Download Ethnic group

Chapter 12
Inequalities of Race and
Ethnicity
Key Terms
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Race
An inbreeding population that develops distinctive
physical characteristics that are hereditary.
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Racism
An ideology based on the belief that an observable,
supposedly inherited trait is a mark of inferiority that
justifies discriminatory treatment of people with that
trait.
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Ethnic group
A population that has a sense of group identity based
on shared ancestry and distinctive cultural patterns.
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Minority group
A population that, because of its members’ physical
or cultural characteristics, is singled out from others
in the society for differential and unequal treatment.
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Genocide
State-sponsored mass killing explicitly designed to
completely exterminate a population deemed to be
racially or ethnically different and threatening to the
dominant population.
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Expulsion
The forcible removal of one population from a
territory claimed by another population.
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Slavery
The ownership of one racial, ethnic, or
politically defined group by another group that
has complete control over the enslaved
group.
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Segregation
The ecological and institutional separation of
races or ethnic groups.
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De jure segregation
Segregation created by formal legal sanctions
that prohibit certain groups from interacting
with others or place limits on such
interactions.
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De facto segregation
Segregation created and maintained by
unwritten norms.
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Jim Crow
The system of formal and informal segregation that
existed in the United States from the late 1860s to
the early 1970s.
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Assimilation
A pattern of intergroup relations in which a minority
group is absorbed into the majority population and
eventually disappears as a distinct group.
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Ethnic stratification
The ranking of ethnic groups in a social hierarchy on
the basis of each group’s similarity to the dominant
group.
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Diversity
A term used to refer to the heterogeneous nature of a
society made up of numerous different racial, ethnic,
religious, and other population groups.
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Pluralistic society
A society in which different ethnic and racial groups
are able to maintain their own cultures and lifestyles
while gaining equality in the institutions of the larger
society.
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Stereotype
An inflexible image of the members of a particular
group that is held without regard to whether it is true.
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Prejudice
An attitude that prejudges a person on the
basis of a real or imagined characteristic of a
group to which that person belongs.
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Discrimination
Behavior that treats people unfairly on the
basis of their group membership.
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Institutional discrimination
The systematic exclusion of people from equal
participation in a particular institution because of their
group membership.
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Ethnic (or racial) nationalism
The belief that one’s own ethnic group constitutes a
distinct people whose culture is and should be
separate from that of the larger society.
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Scapegoat
A convenient target for hostility.
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Projection
The psychological process whereby we
attribute to other people behaviors and
attitudes that we are unwilling to accept in
ourselves.
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Internal colonialism
A theory of racial and ethnic inequality that
suggests that some minorities are essentially
colonial peoples within the larger society.