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Chapter 11: Ethnicity and Race
Learning Objectives- After reading this chapter and coming to class you should be able to:
1. Be able to distinguish between ethnicity and race. Know the defining characteristics of ethnicity.
Understand the difference between ascribed and achieved statuses, and consider how people may—or
may not—negotiate their social identities.
2. Understand what distinguishes hypodescent, and be familiar with the social history of hypodescent in
the United States.
3. Be familiar with the dominant Japanese construction of race, particularly the status and history of
burakumin in relation to majority Japanese. Compare and contrast this with race in the United States and
Brazil.
4. Be able to distinguish among ethnic groups, nationalities, and nation-states. Why have nationalities been
described as imagined communities by Benedict Anderson and others? Know how migration and
colonialism have in some cases impelled alliances and affiliation across wide geographic spaces.
5. Be able to distinguish between the process of assimilation and the defining characteristics of a plural
society and multiculturalism. Why is multiculturalism of growing importance in the United States and
Canada? Be able to assess critically what might be the positive and negative aspects of having policies
of multiculturalism.
6. Be able to distinguish among prejudice, stereotypes, and de jure and de facto forms of discrimination.
Be able to identify some of the historically frequent aftermaths of cultural oppression: genocide,
ethnocide, forced assimilation, and cultural colonialism.
7. Be familiar with the social historical context through which the notion of race predominantly emerged,
as outlined in the American Anthropological Association’s statement on race.
Terms- You should understand these terms and be ready to identify them:
achieved status
Social status that comes through talents, choices, actions, and accomplishments, rather than ascription.
ascribed status
Social status (e.g., race or gender) that people have little or no choice about occupying.
assimilation
The process of change that a minority group may experience when it moves to a country where another culture
dominates; the minority is incorporated into the dominant culture to the point that it no longer exists as a
separate cultural unit.
colonialism
The political, social, economic, and cultural domination of a territory and its people by a foreign power for an
extended time.
cultural colonialism
Internal domination by one group and its culture or ideology over others.
descent
Rule assigning social identity on the basis of some aspect of one's ancestry.
discrimination
Policies and practices that harm a group and its members.
ethnic group
Group distinguished by cultural similarities (shared among members of that group) and differences (between
that group and others); ethnic-group members share beliefs, customs, and norms and, often, a common
language, religion, history, geography, and kinship.
ethnicity
Identification with, and feeling part of, an ethnic group and exclusion from certain other groups because of this
affiliation.
ethnocide
Destruction of cultures of certain ethnic groups.
genocide
Deliberate elimination of a group through mass murder.
hypodescent
Rule that automatically places the children of a union or mating between members of different socioeconomic
groups in the less privileged group.
multiculturalism
The view of cultural diversity in a country as something good and desirable; a multicultural society socializes
individuals not only into the dominant (national) culture but also into an ethnic culture.
nation
Once a synonym for "ethnic group," designating a single culture sharing a language, religion, history, territory,
ancestry, and kinship; now usually a synonym for state or nation-state.
nation-state
An autonomous political entity; a country like the United States or Canada.
nationalities
Ethnic groups that once had, or wish to have or regain, autonomous political status (their own country).
phenotype
An organism's evident traits, its "manifest biology"—anatomy and physiology.
plural society
A society that combines ethnic contrasts and economic interdependence of the ethnic groups.
prejudice
Devaluing (looking down on) a group because of its assumed behavior, values, capabilities, attitudes, or other
attributes.
race
An ethnic group assumed to have a biological basis.
racism
Discrimination against an ethnic group assumed to have a biological basis.
refugees
People who have been forced (involuntary refugees) or who have chosen (voluntary refugees) to flee a country,
to escape persecution or war.
state
Sociopolitical organization based on central government and socioeconomic stratification—a division of society
into classes.
status
Any position that determines where someone fits in society; may be ascribed or achieved.
stereotypes
Fixed ideas—often unfavorable—about what the members of a group are like.
stratified
Class-structured; stratified societies have marked differences in wealth, prestige, and power between social
classes.