Download File - Yesenia King

Race and Ethnicity as Lived
Experience
Chapter 8
Race: Myth and Reality
• Myth 1 - Idea That Any Race is Superior
– All Races Have Geniuses and Idiots
– Genocide Still Around
• Myth 2 - Idea that Any Race is Pure
– Human Characteristics Flow Endlessly Together
Race and Ethnicity
• Race - a category of people with inherited
physical features that distinguish it from
another category.
– Socially defined category based on real or perceived
biological differences between groups of people
– Both a myth and a reality
• Ethnicity and ethnic – refer to cultural
characteristics that distinguish people.
– A socially defined category based on common language,
religion, nationality, history, or another cultural factor
Defining Race and Ethnicity (cont’d.)
• Sociologists see race and ethnicity as social
constructions because
– Race isn’t based on biology (for instance, we don’t
test DNA to determine race).
– Racial categories change over time.
– Racial categories never have firm boundaries.
• The distinction between race and ethnicity is
important because ethnicity can be displayed or
hidden, depending on individual preferences,
while racial identities are always on display.
Definition of a Minority
•
•
•
A minority refers to a relatively small number of
people.
Refined the definition to specify:
– a social group that is systematically denied access
to power and resources available to the dominant
groups of a society.
– a group of people who are physically or culturally
singled out from others for unequal treatment &
– who regard themselves as objects of collective
discrimination.
Not necessarily a numerical minority or fewer in
number than the dominant group
Racial and Ethnic Populations in the United States, 2013
U.S. Population
by Race in 2060
Minority and Dominant Groups
• Dominant Group - Group with Most…
– Power
– Privileges
– Highest Social Status
• Dominant Group Does the Discriminating
• Minority Groups Occur Because of…
– Expansion of Political Boundaries
– Migration
Patterns of Racial and Ethnic
Relations
• When different racial and ethnic groups interact
there are two major types of outcomes:
– pattern of assimilation- groups become cultural
and socially fused
• assimilation, multiculturalism
– pattern of conflict
• genocide, population transfer, internal
colonialism, segregation
Patterns of Racial and Ethnic
Relations
Racism
• Racism connects biological differences with
judgment of innate superiority or inferiority.
– a set of beliefs about the claimed superiority of
one racial or ethnic group
– Used to justify inequality
– Often rooted in the assumption that differences
between groups are genetic
• Color-blind racism: an ideology that removes race as
an explanation for any form of unequal treatment
Theories of Prejudice and Discrimination
• Prejudice – is prejudging in some way, usually
negative; an overgeneralization based on biased or
insufficient information; applied to all members of
group; unlikely to change regardless of evidence;
attitude/belief.
– Internalizing Dominant Norms
• Lighter/Darker Skin
• Ethnic Maps
• Discrimination – unequal treatment of people
based on their minority membership or social group.
– Discrimination is action
– Usually motivated by prejudice
Theories of Prejudice and Discrimination
• Stereotype – a set of ideas based on distortion,
exaggeration, and oversimplification that is applied
to all members of a social category.
• Hate Crime – a criminal act motivated by prejudice
(related to race, religion, sexual orientation, national
origin, or ancestry).
Institutionalized Discrimination
• Institutionalized discrimination – negative treatment
of a minority group that is built into society’s institutions.
– the result of unfair practices that are part of the structure of
society and have grown out of traditionally accepted
behaviors.
• American history reflects the open and legal practice of
discrimination against members of various minorities
(e.g., internment of Japanese Americans during WWII).
• Individual discrimination is discrimination carried out
by one person against another.
The Social Construction of Race
• Racial passing, or living as if one is a member of
a different racial category, has a long history in
the United States.
• Double-consciousness: W.E.B. DuBois’s term for
the divided identity experienced by blacks in the
United States
• Race and ethnicity influence all aspects of our
lives, including health, education, work, family,
and interactions with the criminal justice system
and health care
Institutional Discrimination
• Health Care
Race – Ethnicity and Mother/Child Deaths
Institutional Discrimination
• Home Mortgages and Car Loans
Buying a House: Institutional Discrimination in Mortgages
Functionalist Perspective
• Functionalists – Focus on the ways that race
creates social ties and strengthens group bonds
– Acknowledge that such ties can lead to violence and
social conflict between groups
• Focused on the functions and dysfunctions of
prejudice and discrimination
– Functions: in-group solidarity and out-group antagonism
– Dysfunctions: negative; destroys human relationships;
social, political, educational, and economic costs of the
exploitation and oppression of minorities are extremely
high.
Conflict Perspective
• Conflict perspective - Focuses on the struggle for power
and control over scarce resources
• A majority uses its prejudice and discrimination as
weapons of power in the domination of a minority.
• Ruling class systematically pits group against group.
– Solidarity among groups weakens = they benefit
– Keep Workers Insecure
– Exploit Racial-Ethnic Divisions
– Ex. Black / Latino conflict
Symbolic Interactionist Perspective
• Prejudice and discrimination are acquired through
socialization.
• The labels we learn color our perceptions – leading to
selective perception (labels create prejudice)
– We see certain things and are blind to others
• We learn our prejudices in interaction with others.
• Self-fulfilling prophecy – Stereotypical behavior in those
who are stereotyped
– Ex. Asians’ pressure to succeed
Theoretical Perspectives: Prejudice
and Discrimination