Introduction to SociologySOC-101

Unit 9 – Race and Ethnicity

Laying the Sociological Foundation Race is a reality in the sense that humans do

come in different colors and shapes However, two of the myths regarding race are that

one race is superior to another and that a pure race exists

These myths make a difference in social life because people believe they are real and act on their beliefs

Race and ethnicity are often confused due to the cultural differences people see and the way they define race

Ethnicity refers to cultural characteristics that distinguish a people

Laying the Sociological Foundation Minority groups are people singled out for

unequal treatment They regard themselves as objects of collective

discrimination The shared characteristics of minorities

worldwide are: Physical or cultural traits that distinguish them are

held in low esteem by the dominant group, which treats them unequally

They tend to marry within their own group They tend to feel strong group solidarity

Laying the Sociological Foundation Minority groups are not necessarily in the

numerical minority Dominant Group

Those who do the discriminating They have greater power, more privileges, and higher

social status The dominant group attributes its privileged position to

its superiority, not to discrimination A group becomes a minority through the

expansion of political boundaries by another group Another way for a group to become a minority, either

voluntarily or involuntarily, is by migration into a territory

Laying the Sociological Foundation Individuals vary considerably in terms of how

they construct their racial-ethnic identity Some people feel an intense sense of ethnic

identity, while others feel very little Ethnic identity is influenced by the relative

size and power of the ethnic group, its appearance, and the level of discrimination aimed at the group If a group is relatively small, has little power, has a

distinctive appearance, and is an object of discrimination, its members will have a heightened sense of ethnic identity

Laying the Sociological Foundation Ethnic work

Refers to how people construct their ethnic identity and includes enhancing and maintaining a group’s distinctiveness or attempting to recover their ethnic heritage

The idea of the U.S. as a melting pot? Different groups quietly blending together into an

ethnic stew, is undermined by the fact that many people today are engaged in ethnic work

A better metaphor would be “tossed salad”

Laying the Sociological Foundation Prejudice and discrimination are common

throughout the world Discrimination

Unfair treatment directed toward someone When based on race, it is known as racism It can also be based on features such as age, sex,

sexual preference, religion, or politics Prejudice

Prejudging of some sort, usually in a negative way

Laying the Sociological Foundation Ethnocentrism

Using one’s own culture as a yardstick for judging the ways of other individuals or societies

Is so common that each racial/ethnic group views other groups as inferior in some way

Studies confirm that there is less prejudice among the more educated and among younger people

Laying the Sociological Foundation Sociologists distinguish between individual

and institutional discrimination: Individual discrimination is negative treatment of

one person by another Too limited a perspective because it focuses only on

individual treatment Institutional discrimination is negative treatment

of a minority group that is built into a society’s institutions Focuses on human behavior at the group level Examples include certain mortgage lending practices

and health care availability

Theories of Prejudice Psychological Perspectives:

According to John Dollard, prejudice results from frustration: people unable to strike out at the real source of their frustration find scapegoats to unfairly blame

According to Theodor Adorno, highly prejudiced people are characterized by excess conformity, intolerance, insecurity, heightened respect for authority, and submission to superiors He called this complex of personality traits the

authoritarian personality Subsequent studies have generally concluded that people

who are older, less educated, less intelligent, and from a lower social class are more likely to be authoritarian

Theories of Prejudice Functionalists

The social environment can be deliberately arranged to generate either positive or negative feelings about people

Prejudice can be a product of pitting groups against each other in an “I win/you lose” situation

It is functional in that it creates in-group solidarity and out-group antagonism

It is dysfunctional in that prejudice destroys social relationships and intensifies conflict

Theories of Prejudice Conflict Theorists

The ruling class benefits when it systematically pits group against group by: Creating a split labor market which divides workers

along racial-ethnic lines and weakens solidarity among the workers

Maintaining higher unemployment rates for minorities, creating a reserve labor force from which owners can draw when they need to temporarily expand production

Workers from different racial-ethnic groups learn to fear and distrust one another instead of recognizing common interests and working for their mutual benefit

Theories of Prejudice Symbolic Interactionists

The labels people learn color their perception and lead them to see certain things and be blind to others

Racial and ethnic labels are especially powerful because they are shorthand for emotionally laden stereotypes

The stereotypes that we learn not only justify prejudice and discrimination, but they also lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy about it

Global Patterns of Intergroup Relations Genocide

The actual, or attempted, systematic annihilation of a race or ethnic group who has been labeled as less than fully human by the dominant group

Dehumanizing labels are powerful forces that help people to compartmentalize—separate their acts from any feelings that would threaten their self-concept—thereby making it difficult for them to participate in the act

The Holocaust and the treatment of Native Americans are examples of genocide.

Global Patterns of Intergroup Relations Population transfer

The involuntary movement of a minority group Indirect transfer involves making life so

unbearable that the minority group members leave

Direct transfer involves forced expulsion A combination of genocide and population transfer

occurred in Bosnia (a part of the former Yugoslavia) when Serbs engaged in ethnic cleansing—the wholesale slaughter of Muslims and Croats, which forced survivors to flee the area

Global Patterns of Intergroup Relations Internal colonialism

A society’s policy of exploiting a minority by using social institutions to deny it access to full benefits

Slavery is an extreme example Segregation

The formal separation of groups Often accompanies internal colonialism The dominant group exploits the labor of the

minority while maintaining social distance

Global Patterns of Intergroup Relations Assimilation

The process by which a minority is absorbed into the mainstream

Forced assimilation occurs when the dominant group prohibits the minority from using its own religion, language, and customs

Permissive assimilation is when the minority adopts the dominant group’s patterns in its own way, at its own speed

Multiculturalism (pluralism) Permits or encourages racial and ethnic variation Switzerland provides an outstanding example of

this

Racial-Ethnic Relations in the U.S. The major racial-ethnic groups in the U.S. are

White European Americans, African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, and Native Americans

In the U.S., the dominant group is made up of whites whose ancestors emigrated here from European countries White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASPs) were

highly ethnocentric and viewed white ethnics—the Irish, Germans, Poles, Jews, and Italians—as inferior

Racial-Ethnic Relations in the U.S. Immigrants were expected to blend into the

mainstream, speak English, and adopt the dominant group’s way of life It was the grandchildren of the immigrants, the

third generation, who most easily adjusted As these white ethnics assimilated into Anglo

culture, the definition of WASP was expanded to include them

Because the English first settled the colonies, they established the institutions and culture to which later immigrants had to conform

Latinos The largest ethnic group in the U.S.

Includes Chicanos, Puerto Ricans, Cuban Americans, and people from Central or South America

Concentrated primarily in four states: California, Texas, New York, and Florida They are causing major demographic shifts

The Spanish language distinguishes them from other minorities Perhaps half are unable to speak English without

difficulty This is a major obstacle to getting well-paid jobs.

Latinos Divisions based on social class and country of

origin prevent political unity among these Latino groups

Compared with non-Hispanic whites and Asian Americans, Latinos are worse off on all indicators of well-being The country of origin is significant, with Cuban

Americans scoring the highest on indicators of well-being and Puerto-Rican Americans scoring the lowest

African Americans Face a legacy of racism

Following the end of the Civil War, southern states passed Jim Crow laws that separated blacks and whites

In 1955, African Americans in Montgomery, Alabama, using the nonviolent tactics advocated by Martin Luther King, Jr., protested laws they believed to be unjust This led to the civil rights movement that challenged

existing patterns of racial segregation throughout the south

The 1964 Civil Rights Act banned discrimination in public facilities

The 1965 Voting Rights Act banned literacy tests used to prevent African Americans from voting

African Americans Frustration over the slow pace of change led to

urban riots and passage of the 1968 Civil Rights Act

Since then, African Americans have made political and economic progress For example, African Americans have quadrupled

their membership in the U.S. House of Representatives in the past 25 years

As college enrollment continues to increase, the middle class has expanded so that now one of every four African American families makes more than $40,000 annually

African Americans such as Jesse Jackson, Douglas Wilder, Deval Patrick, Condoleezza Rice, and Barack Obama are politically prominent

African Americans Despite these gains, however, African

Americans continue to lag behind in politics, economics, and education They average 59% of whites’ incomes Only 17% graduate from college About one of every five African American families

makes less than $15,000 annually According to William J. Wilson, social class (not

race) is the major determinant of quality of life The African American community today is divided

into two groups

African Americans Middle-class African Americans

Seized opportunities created by civil rights legislation and advanced economically, moving out of the inner city

They have moved up the class ladder, live in good housing, have well-paid jobs, and send their children to good schools

Poorly educated and unskilled African Americans As opportunities for unskilled labor declined, they were left

behind They still live in poverty, face violent crime and dead-end

jobs, attend terrible schools, and live in hopelessness and despair

Willie challenges Wilson, arguing that discrimination based on race persists This is despite gains made by some African Americans

It is likely that both discrimination and social class contribute to the African American experience

Asian Americans They too have long faced discrimination in the

U.S. The history of Asian Americans is one of

discrimination and prejudice Chinese Americans were frequently the victims of

vigilante groups and anti-Chinese legislation After the attack on Pearl Harbor in World War II,

hostilities increased, with many Japanese Americans being imprisoned in “relocation camps”

When immigrants from Japan began to arrive in the United States they experienced “spillover bigotry” A stereotype that lumped all Asians together, depicting

them as sneaky, lazy, and untrustworthy

Asian Americans Asian Americans are a diverse group divided

by separate cultures Although there are variations in income

among Asian American groups, on the average Asian Americans have been extremely successful

This success can be traced to three factors: A close family life Educational achievement Assimilation into the mainstream

Asian Americans are becoming more prominent in politics, serving as governors of Hawaii, Louisiana, and Washington

Native Americans Due to the influence of old movie westerns, many

Americans tend to hold stereotypes of Native Americans as uncivilized savages and a single group of people subdivided into separate bands

In reality, Native Americans represent a diverse group of people with a variety of cultures and languages Although originally numbering between 5 and 10

million, their numbers were reduced to a low of 250,000 at the end of the nineteenth century due to a lack of immunity to European diseases and warfare

Today there are about 3 million Native Americans

Native Americans At first, relations between European settlers and

the Native Americans were peaceful However, as the number of settlers increased, tensions

grew Because they stood in the way of expansion, many

Native Americans were slaughtered Government policy shifted to population transfer, and

Native Americans were confined to reservations Today they are an invisible minority

Almost half live in rural areas, with one-third concentrated in Oklahoma, California, and Arizona

They have the highest rates of poverty, unemployment, suicide, and alcoholism of any U.S. minority

These negative conditions are the result of Anglo domination

Native Americans In the 1960s Native Americans won a series of

legal victories that restored their control over the land and their right to determine economic policy

Many Native American tribes have opened businesses, ranging from industrial parks to casinos

Today, many Native Americans are interested in recovering their own traditions Pan-Indianism emphasizes common elements that

run through Native American cultures in order to develop self-identification that goes beyond any one tribe

Looking Towards the Future As U.S. society is now in the 21st century, two

issues that will have to be resolved are immigration and affirmative action

Immigration The first great wave of immigrants arrived from

Europe at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries

The second wave, since 1980, has brought immigrants from around the world and is contributing to the changing U.S. racial/ethnic mix

In some states, such as California, all minorities combined represent the majority of the population

Many are concerned that this influx of immigrants will change the character of U.S. society, including the primacy of the English language

Looking Towards the Future Affirmative action is at the core of the national

debate about how to steer a course in race and ethnic relations Some see affirmative action as the more direct way

to level the playing field of economic opportunity, while others say that it results in reverse discrimination

There is still no consensus about the proper role of affirmative action in a multicultural society

In order to achieve a multicultural society will require that groups with different histories and cultures learn to accept one another We must begin to examine our history and question many

of its assumptions and symbols