination
Intentional exclusion of people
of color from public
accommodations
Indirect institutionalized
discrimination
Special education classes may
have contributed to racial
stereotyping
Black and Latinos are more likely to be turned down
for a loan, pay higher interest rates
Home Mortgage and Car Loans
Theories of Prejudice
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Psychological Perspectives of Prejudice
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Aggression theory- Prejudice is the result of frustration, people
find group to blame they become the scapegoat (usually a racial,
ethnic or religious minority)
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Frustration –Aggression Hypothesis- The view that frustration, or
failure to reach a certain desired goal due to circumstance, often
leads to aggression, or behavior which intends harm.
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Authoritarian Personality- Adorno study (1950) concluded highly
prejudiced people are insecure conformists, respect of authority
and submissive to superiors, have a strong sense of right and
wrong
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Anxious when confronted with norms and values different than
their own
Sociological Perspectives
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Functionalism- (large group relationships) social
environment can be arranged to generate positive or
negative feelings about people . Prejudice is dysfunctional
to a society, destroys human relationships
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Prejudice is functional because it can create in- group
solidarity
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Conflict Theory- (large group relationships) arrangements
benefit those with power
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Capitalists keep workers divided and insecure (fear of
unemployment) exploit racial and ethnic strife (can make
gains only at the expense of others)
Symbolic Interactionism
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Labels Create Prejudice- when we apply
labels to groups we see its members as all
alike
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Symbolic Interactionists- labels we learn effect
the ways we see people, cause selective
perception
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Contact Hypothesis Contact between
divergent groups should be positive as long
as group members have equal status, purse
same goals and cooperate, and receive
positive feedback during interaction
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Self-Fulfilling Prophesy- stereotypes and
labels can produce behavior depicted in the
stereotype. Places limits on the other group
and this attitude creates a self fulfilling
prophesy
Global Patterns of Intergroup Relations
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Six basic patterns that characterize the relationship of
dominant and minority groups
1.
Genocide – labels allow us to compartmentalize groups and
separate moral action and regard groups as inferior
2.
Population Transfer- two types indirect and direct
3.
Internal Colonialism- countries dominant group exploits a
minority group for economic advantage
Global Patterns of Intergroup Relations
4. Segregation- formal separation of racial or ethnic groups, allows
dominant group to maintain social distance yet exploit minority
group
5. Assimilation- minority group is absorbed into dominant culture
(two types-forced, permissible)
6. Multiculturalism- encourages and permits racial variation.
Minority groups maintain identity, participate in countries social
institutions
A Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes
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What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore -And then run?
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Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over -like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
Gordon Allport’s The Nature of Prejudice
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Two types of responses to being consistently hated-Intropunitive: Hate, accepted by the minority as appropriate and
deserving.
Minority group member defines himself as deserving of the
hatred.
Cause of the hatred is seen as being a flaw within his/her own
group.
Extropunitive: The hate, rejected by the minority as inappropriate
and undeserved.
Minority group defines the majority as the reason for the hatred
Flaw is in the character of the majority, not the minority.
Gordon Allport’s The Nature of Prejudice
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Intropunitive
Agreeing with the majority -- The stereotypes and prescriptions
accepted.
In-group aggression -- The minority group member attacks
(physically or verbally) himself, his group, or members of his
group who are slightly, but identifiably, different.
Denial of membership -- individual simply claims to belong to some
other group or he changes his appearance somehow to soften his
membership.
Symbolic status striving -- Having little or no socially accepted
status within himself, the member seeks some external source of
status.
Withdrawal and passivity -- The victim of the hate - frustrated with
his status - gives up, retreats, becomes a non-person.
Gordon Allport’s The Nature of Prejudice
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Extropunitive
Militancy -- The member fights back unfair hatred either physically or
otherwise.
Enhanced striving -- acknowledge the fact that the majority is not
willing to accept him at face value, the member of a minority resolves
himself to attain perfection, to give the hostile groups no avenue of
attack.
Slyness and cunning -- Member uses less acceptable ways to out-wit or
fool the majority. He becomes street wise rather than getting a Ph.D.
In-group cohesion -- Realizing that the majority is hostile, the minority
group members become more reliant on the protection and support of
others like themselves. They "circle the wagons" in anticipation of
attack.
Obsessive concern -- After having experienced the hatred, some
members may experience something similar to group paranoia: they
see the hatred even in places where it may not exist.
Racial and Ethnic Relations in the United States
Major ethnic groups
in the US
1.
European
Americans
2.
Latinos
3.
African
Americans
4.
Asian
Americans
5.
Native
Americans
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Racial and Ethnic Relations in the United States
European Americans
 Extremely ethnocentric
 Looked down on people without English ancestry
 Forced immigrants to assimilate to their “ways” to fit in
 Ethnic groups give up culture to conform
Racial and Ethnic Relations in the United States
Latinos
 Largest ethnic minority group
 Majority from Mexico
 Spanish language defines Latinos
from other groups, growth of
Spanish in US has caused backlash
in some areas
 Large cultural, class differences
between country of origin
 Diversity has inhibited unity, causes
political underrepresentation
 Many Latinos experience economic
disadvantages
 Cubans typically better off, Puerto
Ricans lowest on indicators of well
being
Racial and Ethnic Relations in the United States
African Americans
 Faced long history of racism (slavery to
segregation to modern discrimination)
 Civil Rights Movement improved
conditions of African Americans
 End of forced segregation, legal
discrimination
 Recently gains in income, education,
politics
 William Julius Wilson- social class has
replaced race as determinant of quality of
life for African Americans
 Improvement through getting better
paying jobs
 Some sociologists claim this analysis
overlooks discrimination that continues
(subtle racism)
Asian Americans
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History of discrimination- Anti
Chinese immigration laws, forced
internment of Japanese Americans
during WWII
Following war discrimination
diminished
Currently highest median income
of all ethnic groups
Score high on indicators of well
being
Chinese, Japanese low rates of
poverty, Vietnamese high rates of
poverty
Three factors of success- a) family
life b) education c) assimilation
into mainstream culture
Racial and Ethnic Relations in the United States
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Native Americans
Image distorted by media
Not a single cultural entity
Disease, warfare caused huge loss of
population
Anglo-American cruelty, forced
relocation
Worst off of all ethnic minority
groups
High rates of poverty, alcoholism,
lower life expectancy
Pan-Indiamisim movement works
for better life
Growing Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the U.S.
In 1980 white Americans made up
80% of the population.
 In 2000, white Americans made up
70% of the population.
 By 2056, the roots of the average
U.S. resident will be in Africa, Asia,
Hispanic countries, the Pacific
Islands, or Arabia—not white
Europe.
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Looking toward the Future
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3 major issues face society today
Immigration- America land of
immigrants recently debate has
intensified
Affirmative Action- used to close
economic, employment gap and to
remedy past wrongs
Some argue it stigmatizes people,
rewards people less qualified
Multicultural Society- ultimate
goal, look beyond biological
differences, allow all to participate
with full social and political power