Unit 5: Race and Ethnicity
Sociology
Mr. Nicholas
Fall 2012
Truth or Fiction?
• Race as a biological classification is of great
use to sociologists
– Sociologists use the biological classification of race
to help them identify groups within society
– Because of the variety of physical characteristics
found across races, the biological classification of
race is not that useful to sociologists.
Truth or Fiction?
• There is no connection between prejudice and
discrimination
– Prejudice does not necessarily result in
discrimination, and acts of discrimination do not
necessarily mean that a person is prejudice.
– Discrimination is behavior that arises from a
person’s ingrained prejudice.
Truth or Fiction?
• The life experiences of all minority groups in
the United States are essentially the same.
– All minorities in the United States experience
similar levels of prejudice and discrimination
– Some minority groups in the United States have a
positive image and experience little
discrimination, while others struggle daily for
equal treatment and face more social challenges,
such as poverty.
Race and Sociology
• Stereotyping can have grave consequences for
society. If people are told often enough and long
enough that they or others are socially, mentally,
or physically inferior, they may come to believe it.
It does not matter whether the accusations are
true.
• “If people define situations as real, they are real
in their consequences.”
• In other words, individuals see reality based on
what they believe to be true, not necessarily on
what is true.
Race
• There are no biologically
“pure” races
• In sociological terms, race is
a category of people who
share inherited physical
characteristics and whom
others see as being a distinct
group.
• Sociologists are not
concerned with how people
look, but how people react to
physical characteristics.
Ethnicity
• The set of cultural
characteristics that
distinguishes one group
from another is called
ethnicity.
• People who share such
common cultural
characteristics as national
origin, religion, language,
customs, and values are
known as an ethnic group.
Patterns of Intergroup Relations
•
•
•
•
Discrimination
Prejudice
Stereotype
Racism
Discrimination
• Discrimination is the denial of equal
treatment to individuals based on their group
membership. Refers to actions.
– Legal discrimination
• Upheld by the law
– Institutional discrimination
• An outgrowth of the structure of society
Prejudice
• Prejudice is an unsupported generalization
about a category of people. Refers to
attitudes.
– A stereotype is an oversimplified, exaggerated, or
unfavorable generalization about a group of
people.
• Racism is the belief that one’s own race is
superior to other races
A Continuum of Intergroup Relations
Cultural Assimilation Legal Segregation Subjugation Population Extermination
Pluralism
Protection
Transfer
Acceptance
Rejection
Patterns of Minority Group Treatment
• Cultural Pluralism
– Allows each group to keep its unique cultural identity.
• Assimilation
– The blending of culturally distinct groups into a single
group with a common culture and identity.
• Segregation
– The physical separation of the minority group from
the dominant group
• De jure – Based on law
• De facto – based on society
Patterns of Minority Group Treatment
• Subjugation
– Maintaining control over a group through force
– Slavery is the most extreme form
• Extermination
– Genocide
• The goal is the intentional destruction of a targeted
population
– Ethnic Cleansing
• Removing a group from a territory through terror,
expulsion, and mass murder