Race and Ethnicity
Activity: Does Race Exist?
Having read the NOVA article
that explains two of the
viewpoints on the Great Race
Debate answer the final
analysis question:
Final Analysis Question: Based on the article, which side
do you think you fall on in the Great Race Debate?
“We versus They”
Watch the video clip on the creation of the we
versus the they and answer these three
questions:
1. Why do human societies divide so easily into
“we” and “they”?
2. How does history inform our understanding
of hatreds and why they persist?
3. What is at stake for a society when minorities
are vulnerable to persecution, discrimination,
and injustice?
The Neuroscience of “Different”
The Psychology of Difference Video Clip
Defining Key Terms
• In your notebook, write down how you would
define “race” and “ethnicity”
“Race” according to Merriam-Webster
• a family, tribe, people, or nation belonging to
the same stock
• a class or kind of people unified by shared
interests, habits, or characteristics
• a category of humankind that shares certain
distinctive physical traits
“Ethnicity” according to Merriam-Webster
• of or relating to races or large groups of
people who have the same customs, religion,
origin, etc.
• associated with or belonging to a particular
race or group of people who have a culture
that is different from the main culture of a
country
Race and Ethnicity Survey
1. Did you have trouble selecting a designation in
either category? If yes, why?
2. What information isn’t captured with these
options?
3. Is it important to capture that missing information?
Explain.
4. Does having only two choices for ethnicity and five
for race shape our perceptions of both labels?
5. Are there aspects of your identity that are
important to you that are not revealed by these
labels? How would our understanding of your
identity change if we asked different questions?
Create an identity chart for yourself in your
notebook
Begin with the words or phrases that describe the way you see
yourself. Most people define themselves by using categories important
to their culture. They include not only gender, age, and physical
characteristics but also ties to a particular religion, class,
neighborhood, school and nation.
Prejudice? Stereotype?
There are a number of other essential terms
that we must have a working knowledge of in
order to delve into the topics we are going to be
discussing.
In your notebooks, write down your definitions
of prejudice and stereotype.
Prejudice?
• An unfair feeling of dislike for a person or
group because of race, sex, religion, etc.
• A feeling of like or dislike for someone or
something especially when it is not
reasonable or logical
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Stereotype?
• To believe unfairly that all people or things
with a particular characteristic are the same
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
• A widely held but fixed and oversimplified
image or idea of a particular type of person or
thing
Oxford Dictionary
Are we living in a post-racial
society?
CURRENT EVENTS ASSIGNMENT
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Affirmative Action
NBA – Donald Sterling’s lifetime ban
NYC’s Stop and Frisk policies
Imminent Threat Cases in Florida
Beating of Steve Utash in Detroit
Medal of Honor
Cheerios – Reaction to the interracial couple
Paula Deen
Voting Rights Act
Changing Definitions of Race
• 2000 Census gave option to identify using
multiple racial categories for the first time
• Half of those classified as multiracial were
under age 18
• This points towards a growing awareness of
population diversity
Racial and Ethnic Populations
Note: This map is not geographically representative of population distribution.
SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of the Census 2008b.
65.9%
WHITE
(NON-HISPANIC)
198,420,355 people
15.1%
HISPANIC
OR LATINO
45,432,158 people
12.1%
AFRICAN
AMERICAN
36,397,922 people
4.3%
ASIAN
13,000,306 people
1.6%
0.7%
0.1%
0.2%
TWO OR
MORE RACES
AMERICAN
INDIAN AND
ALASKA NATIVE
NATIVE HAWAIIAN
AND OTHER
PACIFIC ISLANDER
SOME OTHER
RACE
2,041,269 people
413,294 people
4,794,461 people
Essentials Of Sociology,
3rd Edition
Copyright © 2011
W.W. Norton & Company
737,938 people
17
Note: Percentages do not total 100 and
subtotals do not add up to totals in major
categories because of overlap between
groups (for example, Polish American Jews
or people of mixed ancestry, such as Irish
and Italian). White ancestry is for the year
2000, and percentages are based on total
population in that year.
Source: Author estimates based on American
Community Survey 2006, Tables DP-1 and
R0203, in Bureau of the Census 2007d;
Sheskin and Dashefsky 2006.
“Unpacking the Invisible Backpack”
Racialization
• Racialization: imposing a racial schema on
society
• The process involves both formal and informal
inequities, including segregated schools and
businesses, along with differentiated rights
• These inequalities shape the lives of all those
in the racialized society
21
Seeing Racial and Ethnic Inequality
• To say that a society is racialized is to say that
it has a racial system of stratification
• The United States is a racially stratified society,
and we can see this in many places:
– Educational attainment
– Income
– Residence
– Wealth
22
Types of Segregation
1. What is the difference between de jure and
de facto segregation?
2. Why does de facto segregation persist?
3. Do you think residential segregation is a
problem in our community? Why?
“Not economically viable”
In the Year 2050
DEMOGRAPHICS of the United States
2000 *
WHITE 80% OF POPULATION
– HISPANIC 12.5%
– BLACK 12.3%
– ASIAN 3.9%
2050
WHITE 53% OF POPULATION
– HISPANIC 21%
– BLACK 16%
– ASIAN 10%
* Percentages taken from previous slide
Seeing Inequality
• We can also see racial inequality in:
– Political representation
– Residential segregation
– Health and wellness
– Criminal justice system
Southern Poverty Law Center Hate Map
36
Prom Night in Mississippi
•
Tradition Group — Although the film calls traditions into question, the students who didn’t
agree with segregated proms didn’t want to forgo a prom altogether. Why might the tradition
of prom be important to them, too?
•
Change Group — How does change happen? Who made the change possible at Charleston
High School? Is change easy? Why? What kinds of obstacles did students in the film encounter
as they tried to live integrated lives?
•
Fear Group — What were people afraid of in this film? Did those fears differ by racial identity?
How did fear sometimes limit the ability of people to embrace equality and change?
•
Judgment Group —In Prom Night in Mississippi, what kinds of judgments did people
sometimes make about one another? How were those judgments related to race? With which
characters’ decisions do you most agree? Disagree? Why?
•
Opportunity Group — At what moments in the film were specific students and adults offered
opportunities to help create positive change? Who grabbed onto them? Who chose not to?
Why do you think they had these reactions? How does opportunity relate to change? Can you
have one without the other? Why?
The Loving Case
1. What protections does the Fourteenth
Amendment provide to U.S. citizens?
2. What kind of beliefs led to the passage of
miscegenation laws?
3. How do those beliefs mirror some of the
sentiments expressed in Prom Night in
Mississippi?
4. Why did the Court conclude that miscegenation
laws violated the Fourteenth Amendment?
It Don’t Make No Difference To Me
1. How do the song’s lyrics serve to denounce racism?
2. The song is about romantic love across the color line, to be
sure, but it also advocates “one love.” What do you think
Michael means by that?
3. This song has been called “a transracial modern-day anthem.”
Would you agree with that description? Why?
4. How do the messages of this song differ from the thinking of
miscegenation laws? How far have we come as a nation in
ending that kind of racism?
5. How do you think Jeremy and Heather, the interracial couple
in Prom Night in Mississippi, would respond to this song?
Why? How do you think Heather’s father, Glenn, would
respond? Why?
Social Analysis of Racial and Ethnic Inequality
• The Functionalist Perspective
– A functional argument may be that until racial and ethnic minorities
improve their skills and social positions they will be unable to compete
successfully with other groups, however, it is part of climbing the social
ladder.
• The Conflict Perspective
– As the different minority groups struggle for resources and status, the
competition between them serves the interests of those in power;
“divide and conquer”.
• The Symbolic Interactionist Perspective
– A member of the minority culture can never feel “oneness” with a
different culture if they are made to be seen as, and see themselves as,
different.