Slide 1
Sociology in Modules
chapter
ten
Richard T. Schaefer
1st Edition
Racial and Ethnic Inequality
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 2
Race and
Ethnic Inequality
10
•Module 31: Minority, Racial, and Ethnic Groups
•Module 32: Sociological Perspectives
•Module 33: Race and Ethnicity
in the United States
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 3
A Look Ahead
█
█
█
█
What is prejudice?
How is it institutionalized
in the form of discrimination?
In what ways have race and ethnicity
affected the experience of immigrants?
What are the fastest-growing minority
groups in the United States today?
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Module 31
Slide 4
Minority, Racial, and
Ethnic Groups
█
█
Racial group: Group set
apart from others because
of obvious physical differences
Ethnic group: Group set
apart from others primarily
because of its national origin
or distinctive cultural patterns
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Module 31
Slide 5
Minority Groups
█
Minority group: Subordinate group
whose members have significantly less
control or power over their own lives
– Properties of minority groups include:
• Unequal treatment
• Distinguishing cultural characteristics
• Involuntary membership
• Solidarity
• In-group marriage
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Module 31
Slide 6
Race
█
Research shows that race is not a
meaningful way of differentiating people
– Racial group refers
to these minorities
– Social construction
of race: Society
socially constructs
which differences
are important
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Module 31
Slide 7
Race
█
Racial formation: Sociohistorical process
in which racial categories are created,
inhibited, transformed, and destroyed
– Native Americans
– “One-drop rule”
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Module 31
Slide 8
Race
█
Recognition of Multiple Identities
– In 1990, Du Bois predicted “the color
line” foremost problem of 20th century
• Immigration from Latin America
shows fluid nature of race formation
• Biracial society being replaced by triracial
– Stereotypes: Unreliable generalizations
about all members of a group that do not
recognize individual differences with the group
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Module 31
Slide 9
Table 31-1: Racial and Ethnic
Groups in the United States, 2008
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Module 31
Slide 10
Figure 31-1: Racial and Ethnic Groups
in the United States, 1500-2100 (Projected)
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Module 31
Slide 11
Ethnicity
█
Groupings obscure differences
within ethnic groups
– Distinction between
racial and ethnic
minorities not
always clear
– Distinction between
racial and ethnic groups
socially significant
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Module 31
Slide 12
Prejudice
█
Prejudice: Negative attitude
toward an entire category of people
– Ethnocentrism: Tendency to assume one’s
culture and way of life are superior to others
– Racism: Belief that one race is
supreme and others are innately inferior
– Hate crime: Criminal offense committed
because of the offender’s bias against
a race, religion, ethnic group,
national origin, or sexual orientation
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Module 31
Slide 13
Color-Blind Racism
█
Color-blind racism: Use of
principle of race neutrality to
define racially unequal status quo
– Idea that society should be colorblind perpetuates racial inequality
– Color line still in place, even if more
people refuse to acknowledge its existence
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Module 31
Slide 14
Figure 31-2: Categorization of Reported Hate Crimes
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Module 31
Slide 15
Discriminatory Behavior
█
Discrimination: Denial of opportunities
and equal rights to individuals and groups
based on some type of arbitrary bias
– Discrimination persists even for
educated and qualified minority members
Glass ceiling: invisible barrier
blocking promotion of qualified
individuals in work environment
because of gender, race, or ethnicity
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Module 31
Slide 16
The Privileges of the Dominant
█
White privilege: rights or immunities
granted to people as a benefit or favor
simply because they are white
– Institutional discrimination: Denial
of opportunities and equal rights that
results from operations of a society
– Affirmative action: Positive efforts to
recruit minority members or women for jobs,
promotions, and educational opportunities
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Module 31
Slide 17
Patterns of
Intergroup Relations
█
Racial and ethnic groups can relate to one
another in a variety of ways, from
friendships and intermarriages to hostility
– Genocide: Deliberate, systematic
killing of an entire people or nation
Expulsion of a people is another extreme
means of acting out racial or ethnic prejudice
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Module 31
Slide 18
Amalgamation
█
Amalgamation: Happens when
majority group and minority group
combine to form a new group
– Belief in the U.S. as a
“melting pot” does not
adequately describe
dominant-subordinate
relations in the U.S.
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Module 31
Slide 19
Assimilation
█
Assimilation: Process through
which person forsakes his
or her cultural tradition to
become part of a different culture
– Assimilation can
strike at the very
roots of a
person’s identity
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Module 31
Slide 20
Segregation
█
Segregation: Physical
separation of two groups
of people in terms of residence
– Generally, dominant group
imposes pattern on a minority group
Apartheid: Republic of South
Africa severely restricted the
movement of Blacks and non-Whites
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Module 31
Slide 21
Pluralism
█
Pluralism: Based on mutual
respect among various groups in a
society for one another’s cultures
– In U.S., pluralism
more of an ideal
than a reality
– Switzerland
exemplifies
pluralistic state
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Module 31
Slide 22
Figure 31-3: U.S. Median Income
by Race, Ethnicity, and Gender
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Module 32
Slide 23
Functionalist Perspective
█
Nash’s three functions that
racially prejudiced beliefs
provide to the dominant group:
– Moral justification for
maintaining unequal society
– Discourage subordinate groups
from questioning their status
– Suggest that any major social change
would bring greater poverty to the minority
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Module 32
Slide 24
Functionalist Perspective
█
Rose identified dysfunctions
associated with racism
– Society that practices
discrimination fails
to use resources
of all individuals
– Discrimination
aggravates
social problems
– Society must invest
time and money
to defend barriers to
full participation
– Racial prejudice
undercuts goodwill and
diplomatic relations
between nations
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Module 32
Slide 25
Conflict Perspective
█
Exploitation Theory:
Racism keeps minorities
in low-paying jobs and
supplies the dominant
group with cheap labor
– Too limited to
explain all prejudice
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Module 32
Slide 26
Labeling Perspective
█
Racial profiling: Arbitrary action
initiated by an authority based on
race, ethnicity, or national origin
rather than on person’s behavior
– Practice often based on explicit stereotypes
– As recently as 2006, 53% of
Americans favored requiring all
Arabs to undergo more intensive
security checks before boarding airplanes
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Module 32
Slide 27
Interactionist Perspective
█
Contact Hypothesis: Interracial
contact between people of equal
status in cooperative circumstances will
cause them to become less prejudiced
and to abandon old stereotypes
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Module 32
Slide 28
Table 32-1: Sociological
Perspectives on Race and Ethnicity
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Module 33
Slide 29
Race and Ethnicity in the U.S.
█
African Americans
– One out of every four blacks is poor
– Contemporary institutional discrimination
and individual prejudice against African
Americans rooted in history of slavery
• Black Power: Rejected assimilation
into White middle-class society
• Blacks suffer in terms of their life chances
• Blacks remain significantly underrepresented
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Module 33
Slide 30
Racial Groups
█
Native Americans
– About 2.4 million Native Americans represent
array of cultures distinguishable by language,
family organization, religion, and livelihood
– Life remains difficult for 554 tribal groups
– By 1990s, increasing number of people
claimed identity as Native American
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Module 33
Slide 31
Racial Groups
█
Asian Americans
– One of the fastest growing
segments of U.S. population
• Not homogenous
– Often held up as model minority or
ideal minority
• A minority group that succeeds
economically, socially, and educationally
without confrontations with the majority
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Module 33
Slide 32
Racial Groups
█
Asian Americans
– Vietnamese Americans
• Came to U.S. primarily during and
after Vietnam War and, over time,
gravitated toward larger urban areas
– Chinese Americans
• Originally encouraged to
immigrate to U.S. from 1850 to 1880
• Over 3 million Chinese Americans
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Module 33
Slide 33
Racial Groups
█
Asian Americans
– Asian Indians
• Immigrants from India and their
descendants number nearly 2.5 million
• Diverse population
• Religious orthodoxy often stronger among firstgeneration immigrants to U.S. than it is in India
• Family ties remain strong despite immigration
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Module 33
Slide 34
Racial Groups
█
Asian Americans
– Japanese Americans
• Issei: First generation of Japanese immigrants
• In August 1943, 113,000 Japanese Americans
forced into camps in response to World War II
In 1988, U.S. established $1.25
billion trust fund to pay reparations
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 33
Slide 35
Racial Groups
█
Asian Americans
– Korean Americans
• At more than 1.3 million, population of Korean
Americans exceeds Japanese Americans
• Often overshadowed by other Asian groups
• Initial wave between 1903 and 1910
• Second wave after Korean War in 1953
• Third wave started with 1965 Immigration Act
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Module 33
Slide 36
Racial Groups
█
Arab Americans
– Up to 3 million people of Arab
ancestry reside in the U.S.
– Cannot be characterized as
having specific family type,
gender role, or occupational pattern
– Profiling of potential terrorists has put Arab
and Muslim Americans under surveillance
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Module 33
Slide 37
Ethnic Groups
█
Latinos
– Largest minority in the United States
– Mexican Americans largest Latino population
– Residents of Puerto Rico second largest
group and are American citizens
– Cuban Americans began immigrating in
earnest following Cuban Revolution (1959)
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Module 33
Slide 38
Ethnic Groups
█
Central and South Americans
– Immigrants from Central and South
America are a diverse population
that has not been closely studied
– Follow complex classification system that
recognizes multitude of color gradients
– Socially, relations defy generalization
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Module 33
Slide 39
Ethnic Groups
█
Jewish Americans
– Constitute almost 3% of population
– Anti-Semitism: Anti-Jewish prejudice
█
White Ethnics
– White ethnics’ ancestors came from Europe in
last 100 years
– Symbolic ethnicity: Emphasis on concerns
such as ethnic food or political issues rather
than deeper ties to one’s ethnic heritage
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 33
Slide 40
Sociology in
the Global Community
█
The Aboriginal People of Australia
– Try to think of a situation in
which the government might forcibly
remove a child from his or her family.
What would be the repercussions?
– What reasoning do you think
lay behind the Australian
government’s forced removal of
Aboriginal children from their families?
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 33
Slide 41
Research Today
█
Latinos in the Voting Booth
– Do you vote in a community where
polling places offer multilingual ballots? If
so, do the names on the ballot mirror the
community’s multiethnic background?
– If you were a political operative,
how would you go about
appealing to the Latino vote?
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 33
Slide 42
Figure 33-1: The United States: The Image of Diversity
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Module 33
Slide 43
Figure 33-2: Major Asian American and
Pacific Islander Groups in the United States
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Module 33
Slide 44
Figure 33-3:
Arab American Religious Affiliations
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Module 33
Slide 45
Figure 33-4: Hispanic Population
of the United States by Origin
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Module 33
Slide 46
Global Immigration
█
Understanding the Issue
– Worldwide, immigration at all-time high
– Mass migrations have
had tremendous social impact
– At what point should
immigration be curtailed?
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 33
Slide 47
Global Immigration
█
Understanding the Issue
– Migration of people not uniform
– Transnationals: Immigrants who
sustain multiple social relationships
that link their societies of origin
with their society of settlement
– Since 1960s, U.S. encouraged
immigration of residents’ relatives
and people with specific skills
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 33
Slide 48
Global Immigration
█
Understanding the Issue
– Research suggests immigrants
adapt well to life in the U.S.
– Immigration performs
many valuable functions
– Immigration also can be dysfunctional
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 33
Slide 49
Global Immigration
█
Initiating Policy
– Long border with Mexico provides
opportunity for illegal immigration into U.S.
– 1986 act outlawed hiring illegal aliens
– Intense debate over immigration
reflects deep value conflicts
in cultures of many nations
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 33
Slide 50
Figure 33-5: Legal Migration
to the United States, 1820-2010
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.