Download Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World

Sociology: Understanding and Changing the
Social World
Chapter 7
Race and Ethnicity
7-1
Learning Objectives
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Describe the targets of nineteenth-century mob violence in U.S. cities
Discuss why the familiar saying, “the more things change, the more they
stay the same,” applies to the history of race and ethnicity in the United
States
Critique the biological concept of race
Discuss why race is a social construction
Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of a sense of ethnic identity
Define prejudice, racism, and stereotypes
Learning Objectives
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7-3
Discuss the major social-psychological and sociological theories of
prejudice
Describe how the nature of prejudice has changed
Discuss Merton’s views on whether prejudice and discrimination always
coincide
Distinguish between individual discrimination and institutional
discrimination
Provide two examples of institutional discrimination
Learning Objectives
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7-4
Describe three explanations for why racial and ethnic inequality exists in
the United States
Provide two examples of white privilege
Discuss why there is cause for hope and despair in regard to race and
ethnic relations in the United States
Summarize the debate over affirmative action
Summarize recent reaction to growing immigration into the United States
Racial and Ethnic Relations: An American Dilemma
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U.S. history is filled with violence and other maltreatment against Native
Americans, Blacks, and immigrants
The familiar saying, “the more things change, they more they stay the
same,” applies to race and ethnic relations in the United States
The Meaning of Race
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Race: A category of people who share certain inherited physical
characteristics, such as skin color, facial features, and stature
Anthropologists, sociologists, and biologists question the value of the
biological concept of race:
– More physical differences exist within a race than between races
– An individual or group of individuals is often “assigned” to a race on arbitrary or
even illogical grounds
– People from different races are more than 99.9 percent the same in their DNA
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The Meaning of Race
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Race as a social construction
– Social construction: A concept that has no objective reality but rather is what
people decide it is
– According to social construction, race has no real existence other than what
and how people think of it
– Race has real consequences because people do perceive race as something real
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The Meaning of Race
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Ethnicity: The shared social, cultural, and historical experiences,
stemming from common national or regional backgrounds, that make
subgroups of a population different from one another
Ethnic group: A subgroup of a population with:
– A set of shared social, cultural, and historical experiences
– Relatively distinctive beliefs, values, and behaviors
– Some sense of identity of belonging to the subgroup
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The Meaning of Race
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Advantages of ethnicity
– It gives individuals a sense of belonging and a recognition of the importance of
their cultural backgrounds
– It gives individuals ethnic pride
• Ethnic pride: The sense of self-worth that many
people derive from their ethnic backgrounds
– Plays an important role in the socialization of millions of people in the United
States and elsewhere in the world
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Disadvantages of ethnicity
– Creates conflict, prejudice, and hatred among people of different ethnic
groups
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Prejudice
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Prejudice: A set of negative attitudes, beliefs, and judgments about
whole categories of people, and about individual members of those
categories, because of their perceived race and/or ethnicity
Racism: The belief that certain racial or ethnic groups are inferior to
one’s own
Stereotypes: Simplified, mistaken generalizations about people because
of their race and/or ethnicity
Prejudice
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Major social-psychological explanations
– Authoritarian personality: A personality emphasizing such things as obedience
to authority, a rigid adherence to rules, and low acceptance of people not like
oneself and said to help account for racial and ethnic prejudice
– Frustration or scapegoat theory: As an explanation of racial and ethnic
prejudice, the view that individuals blame the problems they experience on
racial and ethnic minorities and thus scapegoat them instead of recognizing
the real sources of their own misfortunes
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Prejudice
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Major sociological explanations
– Conformity and socialization (Social learning theory) — People who are
prejudiced are merely conforming to the culture in which they grew up, and
prejudice is the result of socialization from parents, peers, the news media,
and other various aspects of their culture
– Economic and political competition (Group threat theory) — Prejudice arises
from competition over jobs and other resources and from disagreement over
various political issues
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Discrimination: It is the arbitrary denial of rights, privileges, and
opportunities to members of subordinate racial and ethnic groups
Table 7.1 - The Relationship between Prejudice and
Discrimination
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Discrimination
Individual discrimination
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Individuals practice in their daily lives
Institutional discrimination
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The practices of whole institutions,
such as housing, medical care, law
enforcement, employment, and
education, even if such discrimination
is not intended
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Discrimination
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Examples of institutional discrimination
– Health discrimination
– Employment discrimination
Racial and Ethnic Inequality in the United States
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Why does racial and ethnic inequality exist in the U.S?
Some of the explanations are:
– Blacks and other people of color are biologically inferior
• They are naturally less intelligent and have other
innate flaws that keep them from getting a good
education and otherwise doing what needs to be
done to achieve the American dream
– Due to cultural deficiencies, which include a failure to value hard work and a
lack of strong family ties, are said to account for the poverty and other
problems facing these minorities
– Due to institutional and individual discrimination and a lack of opportunity in
education and other spheres of life
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Racial and Ethnic Inequality in the United States
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White privilege: The advantages that U.S. whites enjoy in their daily lives
simply because they are white, whether or not they are aware of these
advantages
– Examples:
• Whites can drive a car at night or walk down a street
without having to fear that a police officer will stop
them
• College students who are white can live in dorms
without having to worry that racial slurs will be
directed their way
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Race and Ethnicity in the Twenty-First Century
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There is cause for hope
– Legal segregation is gone
– People of color have made important gains in several spheres of life
– African Americans and other people of color occupy some important elected
positions
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Race and Ethnicity in the Twenty-First Century
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There is cause for despair
– The old-fashioned racism has been replaced by a modern, symbolic racism,
that still blames people of color for their problems and reduces public support
for government policies to deal with their problems
– Institutional discrimination remains pervasive
– Hate crimes remain all too common
– Americans of different racial and ethnic backgrounds remain sharply divided on
many issues
– Two issues that continue to arouse controversy — Affirmative action and
immigration
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Race and Ethnicity in the Twenty-First Century
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Affirmative action: It is the preferential treatment of minorities and
women in employment and education
Opponents of affirmative action cite several reasons for opposing it:
– Affirmative action is reverse discrimination — Illegal and immoral
– The people benefiting from affirmative action are less qualified than many of
the whites with whom they are competing for employment and college
admissions
– It implies that the people benefiting from it need extra help and thus are
indeed less qualified
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Race and Ethnicity in the Twenty-First Century
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Proponents of affirmative action give several reasons for favoring it:
– It is needed to make up not just for past discrimination and lack of
opportunities for people of color, but also for ongoing discrimination and lack
of opportunity
– Affirmative action helps add diversity to the workplace and to the campus
– Affirmative action has succeeded in expanding employment and educational
opportunities for people of color
– Individuals benefiting from affirmative action have generally fared well in the
workplace or on the campus
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Race and Ethnicity in the Twenty-First Century
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A cautious view — Affirmative action may not be perfect, but that some
form of it is needed to make up for past and ongoing discrimination and
lack of opportunity in the workplace and on the campus
Without the help that affirmative action programs give disadvantaged
people of color, the discrimination and other difficulties they face are
certain to continue
Recent immigration trends have increased anti-immigration prejudice,
including hate crimes, in the United States