Chapter 9

1. Chapter 9 Race and Ethnicity

2. What Is Race? • Some people view race as: • Skin color: the Caucasian “race”, • Religion: the Jewish “race” • Nationality: the British “race” • Entire human species: the human “race”

3. Race and Biology • A race is 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. • Race has little meaning biologically due to interbreeding in the human population.

4. The Social Construction of Race It is culture, rather than biology that defines a racial group. Definitions change with historical and cultural circumstances.

5. Characteristics of Ethnic Groups • Unique cultural traits. • A sense of community. • A feeling of ethnocentrism. • Ascribed membership from birth. • Tendency to occupy a geographic area.

6. Dominant (majority) and Subordinate (minority) Groups • A dominant or majority group is one that is advantaged and has superior resources and rights in a society. • A subordinate or minority group is one whose members are disadvantaged and subjected to unequal treatment by the dominant group and who regard themselves as objects of collective discrimination.

7. Examples of Minority Groups? • Race • Ethnicity • Gender • Sexual Orientation • Age • Disability • Religion Some people experience “Double Jeopardy”

8. Prejudice • A negative attitude based on generalizations about members of selected racial, ethnic, or other groups. • Ethnocentrism refers to the tendency to regard one’s own culture and group as the standard. • Stereotypes are overgeneralizations about the appearance, behavior, or other characteristics of members of particular categories.

9. Racism • A set of attitudes, beliefs, and practices used to justify the superior treatment of one racial or ethnic group and the inferior treatment of another racial or ethnic group. • A form of prejudice, where the belief is that inherited physical characteristics associated with racial groups determine unequal abilities and characteristics

10. Prejudice can be maintained by • The Self-fulfilling prophesy • Social distance

11. Bogardus Social Distance Rating Scale Person expresses a willingness to interact with minority group member in increasingly close proximity: 1. As a marriage partner 2. As my close friends 3. As my Neighbors 4. As workers in my company 5. As citizens of my country 6. As visitors to my country 7. Prohibited from entering my country

12. Theories of Prejudice • Frustration–aggression hypothesis • People who are frustrated in their efforts to achieve a highly desired goal will respond with a pattern of aggression toward others. • Authoritarian Personality • Characterized by excessive conformity, submissiveness to authority, intolerance, insecurity, a high level of superstition, and rigid, stereotypic thinking.

13. Theories of Prejudice, continued • Socialization and lack of contact • Ideology of the American dream - encourages prejudice toward the socially disadvantaged

14. Discrimination While prejudice is an attitude, discrimination is a behavior.

15. Merton’s Typology ofPrejudice and Discrimination

16. Four Major Types of Discrimination • 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.

17. Four Major Types of Discrimination • Direct institutionalized discrimination - Intentional exclusion of people of color from public accommodations. • Indirect institutionalized discrimination – Does not necessarily involve conscious intent.

18. Contact Hypothesis • Contact between divergent groups should be positive as long as group members: • Have equal status. • Pursue the same goals. • Cooperate with one another to achieve goals. • Receive positive feedback while interacting.

19. Contact Hypothesis • Contact between divergent groups should be positive as long as group members: • Have equal status. • Pursue the same goals. • Cooperate with one another to achieve goals. • Receive positive feedback while interacting.

20. Functionalist Perspectives on Race and Ethnic Relations • Assimilation A process by which members of subordinate racial and ethnic groups become absorbed into the dominant culture. • Ethnic PluralismThe coexistence of a variety of distinct racial and ethnic groups within one society.

21. Conflict Perspectives on Race and Ethnic Relations • The Caste Perspective views racial and ethnic inequality as a permanent feature of U.S. society. • Class perspectives emphasize the role of the capitalist class in racial exploitation.

22. Conflict Perspectives on Race and Ethnic Relations • Internal Colonialism occurs when members of a racial or ethnic group are forcibly placed under the control of the dominant group. • Split Labor Market - The division of the economy into a primary sector composed of higher paid workers in more secure jobs, and a secondary sector of lower-paid workers in jobs with little security.

23. Critical Race Theory • Premises: • The belief that racism is such an ingrained feature of U.S. society that it appears to be ordinary and natural to many people. • The belief that interest convergence is a crucial factor in bringing about social change.

24. Racial and Ethnic Groups in the United States • Native Americans • White Anglo‑Saxon Protestants • African Americans • White Ethnic Americans • Asian Americans • Latinos/as • Middle Eastern Americans

25. Time Line of Racial and Ethnic Groups in the United States

26. Native Americans • Most disadvantaged group in the U.S. in terms of income, employment, housing, and nutrition. • As a group they have experienced: • Genocide • Forced Migration • Forced Assimilation

27. Early Contact with Europeans • Arrived 12,000 to 50,000 years ago. Native American populations estimates vary from 10 to 100 million • Physical and cultural differences were interpreted ethnocentrically as proof of “inferiority” • All tribes and nations lumped together as “Indians”

28. Two Concerns have Dominated Government Policy • White takeover of native lands. “Where there was desirable land, whites eventually took it.” • Transformation of native lifestyles into copies of approved white models. Native culture must be eradicated.

29. Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1889 “The Indians must conform to the white man’s ways; peaceably if they will, forcibly if they must.”

30. By the beginning of the 20th century … The Indian population was unable to be self sufficient, was impoverished and at the mercy of the federal government. It numbered only about 250,000.

31. Pervasive Inequality • 84% of national average on high school graduation • 42% of national average on college education • 76% of national average household income • Almost twice as likely to lack health insurance • Nearly twice as likely to live in poverty

32. African-Americans • Second largest minority group in the U.S., making up some 13% of the population. • Arrived involuntarily - as slaves. • Most African Americans could trace their ancestry in America to the early colonial period.

33. Epoch One: Slavery • Why African Americans? • Physical appearance • Ethnocentrism: “savages”, “inferior” • Powerlessness • The Status of “Slave” • No legal rights • Property ownership forbidden • Working for pay forbidden • Entering into contracts forbidden • Marriage not legally recognized • Importance of “social distance” • Racism as an ideological justification

34. Epoch Two: The Jim Crow Era • Loss of federal protection after Reconstruction • Loss of voting rights • Jim Crow laws • Legally enforced segregation • Housing • Work • Education • Health care • Transportation • Religion • Leisure • Ideology of Social Darwinism

35. Epoch Three: The Modern Era • Important Legislation • 1941 - Racial discrimination in federal jobs prohibited • End of WWII – Desegregation of the armed forces • 1954 – Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka • 1964 – Civil Rights Act • Black Protest • Non-violence as a tactic to fight segregation • Black Power as an ideology to fight inequality • Self-determination • Self-image

36. Asian Americans • 4% of the U.S. population. • From Japan, China, South Asia, the Philippines, and Southeast Asia. • Have the highest average household income of any major ethnic group. • Japanese and Chinese-Americans surpass whites in educational attainment.

37. The History of Discrimination • The “Yellow Peril” • Chinese Exclusion Act, 1882 • The “Gentlemen’s Agreement” with Japan, 1907 • The Oriental Exclusion Act, 1924 • Japanese Internment, 1941

38. Asian Americans as the “Model Minority” • Levels of achievement • Median family income 29% above national average • 44% of Asian Americans have at least Bachelors degrees (the U.S. average is 24%) • A positive or negative stereotype?

39. Factors in Asian American Economic Success • Innate superiority? • Pre-existing social and occupational standing • Cultural Values (the “achievement syndrome”) • The value of education • Work ethic • Family values Core values of the Confucian and Buddhist traditions: “Achievement, a cohesive family and hard work.”

40.  Hispanics • Largest minority group in the U.S. • Majority are of Mexican heritage, Latinos have also arrived in America from Cuba, Puerto Rico, and many Central and South American nations. • Will make up about 20% of the U.S. population by the year 2050.

41. Who is “Hispanic”? • Race or Ethnicity? • Dominant group’s label vs. self perception • Ethnically diverse with different paths of entry • Mexican • Puerto Rican • Cuban • South and Central American

42. Hispanics Rapid growth rates raises concerns: • New immigrants are young and poorly educated resulting in lower income levels. • Concerns among non-Hispanic Americans over competition for jobs. • Increasing immigration results in segregation.

43. Hispanics and the Class System • An “In-Between” Position • The hierarchy: Cubans/Mexicans/Puerto Ricans • Factors inhibiting social mobility • Education • Age • Language • Changed economy

44. Hispanic Patterns of Assimilation • Acculturation • Language • Ethnic community • Proximity to country of origin • Assimilation • Secondary structural assimilation • Primary structural assimilation

45. Middle Eastern Americans • Includes immigrants from Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, and Jordan. • The Lebanese, Syrians, and Iranians primarily come from middle class backgrounds. • Most Iranian immigrants initially hoped to return to Iran; however, many have become U.S. citizens.

46. Origin of Contact Conquest Annexation Voluntary Immigration Involuntary Immigration Degree of Ethnocentrism Degree of: Physical difference, Cultural difference Competition Unequal distribution of power Why have some ethnic groups “done better” than others (experienced “social mobility”)?

47. Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the United States

48. Chapter 10 Sex and Gender

49.  Sex and Gender • Sex refers to the biological differences between females and males. • Gender refers to the culturally and socially constructed differences between females and males.

50. Chapter 10 Sex and Gender