ETHNICITY, RACE, GENDER & CLASS Ethnicity and Race.

Ethnicity, Race, Gender & Class

Ethnicity and Race

Ethnicity

Americans tend to see each other in terms of age, economic class, religion, gender, ethnicity, and race.

We are usually a member of a particular group for each of these criteria.

Which of our group identities is most important varies with the social situation.

In America today, gender, ethnicity, and race often have the most far ranging impact on us as individuals.

The terms race and ethnicity are often used interchangeably, although they have different meanings.

Ethnicity

The concept of ethnicity is complex, but it refers to groups characterized by a common language, culture, or nationality (Betancourt & Lopez, 1993).

In other words, ethnicity relates to categories used to describe groups to which individuals belong, or with which they identify.

The categories do not denote scientific definitions or anthropological origins.

Instead, ethnicity refers to selected cultural characteristics such as language, lifestyle, religion, food, and origins used to classify people into groups or categories considered to be significantly different from others.

Ethnicity

Shared culture forms the basis for a sense of peoplehood based on the consciousness of a common past.

Race, language, and ancestral customs constitute the major expressions of ethnicity in the US.

Ethnicity is not passed genetically from generation to generation.

Rather, ethnicity is constructed and reconstructed in response to particular historical circumstances and changes.

Ethnicity

It is important not to confuse the term minority with ethnic group.

Ethnic groups may be either a minority or a majority in a population.

Whether a group is a minority or a majority also is not an absolute fact but depends on the perspective.

For example, in California, Whites are a minority group because California has such a large population of Hispanics, Asians, and African Americans.

Ethnicity

For instance, in some towns along the southern border of the U.S., people of Mexican ancestry are the overwhelming majority population and control most of the important social and political institutions but are still defined by state and national governments as a minority.

In small homogenous societies, such as the Amish, there is essentially only one ethnic group and no minorities.

Ethnic Groups, Nations, & Nationalities As Kottak and Kozaitis (2008) point out, “the term

nation was once synonymous with a tribe or an ethnic group” (p. 71)—a single culture sharing a single language, religion, history, territory, ancestry, and kinship.

One could speak interchangeable of the Seneca nation, the Seneca tribe, or the Seneca ethnic group.

Today, however, the word nation has come to mean a state, an independent, centrally organized political unit, a government.

Ethnic Groups, Nations, & Nationalities Combined in nation-state, they refer to countries,

which because of migration, colonization, and conquest, are not ethnically homogenous.

Moreover, the ethnic diversity within a nation-state may be manipulated to encourage ethnic divisions for political and economic ends.

Studies that have looked at the homogeneity of nation-states have found only three with a high percentage of ethnic homogeneity: North Korea, South Korea, and Portugal.

Ethnic Groups, Nations, & Nationalities Ethnic groups that once had, wish to have, or regain,

autonomous political status (e.g., their own country) are called nationalities.

Political upheavals and wars have divided many national communities by ideology: Germany, Korea.

Some ethnic groups, such as the Kurds, the Macedonians, constitute imagined or invisible nations.

The Kurds form no majority in any state. They are a minority group in Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria. Macedonians are a minority group in Serbia, Greece, and

Bulgaria.

Ethnic Tolerance & Accommodation

Although not the case with Macedonians, there are nation states in which multiple cultural groups have positive group interactions and live together in reasonable harmony.

What then can one expect when differing cultures come together in American or any other society?

Acculturation refers to psychological integration. It is a process of gradual change in one culture brought

about by another culture (Kroeber, 1948) such that there is increased similarity between the two cultures.

Ethnic Tolerance & Accommodation Sanday (1982) and Locke (1998) have identified four

categories or levels of cultural integration based on attitudes and involvement with one’s culture of origin and also with the larger society in which one is currently living.

Mainstreamers are identified as those individuals who have adopted the standard values accepted by the dominant or mainstream culture.

In the process of adapting to the new culture, mainstreamers often lose some parameters of the culture of origin.

Ethnic Tolerance & Accommodation Bicultural individuals are those who retain strong ties

with their culture of origin and successfully adapt to the new culture as well.

Bicultural individuals generally have a commitment to both cultures, and some individuals may comfortably negotiate and maintain commitments to more than two cultures.

Culturally different or traditional individuals are those persons who have been exposed to the dominant or mainstream culture but do not adapt to the new culture choosing to remain apart in their enclave of cultural origin and adhering to the values and practices of their culture of origin.

Ethnic Tolerance & Accommodation Members of this group may be recent immigrants or

they may be long-term residents of the US. These persons may interact on occasion with

institutions of the dominant culture (e.g., health care services) but maintain most of the activity with their contained or isolated group.

Persons identifying as members of enclaves such as “Chinatown” and “Little Italy” may fall into this category.

English may or may not be spoken in these cultural enclaves, and if spoken, may not be used in daily practice in the home.


Finally, culturally marginal individuals are identified as those individuals who essentially follow their own way and hold no attachment to any particular cultural group.

These individuals adapt minimally to either the new culture or the culture of origin.

Assimilation is a social process of integration (Thompson, 1996).

It is the process of change that members of a minority ethnic group may experience when moving to a country where another culture dominates.

Ethnic Tolerance & Accommodation Through assimilation newcomers become

incorporated into the social and cultural networks of the host society, entering social positions, well as acquiring the political, economic, and educational standards of the dominant culture.

Often times, assimilation is perceived as a process of giving up one’s culture and taking on the characteristics of another in order to blend into the mainstream.

However, as the population has become increasingly diverse in terms of cultural heritage, a more pluralistic view has been adopted.

Ethnic Tolerance & Accommodation Although we all live together and share a common

American geography and nation-state, the distinguishing characteristics of each group are preserved and ethnic groups maintain and foster their particular language, customs, and cultural values.

“A multicultural society socializes individuals not only into the dominant, national, culture, but also into an ethnic culture” (Kottak & Kozaitis, 2008, p. 74).

Indeed, multicuturalism is most successful in countries with many diverse culturally organized groups and that promote freedom of expression (e.g., US, Canada, India).


So in the US, millions of people speak English as well as another language; eat American and ethnic foods; celebrate both national and ethnic religious holidays, and study both national and ethnic group histories.

The independent variable in the process of acculturation and assimilation is the determination or willingness of immigrants to assume the culture of America.

Many immigrants experience only limited acculturation and practically no assimilation in their lifetimes.


Among the factors that affect the processes of acculturation and assimilation are circumstances of immigration, race and ethnicity, class, gender, and the character of the community.

Voluntary immigrants, involuntary immigrants, and refugees differ in their circumstances of immigration.

Voluntary immigrants are usually prepared for the move, psychologically motivated, and willing to accept the linguistic and cultural changes required to succeed in the new country.


Involuntary immigrants, such as those brought to the country in slavery, may resist their new circumstances and suffer social and political isolation from the political mainstream which can hamper their attempts at assimilation.

Refugees, on the other hand, are forced to leave their country because of adverse domestic, social, and political conditions.

Preparation for the move is limited, and many enter the country without knowledge of the language or culture of the receiving country.


Like involuntary immigrants, they may have been separated from their families and may have spent days or years in unpleasant circumstances before having access to the benefits of the receiving country.

As a result, the effects of culture shock are more pervasive on refugees than on voluntary immigrants.

Refugees often achieve low levels of assimilation into the receiving country and do not become proficient in English and live in ethnic enclaves for longer periods of time.

Roots of Ethnic Conflict

As you have seen in the video about Macedonia, ethnic diversity is not always associated with positive group interaction and coexistence.

“The perception of cultural differences can have disastrous effects on social interaction” (Kottak & Kozaitis, 2008, 79).

Political, economic, religious, linguistic, cultural, or racial differences can lead to ethnic conflict and violence.


Ethnic conflicts often arise in reaction to prejudice or discriminatory action.

Prejudice refers to an unfair, biased, or intolerant attitude towards another group of people.

Prejudice, like stereotypes, can take many forms, ranging from those that are almost impossible to detect to those that are clearly blatant.

Prejudice involves a devaluation of another group of people based on assumed behaviors, values, capabilities, or attitudes.


The most vivid example of extreme prejudice can be found in the are of discrimination.

In discrimination, we observe ethnocentrism, stereotyping, and prejudice bordering on fanaticism.

When discrimination replaces communication, we see covert behavior that restricts a group’s opportunity or access to resources solely on the basis of group membership, color, race, gender, and the like.

When a real estate agent fails to show homes to black people who want to live in a certain neighborhood, that is discrimination.


When large corporations promote less qualified male managers instead of competent women, that too is discrimination.

Discrimination excludes members of a particular culture, co-culture, or group from certain locations or positions based on preconceived notions.

And as we have seen historically, the greatest dangers of discrimination can lead to physical attacks, and attempts to exterminate an entire out-group.

Race and Racism Our daily lives are affected by race whether we are

aware of it or not. We all see the world through a racial lens that colors

our world black, white, Asian, Mexican, minority, or “other.”

How we are seen and how we see others affects various domains of our lives and the lives of others; from the types of jobs we have, the amount of money we make, the kind of friends we make, the places we live, the foods we eat, the schools we go to, etc.

Race refers to a category of persons who share biologically transmitted traits considered socially significant (e.g., hair and skin color) (Roseberry-McKibbin, 2007).

Race and Racism

Race is a label that people apply to themselves and to others based on physical appearance.

Our tendency to classify and stratify people by their appearance continues today despite decades of scientific evidence contradicting this practice.

Race is important because society makes it important. Defining races on the basis of a small number of

superficial anatomical characteristics that can be readily identified at a distance makes discrimination easier.

Race and Racism

Focusing on such deceptive distinguishing traits as skin color, body shape, and hair texture causes us to magnify differences and ignore similarities between people

Racism perpetuates the notion that some groups are inherently inferior to others, and should be dominated by other, presumably superior groups.

Therefore, what we think of as human "races" are cultural creations, not biological realities, that shape social, cultural, political, ideological, and legal functions in society.

The Social Construction of Race Race is often thought to refer to a person’s genetic or

biological makeup, but in reality, race is not a scientific construct but a social construct

The existence of race requires that people collectively agree and accept that it does exist.

Race has always been defined by the dominant group in society and the boundaries of group membership have used biology as a racial indicator.

Imposition of such boundaries of group membership implies differences in status.

The status ascribed to your race either includes or excludes you from broader social constructs, and disables or enables certain powers.

The Social Construction of Race Race typically works through race indicators which are

used to indicate which race you are, and consequently what sort of status you have in society.

Since race and race indicators are collectively imposed and defined by the dominant group, so is one’s status, politically, economically, socio-culturally, and historically.

Race is often used to create fear and hate thus benefiting those who construct definitions which divide groups from each other and ultimately from their own humanity.

The Biological Dimensions of RaceThere are no biologically pure races. We are biologically speaking an extremely

homogenous species: all humans today are 99.9% genetically identical.

This homogeneity is very unusual in the animal kingdom.

Most of the variation that does occur genetically is in the difference between males and females and our unique personality traits.

Even our closest relatives, the chimpanzees have 2-3 times more genetic variation than people.

The Biological Dimensions of Race

How then did the misconception of race come about? In the 19th and early 20th century, popular

conceptualizations of a biologically determined race were derived from scientific formulations that there existed natural, physical divisions among humans that were hereditary, and reflected in morphology.

Racial categories were based on externally visible traits, primarily skin color, hair texture, features of the face, the shape and size of the head, including facial angle, jaw size, cranial capacity, brain mass, frontal lobe mass, brain surface fissures and convolutions, the shape and size of the body and its underlying skeleton; even body lice.


Moreover, races were often imbued with non-biological attributes as well, based on social constructs and perceptions.

For example, Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus, who in 1758 established the classification system still in use for various other forms of life, listed four categories that he labeled as "varieties" of the human species.

To each he attributed inherited biological as well as learned cultural characteristics.


He described Homo European as light-skinned, blond, and governed by laws.

Homo American was copper-colored and regulated by customs.

Homo Asiatic was sooty and dark-eyed and governed by opinions.

Homo African was black and indolent and governed by impulse.

The Biological Dimensions of Race In later years, many European scientists defined race

by separating Homo Sapiens into six different groups: Australoid--those from Australia and the Melanesian

islands; Caucasoid—those from Europe, North Africa, and

Southwest Asia; Mongoloid—those from East Asia, Siberia, the Americas; Central and Southern Africa; Native Americans; and Polynesians. The scientific justification for these six groups

was that members of these groups shared similar physical characteristics and originated in a particular region of the world.

The Biological Dimensions of Race These categories of race presumed that immutable

visible traits could predict the measure of all other traits in an individual or a population.

Such notions were often used to support racist doctrines and continue to persist as social conventions that foster institutional discrimination.

With scientific advancements came the discovery that pure races, in the sense of genetically homogenous populations, do not exist in the human species today, nor is there any evidence that they have ever existed in the past.

The Biological Dimensions of Race There are no genetic characteristics possessed by all

Blacks but not by non-Blacks. Similarly, there is no gene or cluster of genes common

to all Whites but not to non-Whites. One's race is not determined by a single gene or gene

cluster, as is, for example, sickle cell anemia, or by differences in the rates of appearance of certain gene types.

The data compiled by various scientists demonstrate that greater genetic variation exists within the populations typically labeled Black and White than between these populations.

The Biological Dimensions of Race Nonetheless, there are obvious physical differences

between populations living in different geographic areas of the world.

People look different mainly because of the varied environments in which they and their ancestors live.

Some of these differences are strongly inherited and others, such as body size and shape, are strongly influenced by nutrition, way of life, and other aspects of the environment.

People have physically changed as environmental conditions warranted.

The Biological Dimensions of RaceTake skin color, as an example; it is essentially an

adaptation to the amount of sun received. People from regions with lots of direct overhead

sunlight (the tropics) tend to have darker skin than people from cloudy or oblique sunlight regions (northern temperate zones).

Since melanin protects the skin from harmful ultraviolet radiation, people with more melanin in tropical areas tended to live longer.

They also produce more children than people who are melanin deficient.

Sunlight also stimulates vitamin D production.

The Biological Dimensions of Race People from northern Europe and Asia who have little

or no melanin are able to absorb more of what little sunlight there is in order to enable them to produce more vitamin D.

Scientists have come to realize that the racial map of human beings does not match what we know about human genes.

Many biologist and anthropologists have concluded that race is a social, cultural and political concept based largely on superficial appearances.

Cultural vs Biological Determination of Physical Attractiveness and Ability Nonetheless, popular everyday awareness of race is

transmitted from generation to generation through cultural learning.

Culture is also the key environmental force that determines how human bodies grow and develop.

Cultural traditions promote certain activities and abilities, while discouraging others.

Cultural traditions also set standards of physical well-being and attractiveness.

Cultural vs Biological Determination of Physical Attractiveness and Ability Physical attractiveness refers to the perception of an

individual as physically beautiful by other people. Some aspects of how a person is judged beautiful are

universal to all cultures, whereas others are restricted to particular cultures or time periods.

Physical attractiveness can have a huge effect on how people are judged—people tend to attribute positive characteristics such as intelligence and honesty to attractive people without consciously realizing it.

Cultural vs Biological Determination of Physical Attractiveness and Ability One's own culture has a strong effect in determining

who a person considers as physically attractive. As children grow up, they learn what their culture

considers attractive. Movies and cartoons, frequently portray the villain as

being ugly, whereas the protagonist is depicted as attractive.

Children are shown examples of what is considered as beauty, in the form of dolls and pictures on magazine covers.

Cultural vs Biological Determination of Physical Attractiveness and Ability Perception of what is considered as attractive and

appealing is also very heavily influenced by other dominant cultures and the impact of its value system.

Strong correlations between attractiveness and particular physical properties have been found, across cultures.

One of the more important properties is symmetry, which is also associated with physical health.

Large clear eyes are also important.

Cultural vs Biological Determination of Physical Attractiveness and Ability In women, a waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) of about 0.7

(waist circumference that is 70% of the hips circumference), is typically considered very attractive.

The Body Mass Index (BMI) is the most important and most universal determinant of the perception of beauty.

The BMI refers to the proportion of the body mass to the body structure.

However, in various cultures the optimal body proportion is interpreted differently due to cultural learnings and traditions.

Cultural vs Biological Determination of Physical Attractiveness and Ability The Western ideal considers a slim and slender body

mass as optimal while many ancient traditions and Asian societies considers a plump body-mass as appealing.

In either case the underlying rule applied in determining beauty is the BMI.

Cultural differences of beauty operate on universal principles of human evolution.

The slim ideal does not consider an anorexic body as attractive just as the full-rounded ideal does not celebrate the over-weight or the obese.

Determinants of Female Beauty

Although it is said that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” studies have shown that there are many other universal or near-universal qualities which make human females attractive to males.

In addition to the predictors of good health and reproductive fitness, these include facial features which may stimulate the male sexual response by their resemblance to aroused female genital areas, and features which resemble those of human infants, who are universally appealing to both sexes of a species.

Determinants of Male Attractiveness

The single most important aspect of male attractiveness to women across cultures is height.

It is preferable that the man be taller than the woman and at least a little above the average height for the specific population of males.

Height as a factor in male attractiveness is thought to be a sign of dominance and power.

Other properties that enhance perception of male attractiveness are a slightly larger chest than average, and an erect posture.

Physical Attractiveness & Sports Ability

Cultural standards of attractiveness as well as cultural values influence participation and achievement in sports.

The American value of autonomy and self-reliance lends itself well to more solitary sports like figure skating, gymnastics, track and field, swimming, and diving.

Countries which encourage collective values are much more likely to participate in activities that involve team work, such as basketball and volleyball.


Moreover, choice of activity often reflects the standards of physical attractiveness—hard, trim and fit bodies versus soft, big and sensual bodies.

Environment and affluence, and not race, seem to factor into the differences in the sports ability of blacks and whites.

“In American public schools, parks, sand lots, and city playgrounds, African Americans have access to baseball diamonds, basketball courts, football fields, and tracks” (Kottak & Kozaitis, 2008, p. 136).


However, many black families cannot afford to buy the equipment nor pay the club and/or travel costs associated with playing hockey, golfing, or skiing.

Moreover, many African Americans are aware that certain sports provide possible career opportunities so they start developing skills in those sports in childhood.

Kottak and Kozaitis (2008) conclude that differential access to sports resources has more to do with sports success and the body types that go along with it than race does.

Cultural vs Biological Determination of Intelligence

Like sports ability, environmental variables, particularly educational, economic, and social background, impact differences in the learning abilities of ethnic groups.

Tests reflect the cultural training and life experiences of those who develop and administer them, so to some extent, all tests are culture-bound and biased.

Historically, to justify exploitation of minorities and native people, those in power have denounced the innate inferiority of the oppressed.

Cultural vs Biological Determination of Intelligence Unfortunately, stratification, political domination,

prejudice, and ignorance continue to exist propagating the mistaken belief that misfortune and poverty result from lack of ability.

In any society, for many reasons, genetic and environmental, the talents of individuals vary.

The ways intelligence and learning are measured are related to culture.

In the US, a single score, such as on an IQ test, may be used to index a student’s intelligence.

Cultural vs Biological Determination of Intelligence Students’ academic futures are often decided on the

basis of SAT scores. In Iran, however, a child might be considered bright if

he has memorized the Koran and mastered the Arabic language.

Moreover, different cultures cultivate the development of an assortment of intelligences.

ETHNICITY, RACE, GENDER & CLASS Ethnicity and Race.

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