Chapter 10
Race and Ethnicity
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Race and Ethnicity
Prejudice
Discrimination
Chapter 10
Race and Ethnicity
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Sociological Perspectives on Race and Ethnic
Relations
Racial and Ethnic Groups in the United States
Global Racial and Ethnic Inequality in the
Future
Race And Ethnicity
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Race is a category of people singled out on the
basis of physical characteristics.
Ethnic group is a collection of people
distinguished on the basis of cultural or
nationality characteristics.
Characteristics of Ethnic Groups
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Unique cultural traits (language, clothing,
holidays, religious practices).
A sense of community.
A feeling of ethnocentrism.
Ascribed membership from birth.
The tendency to occupy a geographic area.
The Changing Meaning of Race
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Race is defined by perceived skin color; white
or nonwhite.
Racial purity is assumed to exist.
Categories of official racial classifications may
create a sense of group membership for
people within an arbitrary classification.
Theories of Prejudice
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People who are frustrated in their efforts to
achieve a goal respond with aggression to
others.
Highly prejudiced individuals have an
authoritarian personality.
Prejudice is learned from significant others.
(Social learning theory).
Four Major Types of Discrimination
1.
Isolate discrimination
A prejudiced judge giving harsher sentences
to African American defendants.
2.
Small-group discrimination
Small group of white students defacing a
professor’s office with racist epithets.
Four Major Types of Discrimination
3.
Direct institutionalized discrimination
Intentional exclusion of people of color from
public accommodations.
4.
Indirect institutionalized discrimination
Special education classes may have
contributed to racial stereotyping.
Contact Hypothesis
Contact between divergent groups should be
positive as long as group members:
1. Have equal status.
2. Pursue the same goals.
3. Cooperate with one another to achieve goals.
4. Receive positive feedback while interacting.
Conflict Perspectives
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Caste perspective - views racial and ethnic
inequality as a permanent feature of U.S.
society.
Class perspectives - focus on the link
between capitalism and racial exploitation.
Conflict Perspectives
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Internal colonialism - Groups that have been
subject to colonialism remain in subordinate
positions longer than groups that migrated to
the United States.
Split-Labor-Market Theory -Division of the
economy into an upper tier and a lower tier.
Racial and Ethnic Groups in the
United States
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Native Americans
White Anglo-Saxon Protestants
African Americans
White Ethnic Americans
Asian Americans
Latinos/as
Middle Eastern Americans
Native Americans
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Most disadvantaged group in the U.S. in terms
of income, employment, housing, and nutrition.
As a group they have experienced:
– Genocide
– Forced Migration
– Forced Assimilation
African Americans
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Slavery was rationalized by stereotyping
African Americans as inferior and childlike.
Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1965 sought to
eliminate discrimination in education, housing,
employment and health care.
Asian Americans
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Fastest growing ethnic minority in the U.S.
Includes Japanese, Korean, Filipino and
Indochinese Americans.
Latinos/as (Hispanic Americans)
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Includes Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans
and Cuban Americans.
Many Mexican American families have lived in
the U.S. for 4 or 5 generations and have made
significant contributions.
In 1917, Puerto Ricans acquired U.S.
citizenship and the right to move freely to and
from the mainland.
Middle Eastern Americans
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Includes immigrants from Egypt, Syria,
Lebanon, Iran, and Jordan.
The Lebanese, Syrians, and Iranians primarily
come from middle class backgrounds.
Most Iranian immigrants initially hoped to
return to Iran; however, many have become
U.S. citizens.
Growing Racial and Ethnic
Diversity in the United States
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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.