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Chapter Nine
RACE AND ETHNICITY
Race: Myth and Reality
 Myth 1— Idea That Any Race is Superior
 All Races Have Geniuses and Idiots
 Hitler, Hutus and Tutsis, Serbia practiced
genocide (systematic attempt to annihilate a
people because of their race and ethnicity)
 Myth 2—Idea that Any Race is Pure
 Anthropologists and biologists can’t even agree
how many races there are (2- 2,000)
 Human Characteristics Flow Endlessly together
 Idea of race is a powerful force in everyday lives
Ethnic Groups
Race has little meaning biologically due to
interbreeding in the human population.
 Socially constructed reality, not a biological one
 Ethnicity refers to cultural characteristics
 Common Ancestry
 Cultural Heritage
 Nations of Origin
 In an ethnic enclave, people interact with
others in their ethnic group and feel a sense
of shared identity
Minority and Dominant Groups
 Minority Group— 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
 People singled out for unequal treatment and regard
themselves as objects of discrimination
 Minority Group can be racial or ethnic
 Minority group not necessarily numerical minority
Minority and Dominant Groups
 Dominant Group—
group with most…
 Power
 Privileges
 Highest Social Status
 View minority group as
inferior
 Group has shared physical
and cultural traits
Emergence of Minority Groups
 Minority groups occur because of…
 Expansion of Political Boundaries- when a group
expands it incorporates people with different cultures,
languages into same political entity and discriminates
against them (Native Americans)
 Migration- people move from one place to another and
become minority (Latinos, Africans) can be voluntary and
involuntary
Shared Characteristics of Minority
Groups
A. Membership is an
ascribed status
B. Physical or cultural traits
held in low esteem by
dominant group
C. Unequal treatment
D. Marry within own group
E. Feel strong group
solidarity
Constructing Racial-Ethnic Identity
 Feel firm boundaries between “us”
and “them”
 Size of group, power, appearance,
degree of discrimination heighten
or reduce ethnic identity
 Some people have a strong sense of
this identity some have a low sense
 Ethnic Work- ideas designed to
discover, enhance and maintain
ethnic and racial identification
Prejudice
 A negative attitude based on
generalizations about members of
selected racial, ethnic, or other groups
 Ethnocentrism: tendency to regard
one’s own culture and group as the
standard
 Stereotypes: overgeneralizations about
the appearance, behavior, or other
characteristics of members of particular
categories
Prejudice and Discrimination
Common throughout the world
Discrimination is an action
Unfair treatment directed toward
someone
Racial discrimination is racism
Discrimination results from
prejudice
Attitude (usually negative, can be
positive)
Based on race, religion, etc.
Ku Klux Klan and Neo-Nazis
Prejudice and Discrimination
 Learning Prejudice- not born with prejudice, learn it from those
around us. People that are prejudice against one group are usually
prejudiced against other groups
 Internalizing Dominant Norms- prejudice against your own group-
African- Americans and skin color (internalize norms of dominant
group)
 Implicit Association Test by Anthony Greenwald word association
equal with both blacks and whites
Extent of Prejudice
 Each Racial-Ethnic
group views other
groups as inferior in
some way
 Dislike of one group
associated with dislike
of other groups
 Older, less educated
more prejudiced
Two Major Categories of
Discrimination
 Individual Discrimination- negative
treatment of one person by another
(isolate and small group)
 Institutional Discriminationnegative treatment of a group that is
built into societies institutions (direct
and indirect)
Four Types of Discrimination
1.
2.
3.
4.
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
Direct institutionalized
discrimination
Intentional exclusion of people of
color from public accommodations
Indirect institutionalized
discrimination
Special education classes may have
contributed to racial stereotyping
Home Mortgage and Car Loans
Black and Latinos are more likely to be turned down for a
loan, pay higher interest rates
Theories of Prejudice
Psychological Perspectives of Prejudice
Aggression theory- Prejudice is the result of frustration, people find group
to blame they become the scapegoat (usually a racial, ethnic or religious
minority)
Frustration –Aggression Hypothesis- The view that frustration, or failure
to reach a certain desired goal due to circumstance, often leads to
aggression, or behavior which intends harm.
Authoritarian Personality- Adorno study (1950) concluded highly
prejudiced people are insecure conformists, respect of authority and
submissive to superiors, have a strong sense of right and wrong
Anxious when confronted with norms and values different than their own
Sociological Perspectives
 Functionalism- (large group relationships) social environment
can be arranged to generate positive or negative feelings about
people . Prejudice is dysfunctional to a society, destroys human
relationships
 Prejudice is functional because it can create in- group solidarity
 Conflict Theory- (large group relationships) arrangements
benefit those with power
 Capitalists keep workers divided and insecure (fear of
unemployment) exploit racial and ethnic strife (can make gains
only at the expense of others)
Symbolic Interactionism
Labels Create Prejudice- when we apply
labels to groups we see its members as all
alike
Symbolic Interactionists- labels we learn
effect the ways we see people, cause
selective perception
Contact Hypothesis Contact between
divergent groups should be positive as long
as group members have equal status, purse
same goals and cooperate, and receive
positive feedback during interaction
Self-Fulfilling Prophesy- stereotypes and
labels can produce behavior depicted in the
stereotype. Places limits on the other group
and this attitude creates a self fulfilling
prophesy
Global Patterns of Intergroup Relations
 Six basic patterns that characterize the relationship of dominant
and minority groups
1. Genocide – labels allow us to compartmentalize groups and
separate moral action and regard groups as inferior
2. Population Transfer- two types indirect and direct
3. Internal Colonialism- countries dominant group exploits a minority
group for economic advantage
Global Patterns of Intergroup Relations
4. Segregation- formal separation of racial or ethnic groups, allows
dominant group to maintain social distance yet exploit minority
group
5. Assimilation- minority group is absorbed into dominant culture
(two types-forced, permissible)
6. Multiculturalism- encourages and permits racial variation. Minority
groups maintain identity, participate in countries social institutions
A Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes
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What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore -And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over -like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
Gordon Allport’s The Nature of Prejudice
 Two types of responses to being consistently
hated- Intropunitive: Hate, accepted by the minority as
appropriate and deserving.
 Minority group member defines himself as deserving
of the hatred.
 Cause of the hatred is seen as being a flaw within
his/her own group.
 Extropunitive: The hate, rejected by the minority as
inappropriate and undeserved.
 Minority group defines the majority as the reason for
the hatred
 Flaw is in the character of the majority, not the
minority.
Gordon Allport’s The Nature of
Prejudice
 Intropunitive
 Agreeing with the majority -- The stereotypes and prescriptions
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accepted.
In-group aggression -- The minority group member attacks
(physically or verbally) himself, his group, or members of his
group who are slightly, but identifiably, different.
Denial of membership -- individual simply claims to belong to
some other group or he changes his appearance somehow to
soften his membership.
Symbolic status striving -- Having little or no socially accepted
status within himself, the member seeks some external source of
status.
Withdrawal and passivity -- The victim of the hate - frustrated
with his status - gives up, retreats, becomes a non-person.
Gordon Allport’s The Nature of
Prejudice
 Extropunitive
 Militancy -- The member fights back unfair hatred either physically
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or otherwise.
Enhanced striving -- acknowledge the fact that the majority is not
willing to accept him at face value, the member of a minority
resolves himself to attain perfection, to give the hostile groups no
avenue of attack.
Slyness and cunning -- Member uses less acceptable ways to out-wit
or fool the majority. He becomes street wise rather than getting a
Ph.D.
In-group cohesion -- Realizing that the majority is hostile, the
minority group members become more reliant on the protection
and support of others like themselves. They "circle the wagons" in
anticipation of attack.
Obsessive concern -- After having experienced the hatred, some
members may experience something similar to group paranoia:
they see the hatred even in places where it may not exist.
Racial and Ethnic Relations in the United States
Major ethnic
groups in the US
1.
European
Americans
2.
Latinos
3.
African
Americans
4.
Asian
Americans
5.
Native
Americans
Racial and Ethnic Relations in the United States
European Americans
 Extremely ethnocentric
 Looked down on people without English ancestry
 Forced immigrants to assimilate to their “ways” to
fit in
 Ethnic groups give up culture to conform
Racial and Ethnic Relations in the United States
Latinos
 Largest ethnic minority group
 Majority from Mexico
 Spanish language defines Latinos from
other groups, growth of Spanish in US
has caused backlash in some areas
 Large cultural, class differences
between country of origin
 Diversity has inhibited unity, causes
political underrepresentation
 Many Latinos experience economic
disadvantages
 Cubans typically better off, Puerto
Ricans lowest on indicators of well
being
Racial and Ethnic Relations in the United States
African Americans
 Faced long history of racism (slavery to
segregation to modern discrimination)
 Civil Rights Movement improved conditions
of African Americans
 End of forced segregation, legal
discrimination
 Recently gains in income, education, politics
 William Julius Wilson- social class has
replaced race as determinant of quality of
life for African Americans
 Improvement through getting better
paying jobs
 Some sociologists claim this analysis
overlooks discrimination that continues
(subtle racism)
Asian Americans
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History of discrimination- Anti
Chinese immigration laws, forced
internment of Japanese Americans
during WWII
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Following war discrimination
diminished
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Currently highest median income of
all ethnic groups
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Score high on indicators of well
being
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Chinese, Japanese low rates of
poverty, Vietnamese high rates of
poverty
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Three factors of success- a) family
life b) education c) assimilation into
mainstream culture
Racial and Ethnic Relations in the United States
 Native Americans
 Image distorted by media
 Not a single cultural entity
 Disease, warfare caused huge loss of
population
 Anglo-American cruelty, forced
relocation
 Worst off of all ethnic minority groups
 High rates of poverty, alcoholism,
lower life expectancy
 Pan-Indiamisim movement works for
better life
Growing Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the U.S.
 In 1980 white Americans made
up 80% of the population.
 In 2000, white Americans
made up 70% of the
population.
 By 2056, the roots of the
average U.S. resident will be in
Africa, Asia, Hispanic
countries, the Pacific Islands,
or Arabia—not white Europe.
Looking toward the Future
 3 major issues face society today
 Immigration- America land of
immigrants recently debate has
intensified
 Affirmative Action- used to close
economic, employment gap and to
remedy past wrongs
 Some argue it stigmatizes people,
rewards people less qualified
 Multicultural Society- ultimate goal,
look beyond biological differences,
allow all to participate with full social
and political power