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Chapter 14
Race and Ethnicity
Sociology 2008/2009
Mr. Bunner
Definitions
• Race
–A socially constructed category
composed of people who share biologically
transmitted traits that members of a society
consider important
• Sociologists consider racial terms misleading
at best and harmful at worst.
– No society contains biologically “pure” people.
Definitions
• Ethnicity
–a shared cultural heritage
– The United States is a multiethnic society
– Like race, ethnicity is socially constructed
• Remember: Race is constructed from:
biological traits.
• and ethnicity is constructed from:
cultural traits.
• For most people, ethnicity is more complex
than race.
Table 14.1a
Racial and Ethnic Categories in the United States, 2000
(Continued on next two slides)
Table 14.1b (cont.)
Table 14.1c (cont.)
Minority
Any category of people distinguished by physical or
cultural difference that a society sets apart and
subordinates
• General characteristics
– Distinct identity: Race, sex, sexual orientation, the poor
– Subordination: Often saddled with lower status
• Stereotypes, stigma, and labeling
• Group size not always a factor
– Women in US outnumber men.
– Blacks in South Africa outnumber whites.
National Map 14.1
Where the Minority Majority Already Exists
Prejudice
• Prejudice
–A rigid and unfair generalization about
an entire category of people.
• Stereotype
–An exaggerated description applied to
every person in some category
Measuring Prejudice
The Social Distance Scale
1.
2.
3.
Student opinion shows a trend toward greater
social acceptance.
People see fewer differences among various
minorities.
The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, might
have reduced social acceptance of Arabs and
Muslims.
Figure 14.1
Bogardus Social Distance Research (Detail on next slide)
The social distance scale is a good way to measure prejudice. Part (a) illustrates the complete social
distance scale, from least social distance at the far left to greatest social distance at the far right. Part
(b) shows the mean (average) social distance score received by each category of people in 2001. Part
(c) presents the overall mean score (the average of the scores received by all racial and ethnic
categories) in specific years. These scores have fallen from 2.14 in 1925 to 1.44 in 2001, showing that
students express less social distance toward minorities today than they did in the past. Part (d) shows
the range of averages, the difference between the highest and lowest scores in given years (in 2001,
for instance, it was 0.87, the difference between the high score of 1.94 for Arabs and the low score of
1.07 for Americans). This figure has also become smaller since 1925, indicating that today’s students
tend to see fewer differences between various categories of people.
Source: Parrillo & Donoghue (2005).
Racism
The belief that one racial category is innately superior or
inferior to another
• Racism has been widespread throughout
US history where ideas about racial
inferiority supported slavery.
• Overt racism
in the US has decreased, but remains a
serious social problem.
Theories of Prejudice
• Scapegoat theory
– Disadvantaged people who unfairly blame
minorities for their own problems
• Authoritarian personality theory
– Rigid moralists who see things in “black & white”
• Culture theory
– Everyone has some prejudice because it’s
embedded in culture.
Theories of Prejudice
• Conflict theory
– Self-justification for the rich and powerful in the
United States
– Minorities might cultivate climate of race
consciousness in order to win greater power and
privileges.
Seeing Sociology in Everyday Life
The Distribution of Intelligence.
Discrimination
Unequal treatment of various categories of people
•
Institutional prejudice and discrimination
–Bias built into the operation of society’s
institutions
•
Carmichael and Hamilton: People are slow to
condemn or even recognize institutional
prejudice and discrimination because it often
involves respected public officials and longestablished practices.
The Vicious Circle
1. Prejudice and discrimination begin as
ethnocentric attitudes.
1. As a result, groups can be placed in a
situation where they’re socially disadvantaged
and labeled.
2. A group’s situation, over time, is thus
explained as a result of
innate inferiority rather than looking at the
social structure. The cycle then repeats
itself.
Figure 14.2
Prejudice and Discrimination: The Vicious Circle
Prejudice and discrimination can form a vicious circle, perpetuating themselves.
Patterns of Interaction
Pluralism
• –A state in which people of all races and
ethnicities are distinct but have equal social
standing
Assimilation
• –The process by which minorities gradually
adopt patterns of the dominant culture
Miscegenation
• –Biological reproduction by partners of different
racial categories
Patterns of Interaction
Segregation
• –The physical and social separation of
categories of people
Genocide
• –The systematic killing of one category
of people by another
Race and Ethnicity in the US
•
•
•
•
Native Americans
White Anglo-Saxon Protestants
African Americans
Asian Americans
– Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipinos
• Hispanic Americans
– Mexican, Puerto Ricans, Cuban Americans
• Arab Americans
• White Ethnic Americans
Race and Ethnicity:
Looking Ahead
• The US will remain a land of
immigrants.
• Most immigrants arrived in a wave that
peaked about 1910.
• Another wave of immigration began
after World War II and swelled as the
government relaxed
immigration laws in the 1960s.