Download Race and ethnic group stratification

Chapter 8
Race and Ethnic Group
Stratification:
Beyond “We” and “They”
© Pine Forge Press, an Imprint of
SAGE Publications, Inc., 2011.
Race and Ethnic Groups
Minority groups are characterized by:
Being Distinguishable from dominant group by
features like appearance, language, religion
Excluded or denied full participation in
economic, political, and other institutions
Less access to power, resources, prestige
Are stereotyped, ridiculed, condemned, or
defamed, which justifies poor treatment
Develop collective identities, communities,
and institutions to insulate themselves
© Pine Forge Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc., 2011.
Race and Ethnic Groups
Minority groups, cont.
Determined by history and ideology
• A group that is a minority in one time or place may
be a dominant group in other times and places
Dominant groups are not always the
numerical majority
Ethnic and racial groups are the most
common minority groups
© Pine Forge Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc., 2011.
Race and Ethnic Groups
The concept of race
Race: a group identified by society because
of certain biologically inherited physical
characteristics
Racial classifications have been based on
different combinations of characteristics
© Pine Forge Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc., 2011.
Race and Ethnic Groups
Origins of the Concept of Race
In the 18th and 19th century, scientists
developed four major race categories
• Mongoloid, Caucasoid, Negroid, Australoid
In the 1970s, the United Nations issued a
“Statement on Race”:
•
•
•
•
All people are born free and equal
Racism retards personal development
(Racial) conflicts cost nations resources
Racism creates international conflict
© Pine Forge Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc., 2011.
Race and Ethnic Groups
Origins of the concept of race, cont.
Race categories are defined by society,
often based on what is convenient for the
dominant group
Racist doctrines lack any scientific basis
© Pine Forge Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc., 2011.
Race and Ethnic Groups
Symbolic Interaction Analysis
The Social Construction of Race
If people believe something is real, it is real in its
consequences
People believe race categories are real, which
has real consequences:
People use race categories to classify themselves and
others based on physical characteristics
The idea of race expanded from physical differences
to psychological and moral differences
The idea of psychological and moral race differences
has been used to justify discriminatory treatment
© Pine Forge Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc., 2011.
Race and Ethnic Groups
The Significance of Race vs. Class
Race was historically central to U.S. stratification
After WWII, African Americans developed a class
structure based on occupation and income,
similar to that of Whites
The African American middle class has grown
But the African American urban “underclass” has
become increasingly unemployed and isolated
Has race declined in significance and class
become more important?
Inequalities between blacks and whites remain
© Pine Forge Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc., 2011.
Race and Ethnic Groups
Ethnic Groups
Ethnic groups: membership is based on shared
cultural heritage, often connected with national
or geographic identity
The term “ethnic” includes most minorities and avoids
problems of the term “race”
Some groups inhabit ethnic enclaves
Ethnicity is defined in part by the government
Census categories encourage diverse groups to think
of themselves as parts of a larger category, or
panethnicity (e.g., Asian, Hispanic)
© Pine Forge Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc., 2011.
Race and Ethnic Groups
Biracial and Multiracial Populations:
Race is a social construct that can change
Many countries are now multiracial due to
migration
• The U.S. accepts more immigrants than any other
country; 16% of the population is foreign born
Many individuals are now multiracial
• In the 2000 Census, 7 million or 2.3% of the U.S.
population selected two or more racial categories
Yet the legacy of the “race” concept remains
© Pine Forge Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc., 2011.
Prejudice & Racism
Processes that keep minorities unequal
© Pine Forge Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc., 2011.
Prejudice & Racism
Micro-Level Analysis:
Prejudice and Discrimination
Prejudice: attitudes that prejudge a group,
usually negative and not based on facts
May be stimulated by meso- and macro-level
events, but attitudes are held at the micro-level
Discrimination: differential treatment and
harmful actions against minorities
Actions occur at micro-, meso-, and macro-levels
© Pine Forge Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc., 2011.
Prejudice & Racism
The Nature of Prejudice
Results partly from in-group loyalty and
information overload
Stereotyping: categorizing the personal qualities
of large groups of people based on racial or
ethnic features
Distorted ideas are passed down through culture
Ideas applied to all group members and used to
justify discrimination and inequality
Self-fulfilling prophesy: minorities may
incorporate prejudiced views of themselves into
their behavior
© Pine Forge Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc., 2011.
Prejudice & Racism
Explanations for Prejudice
Frustration-aggression
theory: acts of prejudice
and discrimination are
carried out by individuals
who cannot achieve their
goals and direct their
anger and frustration at
vulnerable minority groups
Scapegoating: a
minority group is blamed
and victimized for acts
carried out by others, as
the perpetrator cannot
vent frustration on its real
target or cause
What these theories don’t explain: why only some people vent their
frustrations on others, why particular groups become scapegoats
© Pine Forge Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc., 2011.
Prejudice & Racism
Racism: an institutional arrangement that favors
one racial group over another, with intentional or
unintentional consequences for minority groups
• Not just individual bigotry
Ideological racism: justification of
discrimination using pseudo-scientific ideas
Symbolic racism: opposition to policy that
would make real equality possible, often by
people claiming not to be racist
Institutional racism: discrimination hidden
within meso-level systems
© Pine Forge Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc., 2011.
Discrimination
Meso-Level Analysis
Discrimination: actions taken against
members of a minority group
Individual discrimination (micro level): action
against minority members by individuals
Institutional discrimination (meso level):
intentional or unintentional actions by
organizations and institutions that restrict
minority members
Discrimination and prejudice often work
together and reinforce one another
© Pine Forge Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc., 2011.
Discrimination
Types of Institutional Discrimination
Purposeful (de jure) discrimination: built into
the law or explicit organizational policies
Unintentional (de facto) discrimination: results
from policies that have unanticipated
consequences favoring one group over another
• Side-effect discrimination: practices in one
institutional area that have a negative impact due to
links to other areas
• Past-in-present discrimination: practices from the
past that may no longer be allowed today but
continue to affect people anyway
© Pine Forge Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc., 2011.
Macro-Level Analysis
Dominant/Minority Group Contact
The form of dominant and minority group
relations depend on several factors:
Who has more power
Dominant group needs for labor and other resources
that could be provided by minorities
The cultural norms of each group
The social histories of the groups
Physical & cultural distinctions between groups
The times and circumstances
© Pine Forge Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc., 2011.
Macro-Level Analysis
Types of Dominant/Minority Group Relations
© Pine Forge Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc., 2011.
Macro-Level Analysis
Types of Dominant/Minority Group Relations
Genocide: systematic effort by dominant group to
destroy a minority group
Subjugation: subordination of one group by another
that holds power and authority
Population transfer: removal of minority group from a
region or country, often forced
Assimilation: forced or chosen social and cultural
merging of groups in which minority members may lose
their original identity
Pluralism: each group maintains its culture and
institutions but has recognized equity in society
© Pine Forge Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc., 2011.
Macro-Level Analysis
Explaining Dominant/Minority Group Relations:
Conflict Theory
The dominant group protects its privileges and
resources by creating a “lesser” group
Factors contributing to hostility over resources
If two groups are identifiably different, “we” versus
“they” thinking may develop
If two groups want the same scarce resources,
hostilities are likely to arise
If one group is more powerful, intense dislike and
misrepresentation of each group by the other is likely
© Pine Forge Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc., 2011.
Macro-Level Analysis
Explaining Dominant/Minority Group Relations:
Conflict Theory, cont.
Split Labor Market Theory
The labor market has two levels:
• Primary market – “good” jobs
• Secondary market – “bad” jobs
Minorities are more likely to work in secondary jobs
Competition for secondary jobs sets minorities against
each other and against low-income Whites
Employers enjoy reduced threats to their dominance
and profit from cheaper labor
© Pine Forge Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc., 2011.
Macro-Level Analysis
Explaining Dominant/Minority Group Relations:
Structural Functional Theory
Minority groups often serve as pools of cheap,
marginally employed labor, and this has several
functions for society:
Provide a labor force to do “dirty work”
Make possible occupations which service the poor
Buy goods others do not want
Set examples for others of what not to be
Allow others to feel good about giving to charity
© Pine Forge Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc., 2011.
Macro-Level Analysis
Explaining Dominant/Minority Group Relations:
Cultural Explanations
Prejudice and discrimination are passed on
from generation to generation through cultural
transmission
Socialization, macro-level structures, and media
stereotypes all contribute to transmission
Cultural stereotypes do not generate inequality by
themselves, but they do stabilize it
© Pine Forge Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc., 2011.
Prejudice, Racism & Discrimination: Effects
Costs of Racism
Individual Effects
Poverty, ill-health, lack of property, enslavement, war
Low self-esteem, poor self-concept
Organizations and communities
Loss of talents of excluded individuals
Cost of government subsidies necessitated by lack of
opportunities
Cultural costs
Loss of contributions to cultural production
© Pine Forge Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc., 2011.
Prejudice, Racism & Discrimination: Effects
Minority reactions to prejudice,
discrimination, and racism:
Individual reactions
Assimilation and Passing
Acceptance
Avoidance
Aggression (indirect, displaced)
Meso- to macro-level reactions
Change-oriented Action
© Pine Forge Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc., 2011.
Prejudice, Racism & Discrimination: Effects
Meso- to macro-level reactions to discrimination:
Nonviolent Resistance
Attempts to bring about change at the
institutional and societal levels
Model comes from India’s Mahatma Gandhi
and has been followed in the U.S. by Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. and others
© Pine Forge Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc., 2011.
Policy
Policies to reduce prejudice, racism,
and discrimination
Individual or small group solutions: educational
workshops, group encounters, therapy
Group contact: integrated housing, employment,
and education; especially successful when
groups must cooperate to achieve a goal
Institutional & societal strategies: lobbying,
legislation, watchdog monitoring, information
dissemination, social protest
© Pine Forge Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc., 2011.
Policy
Policies to reduce discrimination, cont.
Affirmative Action legislation: three policies
intended to fight institutional racism
Strict affirmative action: affirmative or positive steps
to prevent unintended discrimination
Quota systems: require employers to hire a certain
percentage of minorities
Preference policies: based on the belief that due to
institutional discrimination, sometimes people must
be treated differently in order to be treated fairly
© Pine Forge Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc., 2011.
Policy
Global movement for human rights
Global issues and ethnic conflicts are
interrelated
The United Nations passed the Declaration of
Universal Human Rights after the Holocaust to
ensure the rights of all, regardless of nation
National governments and privately funded
groups advocate for international human rights
that transcend national boundaries
© Pine Forge Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc., 2011.