Chapter 9
Inequalities of Race
and Ethnicity
Chapter Outline
Racial and Ethnic Minorities
 Theories of Prejudice and
Discrimination
 Institutionalized Discrimination
 Increasing Racial and Ethnic
Diversity in the United States

Questions for Consideration
What are stereotypes?
 How are prejudice and
discrimination related?
 What is ethnicity?
 What are the functions of prejudice?

Definition of a Minority


As defined by Louis Wirth:
 Minority – a group of people who,
because of their 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.
Customarily minority refers to a
relatively small number of people.
Key Ideas of the Definition
of a Minority
1.
2.
3.
Distinctive physical or cultural
characteristics.
Minority status is reflected in a society’s
stratification structure.
The distinctive traits of a minority
can be judged by the majority to be
inferior to their own and used to justify
unequal treatment.
Key Ideas of the Definition
of a Minority – Cont.
4.
5.
Because members of a minority
regard themselves as objects of
discrimination, they have a sense
of common identity.
Membership in a minority is
ascribed. People do not make an
effort to join a minority; they
become members by birth.
The Significance of Race

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Race - a category of people who allegedly
share certain biologically inherited physical
features that are considered socially
important within a society.
Racists use physical characteristics as an
index of a race’s superiority or inferiority.
Despite a lack of scientific support,
prejudice and discrimination are often
justified by alleged differences in intelligence
and ability.
The Significance of Ethnicity

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Ethnic minority – socially identified by
its unique characteristics related to culture
or nationality.
Cultural differences define ethnic minorities.
Because of their differences from the host
culture, ethnic minorities are subcultures.
They have a way of life that is based on their
own language, religion, values, beliefs,
norms, and customs.
Attitudes of Americans Toward
Immigrant Minorities
Questions for Consideration
Does any of the information shared
in Figure 9.1 surprise you?
 What observations do you make as
you consider the correlations
demonstrated in this figure?

Patterns of Racial and
Ethnic Relations

When people of various racial and
ethnic backgrounds interact, there
are two major types of outcomes:
 Patterns of assimilationminority groups are accepted
 Patterns of conflict - minority
groups are rejected
Assimilation
…involves “those processes whereby
groups with distinctive identities
become culturally and socially fused
together.”
 The integration of a racial or ethnic
minority into a society where
minority members are given full
participation in all aspects of society.

Three Assimilation Patterns
(identified by Milton Gordon)
1.
2.
3.
Anglo-conformity - Immigrants are
accepted as long as they conform to the
host society. Traditional American
institutions are maintained.
Melting Pot - All ethnic and racial
minorities blend together.
Cultural Pluralism – Recognizes
immigrants’ desire to maintain at least
a remnant of their “old” ways while
accommodating American values
and norms.
Three Patterns of Conflict

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Patterns associated with the dominance of a
majority over racial and ethnic minorities.
Genocide - Mass murder of most or all of a
targeted population.
Population transfer - Minority is forced to
leave the territory controlled by the majority.
Subjugation - The majority enjoys greater
access to culture and lifestyle of the larger
society. The most common pattern of conflict.
Inequities appear in such areas as power,
economics, and education as well as in other
important indicators of the quality of life, such
as health and longevity.
Questions for Consideration
As indicated through this story, what
are the last effects of genocide? (on
individuals and on society)
 How has this story provided new
insights into the Holocaust? Into
genocide?

Factors That Influence Racial
and Ethnic Relations
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
The nature of the first contact.
The reasons for contact and
interaction.
The visibility of minority groups.
Views held by respective members.
General social conditions.
Prejudice and
Discrimination




Prejudice – refers widely to the preconception
of a group and its individual members. Involves
an either/or type of logic; an overgeneralization
based on biased or insufficient information.
Biased attitudes.
Discrimination – unequal treatment of people based
on their minority membership.
Stereotype – a set of ideas based on distortion,
exaggeration, and oversimplification that is applied
to all members of a social category.
Hate Crime – a criminal act motivated by prejudice
(related to race, religion, sexual orientation, national
origin, or ancestry)
Psychological Perspective of
Prejudice and Discrimination

Focus on the prejudiced person’s
personality:
 What was their relationship with
parents or significant others?
 What are their values, attitudes,
and beliefs?
 How high is their self-esteem?
Two Prominent
Psychological Perspectives
1.
2.
Frustration-aggression explanation – prejudice
and discrimination are the products of deep-seated
hostility and aggression that stem from frustration.
A substitute object, scapegoat, is used as a target
to place blame for one’s own troubles, frustrations,
failures, or sense of guilt.
Authoritarian personality – characterized by
excessive conformity; submissiveness to authority
figures; inflexibility; repression of impulses,
desires, and ideas; fearfulness; and arrogance
toward persons or groups thoughts to be inferior.
Functionalist Perspective

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Potential benefits of prejudice and
discrimination:
Contributes to the cohesiveness of society
Helps society channel the most qualified
people into the most important positions
and to ensure that people in these
positions perform competently.
Social solidarity of the majority.
Strengthens boundaries of the majority.
Conflict Perspective



A majority uses its prejudice and
discrimination as weapons of power in
the domination of a minority.
Traces prejudice and discrimination to
majority interests not personality needs.
As long as the conflict is not too extreme,
capitalists are the beneficiary of a divided
working class.
Symbolic Interactionist
Perspective


Prejudice and discrimination are acquired
through socialization.
Allport describes two stages in the learning
of prejudice:
 Pregeneralized learning period –
children may have been exposed to
prejudice, but have not learned to
categorize people.
 Total rejection – children are able to use
physical clues to sort people into groups.
Symbolic Interactionist
Perspective – Cont.

The labeling process also underscores
symbolic interactionism.

Self-fulfilling prophecy – when
an expectation leads to behavior that
then causes the expectation to become
a reality.
Institutionalized
Discrimination

Institutionalized discrimination – the
result of unfair practices that are part of the
structure of society and have grown out of
traditionally accepted behaviors.

American history reflects the open and legal
practice of discrimination against members
of various minorities (e.g., internment of
Japanese Americans during WWII).
Direct and Indirect
Institutionalized Discrimination


Direct institutionalized discrimination
– refers to organizational or community
actions intended to deprive a racial or
ethnic minority of its rights (e.g., Jim
Crow laws)
Indirect institutionalized
discrimination – refers to unintentional
behavior that negatively affects a
minority (e.g., high school exit exams).
Questions for Consideration
How many states have exit exams in
place and how many do not?
 What do you think has been the
impetus for requiring these exams?
 In what ways do you think this
promotes discrimination?

African Americans

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African Americans make up 13.3% of the
total population.
There have been many barriers to assimilation for
African Americans.
Historical nature of slavery has continually impacted
the manner in which African Americans are treated in
the U.S.
Practices of de jure segregation existed until the late
1960s.
Gap between African Americans and whites in
education, income, and employment represents the
legacy of centuries of prejudice and discrimination.
Socioeconomic
Characteristics of Minorities
African
Whites
Americans
8.6%
24.7%
Poverty
Median
$48,977
income
High school
85.1%
graduation
College
27.6%
Latinos
21.9%
$30,134
$33,241
80%
57%
17.3%
4.4%
Socioeconomic
Characteristics of Minorities
Poverty
Median income
High school
graduation
College
Native
Americans
24%
$33,132
Asian
Americans
9.8%
$57,518
76%
87.6%
14%
49.8%
Majority and Minority Median
Household Incomes
Income and Work Relative
to African Americans
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Median income for African Americans = $30,134
(about $18,000 below whites)
Poverty rate = 24.7% (about 3x that of whites)
African American families earn about $61 for every
$100 a white family earns.
The average African American family holds less
than one-quarter of the wealth of the average
white family.
Discrimination in the workplace is covert and
sophisticated.
Jobless rates for African Americans is more than
double that of whites.
Gender Differences for
African Americans


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African American females with college
degrees earn substantially more than the
median for all African American men.
African American college-educated
women earn as much as white women
with college degrees.
1/3 of African American women enter
college and 1/4 of African American men
enter college.
Educational Differences
for African Americans
In 2004, 80% of African Americans
and 85% of whites had finished high
school.
 In 2004, only 17% of African
Americans, yet 28% of whites, had
completed college.


Income increases much less with
educational level for African Americans.
African Americans
and Voting

Two reasons African Americans vote at a
lower rate than whites:
1. Disproportionately represented in
the socioeconomic categories less
likely to vote: working class, working
poor, underclass.
2. They have less confidence in the
political system than whites and
likely to believe their votes will
count less.
“Two Black Americas”

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
According to Richard Freeman, a black elite has
been emerging in America, as opposed to a
black underclass composed of the permanently
poor trapped in inner-city ghettos.
Some theorists, such as William Julius Wilson,
discuss the declining significance of race for
African Americans.
The premise is that race is less important than
resources in determining life chances or
economic class.
Latinos
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Latinos make up 14.8% of the population.
Composed of many groups: Mexican
Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Central
and South Americans.
By 2050 Latinos will reach nearly 24% of the
population (100 million).
Just under 2/3 of Latinos are of Mexican
descent.
About 1/10 are Puerto Ricans.
Cubans are the third most populous category
of Latinos.
Latino Population in the
United States
Socioeconomic & Educational
Status of Latinos
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Median educational level of 12.7 years, or high
school graduation.
In 2005, 57% of Latinos age 25+ had completed
high school, yet 85% of non-Latino whites had.
Mexican Americans have the lowest levels
of educational achievement, and Cubans the
highest.
Average income is $34,241, higher than African
Americans, but significantly lower than whites.
Puerto Ricans are the poorest among Latino
groups and Cubans are the most affluent.
Politics and Latinos
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Becoming a more visible force in politics.
In 2008, Latinos held 22 seats in the U.S.
House of Representatives (5%) and had
three members in the U.S. Senate.
On the state and local level there
were almost 6,000 elected Latino
public officials.
Native Americans
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Divided into approximately 500 tribes and
bands.
Tribal groups are as different from one
another as from the dominant culture.
 Navajo and Sioux are different nations
with different cultures, social
structures, and problems.
Number around 4.5 million, 3/4 of whom
do not live on reservations.
Native Americans

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Approximately 24% live below the
poverty line.
Median income is $33,132/year
14% of Native Americans 25 years or
older had completed four years or more
of college.
Currently no Native American members of
the U.S. Senate and two in the House of
Representatives.
Native Americans and
Reservation Life
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Living on reservations is worse than living off
reservations for around ¼ of those who live
on the reservation.
½ of those who live on the reservation live
below the poverty line, double that of the
entire Native American population.
Rate of college education is ½ that of those
off the reservation.
Questions for Consideration
What are the major characteristics
of a nation?
 What is dual citizenship as it relates
to the Hummingbirds?
 How are voluntary and forced
assimilation different?

Asian Americans
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Nearly 15 million Asians live in the United
States, comprising 3.5% of the total
population.
Increased in population by 49% between
1990 and 2000.
Their population is predicted to double by
2025 and more than triple by 2050.
Largest groups are from China, the
Philippines, Japan, India, Korea,
and Vietnam.
Chinese Americans
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Many state laws were created to restrict
Chinese from holding jobs that could deprive
whites of employment.
Chinese Exclusion Act passed in 1882
prohibited, for a 10 year period, the entry
of any skilled or unskilled Chinese laborers
or miners.
Strict federal legislation against Chinese
immigration continued to be passed until
after 1940.
Japanese Americans
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Earliest relations were positive between
Japanese and Americans.
When Japanese farmers began to compete
with White farmers, anti-Japanese legislation
was passed.
1924 - U.S. Congress halted all Japanese
immigrants.
1942 led to President Roosevelt’s Executive
Order 9066 which interned Japanese in
America (2/3 were American citizens).
Asian Americans
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SAT scores are 45 points higher than that of
general high school population.
Almost 50% of Asian Americans have
completed 4 years of college.
There is vast socioeconomic differences
among groups within Asian American
communities.
In 2002, there was a combined total of 5
Asian Americans holding seats in the U.S.
House of Representatives and 2 in the
Senate.
White Ethnics
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White ethnics are descendants of immigrants
from eastern and southern European nations.
Most are blue-collar workers living in small
communities surrounding large cities in the
eastern half of the U.S.
1960s surveys indicated that white ethnics were
more against the Vietnam War than white AngloSaxon Protestants were.
Catholic blue-collar workers are found to be
more liberal than either Protestant blue-collar
workers or the country as a whole.
White Ethnics
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White ethnics, when compared to WASPs,
were more likely to be sympathetic to
government help for the poor and were more
in favor of integration.
White ethnics are attempting to establish a
public identity that enables them to take a seat
at the multicultural table (Lillian Rubin, 1994).
Ethnic identity cannot be maintained in the face
of disappearing ethnic families, neighborhoods,
and ethnics (Richard Alba, 1985, 1990 & Mary
Waters, 1990).
Jewish Americans
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U.S. has 5.3 million Jewish Americans, as many
as are in Israel.
It is estimated that about 10% of all Jewish
Americans have been in the U.S. less than 10
years.
First Jewish immigrants landed in New
Amsterdam in 1654.
Anti-semitism reached its peak in the 1920s
and 1930s.
Jewish Americans
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Jewish Americans were almost totally
excluded from top positions in most major
industries, denied membership in social and
recreational organizations, and subjected to
quotas in colleges and universities during the
first half the 20th century.
Jewish Americans represent an aboveaverage proportion of college graduates.
They make up 2% of the population but 5%
of college graduates.
Jewish Americans

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In 2008 there were 11 Jewish Americans in
the U.S. Senate, 26 in the U.S. House of
Representatives, and 2 on the U.S. Supreme
Court.
Now about 52% marry outside of their faith,
yet in 1965 only about 10% did so.
Dual Labor Market Theory


The existence of a split between core and
peripheral segments of the economy and the
division of the labor force into preferred and
marginalized workers.
Rewards for hard work, education, and
training vary.
 Workers in the core sector enjoy high
wages, opportunities for advancement, and
job security.
 Those in the peripheral sector are
employed in low-paying jobs with little
hope for advancement.
The U.S. Population by Race
and Ethnicity
Increasing Racial & Ethnic
Diversity in the U.S.

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Foreign born populations are rising in both
industrialized and developing countries.
The U.S. and Canada have long attracted
immigrants.
In 2006, the combined number of African
Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, and
Native Americans exceeded 100 million, up
from just under 10 million in 1900 and 21
million in 1960.
Global Ethnic Diversity
Questions for Consideration

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
What comparisons can you make?
What do you think can help explain why
the countries that have over 50% ethnic
diversity have that proportion as opposed
to those that have less than that?
Do you believe that the extent of ethnic
diversity will increase or decrease during
the 21st century?