Chapters 9-12
Race and Ethnicity
Race
 Race is a biological classification of
humans.
 In the United States Race is usually
defined by skin color, although
facial features, hair texture, height,
and other physical characteristics
are also used to distinguish racial
groupings.
 Race is arbitrary, meaning it is based
on random choice or personal whim,
rather than any reason or system.
Racial Groups
 There are 3 main racial Groups:
Caucasian
2. Negroid
3. Mongoloid
 However, there are races all in between.
 Human genome says we are all the same.
1.
Myths
 The myth of a fixed number of races. There is no fixed
number of races. Biologists and anthropologists have found
from 2- 2,000 different races. It can’t be agreed on because
it is so arbitrary.
 Myth that race is fixed only on biology. Race is fixed
socially.
 Example: In Salvador, they classify each other by skin, eye
color, lips, breadth of nose, and the color and curliness of
someone’s hair. A girl with a white mother and black father
would be classified to one of their “whiter” categories. The
race we are depends on our social location and on who is
doing the classifying.
Myths
 Myth of racial superiority.
No race is better than the
other. Adolf Hitler believed
Aryans were a superior race,
so he attempted genocide.
Genocide is the attempt to
destroy a group of people
because of their presumed
race or ethnicity, remains
alive and well.
 Pure race- there is no pure
race. It is not real.
Ethnicity
 Ethnicity is having different cultural
characteristics.
 These cultural characteristics include
religion, culture, and beliefs.
 Race can also be included in ethnicity.
Minority Groups and Dominant
Groups
 Minority groups- people who are singled out for
unequal treatment and who regard themselves as
objects of collective discrimination.
 Majority or dominant group- is the group that has the
greatest power and privilege regardless of their
numbers.
Discrimination and Prejudice
 Discrimination: is an act of unfair
treatment directed against an
individual or a group.
 Prejudice: is an attitude, usually in a
negative way.
 Racism is the prejudice and
discrimination on the basis of race.
Racism is formed on who you are
around and the relationship with the
race.
Emergence of Minority Groups
 A group becomes a minority in one of two ways:
The expansion of political boundaries- when a
political group who shares the same values includes
others from a different political group who have
different values and discriminates them.
2. Migration- either voluntary or involuntary.
1.
The Racist Mind
 Study of sociologist Raphael Ezekiel (page 221)
 He wanted to get a close look at the racist
mind. He being a Jew arranged a meeting with
the Klu Klux Klan and neo-Nazi leaders. He
told them he was a Jew and wanted to start
attending both of their meetings. He learned
that they believe the world is made up of racial
groups. Life is about war and the war is
between racial groups. Also, events have secret
causes are never what they seem superficially.
He also discovered why people were attracted
to these groups. Who were whites who wanted
to find meaning to life and would respond to a
racist signal.
Individual and Institutional Discrimination
 Individual discrimination- negative treatment of one by another.
 Institutional discrimination- to see how discrimination is woven
into the fabric of society.
 Examples:
 In Table 9.1(pg. 223) it shows race-ethnicity and mother/child deaths.
On the table it shows that more African mothers and baby die more
than the white.
 Table 9.2 (pg. 222) shows the applicants who were denied a mortgage.
Africans are denied the most. Second is the Latinos and whites show
the least denied mortgages.
Theories of Prejudice
 Psychological Theory- frustration and scapegoat.
 Scapegoat: when people unfairly blame others for their problems
 Usually a racial group. It is suggested that prejudice is the result of
frustration.
 Example:
 Why are we having a depression? The Jews have taken over the bank
system, and they want to suck every dollar out of us.
Functionalism
 Prejudice is functional for
society.
 The Carolyn Sherif theory: in
a boys summer camp, the
sherifs assigned friends to
different cabins and then has
the groups compete in sports.
 It showed if arranged in a
social environment people
will generate either positive
or negative feelings about
people, even friends, and
how prejudice arises if we pit
groups against one another.
Conflict Perspective
 Split labor market is the division of workers along
racial-ethnic and gender lines.
 How groups compete for scarce resources. Minorities
will take little jobs that Americans won’t do.
Symbolic interactionism Labels affect the ways we perceive people. Selective
perception- they lead us to see certain things while
they blind us to others.
Definitions
 Internal colonialism- to describe the way in which a
country’s dominant group exploits minority groups for
its economic advantage.
 Segregation- the separation of racial or ethnic groups.
 Assimilation- process by which a minority group is
absorbed into the mainstream culture.
 Multiculturalism/pluralism- permits or even
encourages racial-ethnic variation.
African Americans and Asian Americans
 African Americans overcame slavery and have come a
long way from those days.
 Asian Americans higher income, higher education
even though they are a small majority. Asian American
groups include china, India, Philippines, Vietnam,
Korea, japan.
Tables to study
 9.2(pg. 233)
 9.3(pg. 234)
 9.4(pg. 235)
Gender and Age
 Gender stratification -males and females unequal
access to property power and prestige.
 Gender and age are master statuses meaning they cut
across all aspects of social life. We all are labeled male
and female and are assigned and age category.
Issues of Sex and Gender
 Sex- is the biological characteristic that distinguishes
males and females.
 Primary sex characteristics: that consist of vagina and
penis and other organs related to reproduction.
 Secondary sex characteristics: the physical
characteristics not directly connected to reproduction.
Gender
 Gender- is social instead of
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biological.
Gender considers what is
proper for it’s males and
females.
Gender refers to
masculinity and femininity.
You inherit your sex but you
learn your gender.
Each group determines it’s
ideas of maleness and
femaleness.
Gender differences in behavior:
Biology or culture?
 Some sociologists
acknowledge that biological
factors are involved in some
human behavior other than
reproduction and child
bearing. Nature provides
biological predispositions
which are then overlaid with
culture.
 Example:
 Forced sex change during a
circumcision.
Gender Inequality in Global Perspective
 There is not a single society known where women as a
group have more power over men.
 Sociologist classifies females as a minority group even
though there are more of them.
Definitions
Mother
Father
 Matriarchal-women are
 Patriarchal- men are the
leaders
 Matrilineal-lineage goes
through the women
 Matrilocal- when couple get
together they go to female
compound.
leaders.
 Patrilineal- lineage goes
through the male.
 Patrilocal- When couple gets
together they go to male
compound.
The Origins of Patriarchy
 Gerda Lerners theory- Says that there is a need for women to stay
home and nurture the children. There was a high death rate and
the life expectancy was so low that women needed to stay home
making children. Women made children so that they can take
the place of those who die?
 Hubers theory- Men hunted big animals. Because men hunted
big animals women couldn’t go hunt and had to stay home. This
didn’t make sense because no one hunted big animals.
 Marvin Harris- Says as soon as men started fighting wars women
had no other choice but to stay home. Kings believe in their
divine right and their divine right to own the females.
 Fredrick Engles- Contemporary to Karl Marx. Patriarchal king
developed property and women became property. Man owns
women. Man owns land. Man owns children. Man owns
everything including her opinion.
Global Violence
Against Women
 The biggest problem of women is prostitution and men
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feeling entitled to women to the point of selling them.
Pride price- negotiation of worth .Is she a virgin is she
child bearing age is she old.
Dowry- is a gift in civilized society; in un civilized
society dowry is a blackmail. When a girl marries the
family endows here with a gift. The family that is
wealthy endows her with a lot. If dowry is big she is
more likely to get married.
Female Circumcision- is to turn a woman into an
asexual being by removing every pleasurable thing in
her
Honor killing- honor of the family. if you perform
sexual act you have dishonored the family
Gender inequality in the United
States
 Fighting Back: The Rise of Feminism
 Goals
 Woman's right to vote was won in 1920.
 Raise women’s pay and to changing policies on violence
against women.
 Removal of impediments to women’s love and sexual
pleasure.
Gender Inequality
 Health Care
 Women were twice as likely to die after coronary bypass
surgery; unintended sexual discrimination. When women
complained of chest pains their doctors only took them 1/10
as seriously.
 Gender inequality in education
 In 1900 35 percent of college students were women. As of 2010
57 percent of college students are women.
 Gender inequality in the workplace
 In 1890 1/5 of paid workers were women now 1 out of every 2
workers is women the ratio will remain 55 percent men and 45
percent women for the next few years
Inequalities of Aging
 Aging is socially constructed- attitudes toward the
aged are rooted in society and therefore differ from
one social group to another.
 Industrialization and The Graying Of The
Globe
 2/3 of all the people who have ever passed age 50
are alive today. As the elderly population increases
so does the bill its younger citizens will have to pay
 Graying of America
 The U.S life expectancy has grown by thirty years
since 1900
 Graying of America: the growing percentage of
older people in the U.S population.
 In 1900 only 4 percent of Americans were age 65
and older. Now 13 percent are.
Symbolic Interactionist Perspective
 The basic principle of symbolic
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interactionism is that we perceive both
ourselves and others according to the
symbols of our culture
Ageism- is the prejudice, discrimination,
and hostility directed against people
because of their age.
Shifting Meanings of Growing Old
Being elderly used to be an honorable
distinction.
old age has no inherent meaning- Culture
shapes how we perceive the elderly,
including the way we view our own aging.
The Functionalist Perspective
 Disengagement Theory - Is the function of pensions. Gets the
elderly to disengage from their positions. Retirement, then is a
mutually beneficial arrangement between two parts of society.
 Activity theory - The view that satisfaction during old age is
related to a persons amount and quality of activity.
 Continuity theory- How people adjust to retirement by
continuing aspects of their earlier lives.
 Perspective of the functionalist is how society’s parts work
together to keep society running smoothly. Functionalist also use
a narrower perspective focusing on how individuals adjust to
their retirement.
Conflict perspective
 Conflict perspectives guiding
principle of social life is how social
groups struggle to control power
and resources
 Fighting For Resources: Social
Security Legislation
 Intergenerational Competition
and Conflict
 Age groups are one of societies
many groups that are competing
for scarce resources. At some point,
this competition may break into
conflict
Politics and the Economy
Power
 Authority is legitimate
power
 Coercion is illegitimate
power
 The state is a political entity
backed by the military
 A Revolution can happen if
enough people consider the
state as having illegitimate
power
Authority
 Max Weber’s Three Sources of Authority
 Traditional – derived from customary practices of the
past
 Rational-Legal – based on laws or rules
 Charismatic – loyalty to whom people are attracted (this
authority has made transfer of power difficult)
Types of Government
 Monarchy – hereditary rule
 Democracy – ruled by the majority of citizens
 Dictatorship – ruled by an individual
 Oligarchy – ruled by small group by seizing power
U.S. Political System
 Dominated by the Democratic and Republican parties
which are both centrist
 Voter Turnout – higher for those that are socially
integrated, more educated, and well to do
 Lobbyists and Special Interest Groups
 PAC – Political Action Committees that have a major
influence on politics
Who Rules the United States
 Functionalist Theory – No one group holds the power
 Conflict Theory- U.S. is governed by a Power Elite
made up of corporate, political, and military leaders
War and Terrorism
War and terrorism are both means of accomplishing political
objectives
 3 essential conditions of war
 Incompatible objectives
 Cultural tradition
 Reach a “boiling point” from thinking about war to waging war
 7 fuels that bring about war can also be applied to
terrorism
 Revenge, Power, Prestige, Unity, Position, Ethnicity, Beliefs
Transformation of Economic
Systems
 Hunters, Gatherers lived off the land and had little or
no surplus
 Domestication of animals lead to the farming industry
and helped economic systems grow
 Manufacturing produced surplus and trade began
 Trade brought social inequality as some people
accumulated more than others
World Economic Systems
 2 major economic systems
 Capitalism – private citizens own the means of
production
 Socialism – government owns the means of production
without interest in profit
 Ideologies run these systems and paint each other as
harmful or evil
 Convergence Theory – each system takes or adopts
parts of the other system
Globalization of Capitalism
 The world’s nations are forming trading blocks
 Multinational corporations seek lowest costs of
production so jobs are transferred to countries with
low wages
 This causes great suffering to those who are losing jobs
 The ultra wealthy and super class has risen
 The globalization of capitalism may indicate the a
world economic-political system is developing
Marriage and Family
What is Family?
 Family differs from group to group but a broad
definition consists of individuals who consider
themselves related by blood, marriage, and adoption
(in the western hemisphere)
 We classify family as:
 Nuclear – husband, wife, and children
 Extended – grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins
What is Marriage?
 A group’s approved mating
arrangement usually marked
by a ritual. Each group
establishes norms to govern
who marries whom.
 Endogamy – members must
marry within their group
 Exogamy – people must marry
outside their group; i.e. Incest
taboo
System of descent
 Bilineal system – we think of ourselves as related to
both our mother’s and our father’s extended families
 Patrilineal system – tracing descent only to the father’s
side. Don’t think of children being related to the
mother
 Matrilineal system- tracing descent only on mother’s
side. Don’t think of children being related to the
father.
Authority
 Patriarchy – social system in which men dominate
women
 Matriarchy – social system in which women dominate
men. ( No historic record exists)
 Egalitarian – social system in which men and women
are equal
Characteristic
Traditional Societies
Industrial (and
postindustrial) Societies
What is the structure of
marriage?
Extended ( married embeds
spouses in a large kinship
network or explicit
obligations)
Nuclear ( marriage brings fewer
obligations toward the spouse’s
relatives)
What are the functions
of marriage?
Encompassing( economic
production, socialization of
children, etc.)
More limited (Many functions
are fulfilled by other social
institutions)
Who holds authority?
Patriarchy( held by males)
Although some patriarchal
features remain authority is
divided more equally
How many spouses at
one time?
Most have one spouse, while
some have several
One spouse
Who selects the spouse? Parents, usually the father
selects the spouse
Individuals choose their own
spouse
Where does the couple
live?
Couples usually live with the
grooms family
Couples establish a new home
(Neolocal residence)
How is descent figured?
Usually figured from male
ancestors
Figured from male and female
ancestors (Bilineal kinship)
How is inheritance
figured?
Rigid system of rules: usually
patrilianeal, but can be
Highly individualistic; usually
bilineal
Six functions of family
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Economic production
Socialization of children
Care of the sick and aged
Recreation
Sexual control
Reproduction
Who Makes Decisions at Home?
 In the past the husbands were
always the ones left to make the
decisions of the family
 A 2008 national sample shows
that 43% of wives make the
decisions of the house
compared to 26% of decisions
made by the husbands and 31%
made as equals
Family Life Cycle
 Major Elements of the family life cycle
 Love
 Courtship
 Marriage
 Child Birth
 Child rearing
 Family in later life
Single Parent Households
 There is an increase of U.S. families becoming one
parent households
 Because women tend to run one parent households,
the families tend to be poor
 85% of children of divorce live with their mothers
Diversity in U.S. Families
 Blended family – one whose
member were once part of other
families
 Cohabitation – adults living
together in a sexual relationship
without being married
 12 times more common now than in
1970
 Although there are only a handful of
states allow same sex marriage,
same sex families is on the incline
Divorce
 Percentage of Americans Divorced (1970)
 African Americans – 4.4%
 Whites – 3.9%
 Latinos – 3.9%
 (2000)
 African Americans – 11.5 %
 Whites – 9.8%
 Latinos – 7.6 %
 Asian Americans – 5%
Children of Divorce
 Children of divorce are more likely to divorce as adults
 Divorce can even effect grandchildren of divorce
 Most divorced fathers do not maintain an ongoing
relationship with their children
The Dark Side of Family Life
 Spouse battering
 85% of the victims of spouse battering are women
 Related to the sexist structure of society
 Child Abuse
 Authorities receive about 2 million reports of children
being abused or neglected.
The Bright Side of Family Life
 What Makes a Successful Marriage
 A survey by sociologists Jeanette and Lauer (1992) all the
happy couples they interviewed
Think of their spouse as their best friend
Like their spouse as a person
Think of marriage as a long term commitment
Believe that marriage is sacred
Agree with their spouse on aims and goals
Believe that their spouse has grown more interesting over the
years
 Strongly want the relationship to succeed
 Laugh together
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What Makes a Family Happy?
 Sociologist Nicholas Stinnett used interviews and
questionnaires to study 600 families from all regions of
the United States and parts of South America
 He found that happy families
 Spend a lot of tie together
 Are quick to express appreciation
 Are committed to promoting one another’s welfare.
 Do a lot of talking and listening to one another
 Are religious
 Deal with crises in a positive manner
By the Numbers
 Americans who want 3 or more children
 1970 – 64% ; Now – 34%
 Number of hours per week husbands do housework
 1970 – 4.4; Now 9.7
 Percentage of children under 18 who live with both parents
 1970 – 3.1%; Now – 11.1%
 Percentage of white Americans divorced
 1970 – 3.1%; Now – 11.1%
 Average age of first time bride
 1970 – 21Now – 27
 Woman ages 20-24 who have never been married
 1970 – 35%; Now 77%
What is the Future of Marriage and
Family?
 Cohabitation
 Births to unmarried women
 Age of first marriage to increase
 Women on workforce likely to increase
 Continue to shift the balance of marital power