Vincent Parrillo Strangers to These Shores

1. Vincent ParrilloStrangers to These Shores Chapter Four Dominant-Minority Relations

2. Dominant and Minority Groups respond in a variety of way depending on: • Prevailing cultural patterns • Racial differences • Ethnic differences • Sociohistorical (time) period Minority-Group Responses

3. Depends on: • Minority’s perception of its power resources • Determines the responses they make • Responses include • Avoidance, … Deviance, … Defiance, … Acceptance, … Negative self-image Minority-Group Responses

4. A way of dealing with discrimination, …a way to leave one’s problems behind • Cluster into small sub-communities, … a miniature version of a familiar world • A safe place to live with others like them • Accused of being clannish • Accused of not wanting to assimilate into American culture Avoidance

5. Asian groups followed this example • Clustered together in “China Towns” • Limited residential choices • Limited occupational choices • Not competitive with white Americans • Other minorities who practiced avoidance • Blacks (African Americans), … Irish, … Chinese, … Japanese, .. Mexican Americans, … consider Los Angeles, … Avoidance Cont.

6. A discriminated group may find it difficult to identify with the core’s norms, values and culture. • Shaw and McKay’s Social Disorganization Theory • Immigration & settlement in Chicago • Study of the city’s immigrants by generation • As immigrants assimilate they deviate less Deviance

7. American criminal justice system has been subjective in handling violations by immigrants • Disparities in fair and equal treatment of the poor compared to the upper classes • Police likely to assume the poor and minorities are guilty • Under-representation on juries, ..minorities • Disparities in affording legal services and sentencing Deviance Cont.

8. A minority group may openly challenge to eliminate discriminatory practices if: • They are sufficiently cohesive • Aware of its economic or political power • Gain in structural assimilation • Re. Milton Gordon’s, Seven Stages of Assimilation • Defiance, by minority, may be violent or not • Riots of 1863, 1963, and 1992 Defiance

9. Minority’s may accept their situation, … accommodation • May be resentful, but accept their social position • Native Americans • Blacks (African Americans) • Mexicans (Chicanos) • Japanese, … Relocation camps • Jews Acceptance

10. Negative Self-image • A common consequence of prejudice and discrimination • Difficult to remain optimistic and determined in the face of constant negative experiences, … interactions • A function of social structure, … time, and: • Race, … Religion, … Ethnicity, … Gender, … • Cooley’s “Looking Glass Self” Consequences of Minority Group Status

11. The Vicious Circle • Gunnar Myrdal, … Cumulative Causation • Prejudice and discrimination perpetuate each other • The “Cycle:” A discriminatory action in job acquisition, … advancement, … • Discrimination • Leads to a minority’s reaction, ..condition, poverty • Reinforces prejudice of minority inferiority The Vicious Circle (Cycle)

12. Leads to justification of prejudice and more discrimination • Completes the circle and leads to continued poverty and further discrimination • If minorities are made welcome, they in turn will react in a positive manner • If made unwelcome they will react in a negative manner Vicious Circle Cont.

13. Robert E. Park: “Marginal Minorities” • A minority attempting to enter the mainstream culture • Not gaining full acceptance by the core • No longer a full member of ethnic culture • Causes the individual an great deal of strain • Confined to live between to cultures and not a true member of either Minority Group Marginality

14. Children of immigrants find themselves caught between two worlds • A second and third generation phenomenon • Marginality is an example of cultural conflict caused by a clash of cultural (ethnic) values Marginality Cont.

15. Hubert Blalock: “Middleman Minorities” • The dominant core places middleman minorities in an intermediate position between the lower and higher classes • They forge a mediating commerce link between minorities and dominant core group • Serve as a buffer groups between the two • Experience hostility from both the lower and upper classes • Example: Koreans in Los Angeles Middleman Minorities

16. Legislative Controls • Laws to regulate and restrict immigration in favor of NW Europeans • Restrictions on educational opportunities • Restrictions of voting rights, to maintain political control (Blacks mainly) • Other countries: South Africa (Apartheid), Australia (Restricted Asian Immigration) Dominant Group Responses

17. Spatial segregation: Physical separation of a minority from the rest of society, … a policy of containment • Areas of separation: • Residential, … education, … public facilities, . Occupations • May be “institutionalized” • May be overt of covert, de jure or defacto Segregation

18. Social segregation: Involves confining participation in social, service, political, and other types of activities • Dominant group excludes the outgroup from meaningful primary-group interaction • May be voluntary or involuntary, … mostly involuntary • Frequent interaction may lessen prejudice, but interaction is often severely controlled Segregation Cont.

19. To eject a minority group from a territory or country • England, … Gypsies in the 16th century • Spain, … The Moors in early 17th century • British, … Acadians from Nova Scotia in the mid 18th century • Americans, … Cherokee from Georgia in 1838, “The Trail of Tears” Expulsion

20. Def. The undue fear of, or contempt of strangers or foreigners • Often reflected in print, speeches, sermons, legislation, and violent actions • Examples in the United States • The Wild Irishman • The French radicals • Immigrants in general (except NW Europe) • Related to Ethnocentrism Xenophobia

21. One’s group is seen as the center of everything, others are defined negatively • Encourages the creation of negative stereotypes, …in turn invites prejudice • Results in discrimination • Escalates to ongoing institutional discrimination • Becomes a normal social behavior, … a part of the normative culture Ethnocentrism

22. The killing of all men, women, and children of a particular group • Goes back to ancient times • Examples in more recent times • The British, … the Tasmanians • The Portuguese in Brazil, … infected natives with smallpox • Germans, … The Jewish holocaust • Others: … ? Annihilation

23. In the past, U.S., … the Know-Nothings • Mid-19th century and beyond, …Ku Klux Klan • The rise of hate groups usually occurs in times of economic stress • Florida contains the largest number of hate group (48), … California (35) • Hate crimes: Criminal offense against a person, .. “bias against,”…race, …religion, … sexual orientation, … ethnic group Hate Groups and Hate Crimes

24. Usually members of a dominant group exploit a subordinate (minority) group • Power-differential Theory: S. Lieberson • Intergroup relations depend on the relative power of the migrant and indigenous group • Each group strives to maintain its own culture and institutions • The “Dominant” group will control the interaction and the subordinate group Exploitation

25. Robert Blauner: Integrated elements of caste, racism, ethnicity, culture, and economic exploitation into a single theory • Theorized that the treatment of Native Americans, Blacks, and Mexicans resembled a colonial like relationship much like the European colonies of non-Western peoples • Not as a colony, but “internal colonialism” Internal Colonialism Theory

26. These groups were ghettoized into colonial like communities • Reservations, … Ghettos, … Barrios • Their culture is transformed • Their colony is controlled by external forces • Politically, … economically, … socially • They are relegated to subordinate status • Interactions reinforce exploitation Internal Colonialism Cont.

27. Edna Bonacich: Ethnic antagonism results from a combination of economic exploitation and economic competition • A wage differential for competing groups • Ethnic antagonism is based not on ethnicity or race but on the conflict between higher-paid and lower-paid labor • See Figure 4.3 for a summary Split-Labor Market Theory

28. Power Differential Theory • Only offers one variable to explain conflicts between dominant and subordinate groups • Internal-Colonialism Theory • Applies to only three groups at best • It doesn't explain relations with other groups • Split-Labor Market Theory • Doesn’t address other sources of conflict, discrimination, and prejudice, … only wages Limitation to These Theories

29. Annihilation Avoidance Cumulative causation Defiance Exploitation Expulsion Internal-Colonialism Marginality Middleman Minorities Negative Self-image Paternalism Power-differential Social segregation Spatial segregation Split-labor-market Vicious circle Xenophobia Key terms