Chapter 7

Inequalities of Race and Ethnicity Racial and Ethnic Stratification

Prejudice and Discrimination

Patterns of Intergroup Relations: Assimilation and Pluralism

Racial and Ethnic Groups in the United States

Sociological Perspectives on Inequalities of Race and Ethnicity

The Future of Ethnic and Minority Group Relations

McGraw-Hill © 2013 McGraw-Hill Companies. All Rights Reserved.

7-2

Racial and Ethnic

Stratification

Races

Census 2010 questions on racial identity reflect increasingly diverse U.S. population and increase in number of multiracial citizens

Races characterized by fluid, continuous differences that change

Racial categories in U.S. came from ways of classifying people that emerged in Europe in 1600s and 1700s

7-3

Racial and Ethnic

Stratification

Race: social construct; group of people who see themselves, and are seen by others, as having hereditary traits that set them apart

94% of genetic variation is within races; less than 5% is between them

Racial formation occurs at both micro and macro levels

7-4

Racial and Ethnic

Stratification

Race, Ability, and Culture

Common to believe that race is associated with personality, moral character, competency, intelligence, and other characteristics

Biological factors of race do not cause race differences in intelligence

Environmental factors, particularly culture, can exercise strong influence on group differences in measured intelligence

7-5

Racial and Ethnic

Stratification

Race, Ability, and Culture (continued)

Racism

Individual racism: belief that some racial groups are naturally superior and others are inferior

Institutional level: discriminatory policies and practices that result in unequal outcomes for members of different racial groups

7-6

Racial and Ethnic

Stratification

Ethnic groups: identified culturally: language, folk practices, dress, mannerisms, religion

Sense of peoplehood or nationhood

Shared history and/or fate

Ethnic identities often “constructed” by their bearers

7-7

Racial and Ethnic

Stratification

Minority Groups

Five properties of minority groups:

Experience discrimination from dominant group and lacks power to change situation

Distinguishing physical or cultural traits

Self-conscious social group; sense of group identity

Generally not voluntary

Typically endogamous

7-8

Racial and Ethnic

Stratification

Minority groups: racially or culturally self-conscious population, with hereditary membership and high degree of in-group marriage, that suffers oppression at the hands of dominant group

7-9

Prejudice and Discrimination

Prejudice: attitudes of aversion and hostility towards members of a group because they are presumed to conform to negatively stereotyped description of the group

Cognitive component

Affective component

Behavioral component

7-10

Prejudice and Discrimination

Social Psychology Frustration-aggression theory

Prejudice is a form of scapegoating that results from displaced aggression

Authoritarian personality theory The tendency to be prejudiced emerges out of overly strict child-

rearing practices that result in people valuing obedience to authority and desiring to dominate others

Socialization theories Prejudiced attitudes are part of the culture people internalize during

socialization by parents, friends, and community members, whose messages are reinforced by educational experiences and stereotypes presented in media

7-11

Prejudice and Discrimination

Social Structure

Prejudice is a cultural mechanism emerging out of competition and conflict between groups

Can be an important factor enabling a single group to achieve and maintain dominance

“Sense of group position” theory

Prejudice flows from people’s perceptions of the

position of their group relative to other groups

7-12

Prejudice and Discrimination

Symbolic racism

Stereotypes African Americans as people who:

Do not share the American work ethic

Would rather be on welfare than work

Would be as well off as whites if they would “try harder”

Have recently been “getting more than they deserve”

7-13

Prejudice and Discrimination

Discrimination

The process in which members of one or more groups or categories in society are denied the privileges, prestige, power, legal rights, equal protection of the law, and other societal benefits available to members of other groups

7-14

Prejudice and Discrimination

Institutional discrimination

Institutions function to produce unequal outcomes for different groups

Institutional racism

If disadvantaged group is racial minority

7-15

Prejudice and Discrimination

Gatekeeping

Decision on which people are admitted to offices and positions of privilege, prestige, and power within society

Environmental racism

Practice of locating incinerators and other types of hazardous waste facilities in or next to minority communities

7-16

Intergroup Relations:

Assimilation and Pluralism

Assimilation

Processes whereby groups with distinctive identities are culturally and socially fused

“Melting pot” and Anglo-conformity views

Acculturation

When cultural elements of one group change in direction of another group

7-17

Intergroup Relations:

Assimilation and Pluralism

Integration (structural assimilation):

Members of ethnic groups participate with one another in major institutional structures of society

Amalgamation

Impossible to distinguish ethnic groups that were formerly distinct within a society

7-18

Intergroup Relations:

Assimilation and Pluralism

Pluralism

When diverse groups coexist and maintain boundaries

Equalitarian pluralism (Switzerland; Quebec)

Inequalitarian pluralism (U.S. racial segregation in the South before 1960s)

Apartheid

Genocide

Deliberate and systematic extermination of a racial or ethnic group

7-19

Racial and Ethnic Groups in

the United States

Hispanics/Latinos

More than 1/6th of U.S. population

Latinos account for just over half of foreign-born population in U.S.

Lag in education, employment, income

Educational credentials vary greatly

7-20

7-21

7-22

Racial and Ethnic Groups in

the United States

Hispanics/Latinos (continued)

Mexicans make up 2/3 of Hispanic population in U.S.

Puerto Ricans strongly ethnic; highest poverty rate among Hispanics

Cubans strong in Miami; good education

Central/South Americans smallest group; lowest poverty level

7-23

Racial and Ethnic Groups in

the United States

African Americans

13% of U.S. population (2010)

Poverty rates have increased since 2000

Past: Slavery, KKK, vote, segregation

Civil Rights Acts of 1964, 1965, 1968

Formal desegregation, affirmative action

Race or social class?

Wilson, Anderson vs. Willie, Cohen, Smith

7-24

7-25

Racial and Ethnic Groups in

the United States

Native Americans and Alaskan Natives

In 2010, 2.9 million reported they were American Indian or Alaskan Native

Make up only 0.9% of the total U.S. population

About 500 tribes, from 100- to 250,000+

Removal Act of 1830

High unemployment, short lives

7-26

Racial and Ethnic Groups in

the United States

Asian Americans

About 14.7 million in U.S. population

Fastest-growing group in the U.S.

Highest median family income of ethnic groups: $64,308 in 2010

Chinese in U.S. subject to labor exploitation and living/work restrictions

Japanese interned in WW II; have highest income

7-27

Racial and Ethnic Groups in

the United States

Asian Americans

Other groups include:

Filipinos

Asian American Indians

Koreans

Vietnamese

Hmong

Laotian

Cambodians

7-28

Racial and Ethnic Groups in

the United States

White Ethnics

British, Northern, Southern, Eastern European heritage

Immigrants from 1880s to 1920s largely integrated into U.S. and generally prospered

Government and business heavily dominated by white Protestant males

Ethnicity tends to be symbolic

7-29

Sociological Perspectives:

Inequalities of Race and Ethnicity

Functionalist Perspective

Inequalities reduce consensus, increase conflict, destabilize societies

Needs of stability will eventually eliminate ethnic stratification

7-30

Sociological Perspectives:

Inequalities of Race and Ethnicity

Functionalist Perspective (continued)

Inequalities promote group formation and cohesion

Conflicts act as safety valve (scapegoating)

Conflict between multiplicity of groups is conducive to democracy

7-31

Sociological Perspectives:

Inequalities of Race and Ethnicity

Conflict Perspective

Three components of racism

Ethnocentrism: out-group is object of loathing

Competition motivates systems of social inequality, ethnocentrism channels competition along racial and ethnic lines

Unequal power: determines which group can institutionalize the racism

Split labor market: economic arena in which large differences exist in the price of labor at same occupational level

7-32

Sociological Perspectives on Inequalities of Race and Ethnicity

Interactionist Perspective

Ethnic group a social construction, not genetic construction

Ethnocentrism arises from communication channel restrictions and local differences in meaning systems

Stratification intensifies from same restrictions operating within a stratum

7-33

The Future of Ethnic and

Minority Group Relations

Ethnicity largely symbolic for white ethnics but ascriptive for minority groups

Ethnic distinctions evolve differently for white ethnics vs. other groups

Functionalists: differences replaced by achievement-based stratification

Conflict theorists: differences preserve status of dominant groups