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EXPLORING
RACE AND
ETHNICITY
CHAPTER 1
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education,
Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458.
All rights reserved.
What is a Subordinate group?
• What does and does not determine minority
group status?
o Minority status is not based on the size of a group
o Minority/Majority group membership is not
necessarily mutually exclusive
o Minority status may vary according to
geopolitical boundaries
o Minority/Majority is related to the distribution of
power
• What are the five characteristics that
define a minority/subordinate group?
1. Unequal treatment and less power over one’s life
2. Distinguishing physical or cultural traits that the
dominant group holds in low regard
3. Involuntary membership or ascribed status
4. Group solidarity awareness of subordinate status and
oppression
5. Marital endogamy - patterns of in-group marriage
Types of Subordinate Groups
• Racial groups - are groups that are set apart
on the basis of obvious physical differences
within a society
o What is obvious is relative to the group or society
• Ethnic groups - are groups that are set apart
on the basis of cultural traits and nationality
• Religious groups - consists of religious
associations that are set apart from the
dominant religion
• Gender groups - such as women who are set
apart on the basis of sex
• Other subordinate groups - are those that
are set apart on the basis of age, disability or
sexual orientation
Does Race Matter?
• distinct groups have been created in people’s
minds
o race is a socially constructed concept
• biological school of thought and meaning of race
o mistaken notion
o racial groups as genetically discrete population groups
are based on the following beliefs:
• there are subpopulations within the human race
• that one sub-group may be distinguished biologically
from another on the basis of genetic traits
Criticisms of the Biological View
• Idea of Biological Race is based on mistaken
notion of a genetically isolated human group
• Genetic traits are continuous so it is impossible to
state where one group begins and ends and
another starts
• Within a group, variations are greater than
differences between groups
• Each trait is independent
from the other
• Human species contain
no subgroups
Social Construction of Race
• Race is important because of the social
meaning people have attached to it
• Race is a social construct based on how
people define themselves and others on
physical and social characteristics
• Racial classifications are a function of how
people define, label and categorize
themselves and others into groups
• Racism
o The feeling that certain groups or races are inherently
superior to others
Racial Formation
• It is a socio-historical process by which racial
categories are created, inhibited, transformed, and
destroyed
• The powerful define groups of people in a way that
depends on a racist social structure
o Dominant group has the power to impose its racial definitions
onto others
• In Southern U.S., social
construction of race was
known as the
“one-drop rule”
o Black blood = Black
Sociology and the Study of
Race and Ethnicity
• Ethnic and racial stratification
o The structure and process by which race and
ethnicity determines life chances and access to
socially desirable resources such as housing,
justice, education, wealth, power, etc.
• Stratification is interconnected by
o
o
o
o
o
Race
Ethnicity
Religion
Age
Gender
Stratification by Class and Gender
• Stratification
o The structured ranking of entire groups that
perpetuates unequal rewards and power in a
society
• Class or Social Ranking
o People who share similar wealth, according to
Weber’s definition
• Upward mobility may be difficult for
subordinate group members faced with
lifelong prejudice and discrimination
Theoretical Perspectives
• Sociological Perspectives
o Sociologists analyze social phenomena at different levels
and from different perspectives.
• Functionalist perspective
o Relationship between the parts of a society
• each aspect of society is interdependent and contributes to society's
functioning as a whole
• Conflict perspective
o Competition for scarce resources - how the elite control the poor
and the weak
• focuses on the negative, conflicted, and ever‐changing nature of
society
• Labeling Approach
Functionalist Perspective
• society is like a living organism in which each part
contributes to the whole and emphasizes how the
parts of society are structured to maintain its stability
• The five functions of racial inequality
o Racist ideologies provides justification for unequal
treatment
o Discourages subordinate people from attempting to
question their low status
o Justify existing practices but also serves as a rallying point
for social movements
o Racists beliefs provide support for the existing social order
o Relieve the dominant group of responsibility to address the
economic and educational problems faced by
subordinate groups
Functionalist Perspective
• Dysfunctions of racial inequality
o Fail to utilize all human potential and limits the search for
talent and leadership to the dominant group
o Aggravates social problems and places the financial
burden of alleviating those problems on the dominant
group
o Investment of time and money to defend barriers that
prevent full participation of all
o Undermines diplomatic ties between nations and affect
efforts to increase global trade
o Inhibits social change because this may assist a
subordinate group
o Promotes disrespect for law enforcement and the
peaceful settlements of disputes
Conflict Perspective
• Assumes the social structure is best understood in
terms of conflict or tension between competing
groups
• The subordinate group is criticized for its low status
and the dominant’s group responsibility is often
ignored
• William Ryan (1976)
o “Blaming the Victim” – portraying the problems of racial
and ethnic minorities as their fault rather than recognizing
society’s responsibility
Labeling Approach
• Related to the conflict perspective and its concern
over blaming the victim and is titled labeling theory
• Labeling Theory
o Concept introduced by Howard Becker
o Attempt to explain why certain people are viewed as
deviant and others engaging in the same behavior are not
• Stereotypes
o Unreliable generalizations about all members of a group
that do not take individual differences into account and is
not limited to racial and ethnic groups
• self-fulfilling prophecy
o The tendency to respond to and act on the basis of stereotypes
o A predisposition that can lead one to validate false definitions
The Creation of
Subordinate-Group Status
• Population Migration – 1st Pattern
o Emigration or leaving an area to move elsewhere such as
the Irish leaving Ireland
o Immigration or coming into an area such as the Irish
coming to the United States.
o Immigration may be voluntary or it may be involuntary
• Populations usually migrate because of a
combination of push and pull factors
• Annexation – 2nd Pattern
o An indigenous group is incorporated into another society
• Colonialism – 3rd Pattern
o The political, socio-cultural and economic domination of
an indigenous population by a foreign power
o Many European (Caucasian) nations colonized North
America, South America, Africa, Asia, and Australia
• lands filled with people considered non-white
o Internal Colonialism
• Relations between the colonizer and the colony are similar
to those between the dominant and subordinate people
within the same country
Globalization
• The worldwide integration of government
policies, cultures, social movements, and
financial markets through trade, movements
of people, and the exchange of ideas.
The Consequences of
Subordinate-Group Status
• Genocide
o Systematic extermination of subordinate group
at the hands of the dominant group
• Expulsion
o The forcing of a specific subordinate group to
leave certain areas or even vacate a country
• Secession
o A group ceases to be a subordinate group when
it secedes to form a new nation or moves to an
established nation, where it becomes dominant
• Segregation
o The physical separation of two groups in residence,
workplace, and social functions, generally imposed by
the dominant group
• Fusion
o Occurs when a minority and majority group
combine to form a new group
o Amalgamation
• The process by which a dominant group and a
subordinate group combine through
intermarriage
o Melting Pot
• Diverse racial or ethnic groups form a new
creation,
a new cultural identity
o A+B+C D
• Assimilation
o The process by which a subordinate individual or
group takes on the characteristics of the dominant
group and is eventually accepted as part of that
group
o A+B+CA
o Five reasons assimilation would take longer:
Differences between minority and majority are large
Majority is not receptive or minority retains its culture
Minority group arrives over a short period of time
Minority group residents are concentrated rather than
dispersed
• Arrival is recent and the homeland is accessible
•
•
•
•
• Pluralism
o Implies that various groups in a society may have
mutual respect for one another’s culture, a
respect that allows minorities to express their own
culture without prejudice or hostility
o Salad Bowl
• Diverse racial or ethnic groups in a society retain their cultural
identities
oA+B+CA+B+C
Biracial & Multiracial Identity
• The United States is becoming more diverse as
people of different races/ethnicities intermarry or
interbreed
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Tiger Woods
Beyoncé
Shakira
Keanu Reeves
Ne-Yo
Cher
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
Ashanti
Christina Aguilera
Jwoww
Who Am I?
Ethnic Identity
Non-ethnics
Panethnicity
Ethnicity as a political and bureaucratic
administrative process
• Marginality
o The status of being between two cultures
•
•
•
•
• W.E.B. DuBois - “Double-Consciousness”
o Blacks were citizens but treated differently from whites
• Also caused by incomplete assimilation
o immigrants who retain their original culture
Resistance and Change
• Dominant group define the terms by which all
members of society operate
• Continuing theme in dominant-subordinate relations
is the minority group’s challenge to its subordination
• Resistance is seen in efforts by racial and ethnic
groups to maintain their identity through newspapers,
organizations, and modern technology
• Resistance may begin through small actions that
leads into a broader investigation
• Change is occurring
o Hate-crime legislation
o Afrocentric Perspective
• Emphasizes the customs of African Cultures and how they
pervaded the history, culture, and behavior of Blacks in
the U.S. and around the world
• In considering today’s inequalities, it is easy to
forget how much change has taken place