Racial and Ethnic Minorities
Chapter 10
With which racial/ethnic characterization
do you identify most?
Anglo (white, non-Hispanic)
B. Hispanic
C. African American, black
D. Native American (American Indian)
E. Asian
F. Other
A.



What Cues, or markers did you use to identify your self?
Are these physical, cultural, or based on ancestry?
Are these cues reliable?
The Concept of Race
Race
 A category of people who define
themselves or are defined by others as
similar because they share a number of
physical characteristics.
Throughout history, races have been
defined along
 Genetic
 Legal
 Social lines
Can you identify any problems associated
with these?
Genetic Definitions
 Define race by noting differences in gene
frequencies among selected groups.
Legal Definitions
• There has been little
consistency among the legal
definitions of race.
• The state of Missouri made
“one-eighth or more Negro
blood” the criterion for
nonwhite status.
• As recently as 1982, a dispute
arose over Louisiana’s law
requiring anyone of more than
1/32 African descent to be
classified as black.
Legal Definitions
 Legal definitions of race have been used
to determine who is not white.
 Most legal definitions of race were devices
to prevent blacks from attending white
schools, serving on juries, holding certain
jobs, or patronizing certain public places.
Social Definitions
Social definitions of race imply that if a
person presents herself as a member of a
certain race, and others respond to that
person as a member of that race, then it
makes little sense to say that she is not a
member of that race.
Interracial Marriage

Marriage between two people of differing racial groups.
 Example:
 Black and White

http://www.nytimes.com/video/2011/10/12/us/100000001090280/just-a-family.html
The Concept of Ethnic Group

An ethnic group has a distinct cultural tradition
that its own members identify with and that may
not be recognized by others.
 They adhere to customs, maintain similarity in
family patterns, religion, and cultural values.
 They often possess distinct folkways and
mores; customs of dress, art, and
ornamentation; moral and value systems; and
patterns of recreation.
 The group is may be devoted to a monarch,
religion, language, or territory.
The Concept of Minority
Minority

A group of people who, because of physical or cultural
characteristics, are singled out from others in society for
differential and unequal treatment, and who therefore
regard themselves as objects of collective discrimination.
Problems in Race and Ethnic
Relations
 Prejudice
 For
our purposes we will define prejudice
as an irrationally based negative, or
occasionally positive, attitude toward
certain groups and their members.
 Prejudice involves cognition and emotions
What do you think is
the root of prejudice?
Some of the uses to which prejudice is put and the social
functions it serves:

First, a prejudice, simply because it is shared, helps
draw together those who hold it.

Second, when two or more groups are competing for
access to scarce resources it makes it easier on the
conscience if one can write off his or her competitors as
somehow less than human or inherently unworthy.

Third, psychologists suggest that prejudice allows us to
project onto others those parts of ourselves that we do
not like and therefore try to avoid facing.
Discrimination


Prejudice is a subjective feeling, whereas discrimination
is an overt action.
Discrimination refers to differential treatment, usually
unequal and injurious, accorded to individuals who are
assumed to belong to a particular category or group.
Institutional Prejudice and Discrimination

Refer to complex societal arrangements that restrict the
life chances and choices of a specifically defined group
in comparison with those of the dominant group.