Presented By: Jarrett Hurms
Minorities, Race, & Ethnicity
 What
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
is a minority?
The opposite of majority.
Group of people with physical and cultural traits
different from those of the dominant group.
 Minority
size.
is defined by more than number or
 Minorities

Distinct physical and cultural differences which
separate them from the majority.


have several key features.
Skin color, disabilities, accent, religion, language.
The minority is dominated by the majority.


Minority members have fewer opportunities.
Lack of education/holds unequal share of goods.
 Key



features of minorities
Minority traits are often believed as the
dominant majority to be inferior.
Members of the minority have a common sense of
identity, with a stronger group loyalty.
The majority determines who belongs in the
minority through ascribed status.
 Race-people
who share certain inherited
physical characteristics that are considered
important within a society.
 What determines race?

Skin color, hair color, hair texture, facial
features, head form, and eye color.
3
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major divisions of race.
Negroid-African
Mongoloid-Asian
Caucasian-White
 Some
physical characteristics are superior to
others because they provide advantages for
living in a particular environment.
 There is no scientific evidence that connects
racial characteristics with innate superiority
or inferiority.
 Ethnicity
comes from the Greek word
“Ethnos” meaning people or nation.
 19 major ethnicities in the world today.
 Ethnic minority-group identified by cultural
religious or natural characteristics.

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Unique characteristics related to culture or
nationality.
Defined by its own language, religion, values,
beliefs, norms, and customs.
 Why
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

are ethnic minorities seen as inferior?
Ethnocentrism-judging others in terms of one’s
own culture.
View that everyone else’s culture is lower than
your own.
Creates the “us” vs. “them” complex.
Racial and Ethnic Relations
 Assimilation-the
belonging or fusing of
minority groups into the dominant society.
 When members of the minority are
integrated into society through assimilation
then they are allowed full participation in
society.
 Examples:
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

Anglo-Conformity
Melting Pot
Accommodations
 Anglo
meaning American of English descent.
 Traditional American institutions are
maintained.
 Immigrants are accepted as long as they
conform to American society.
 Melting
pot-all ethnic and racial minorities
voluntarily blend together.
 Tossed salad-traditional values and cultures
exist side by side.
 Cultural
pluralism-desire of a group to
maintain a sense of identity separate from
the dominant group.
 Accommodations-extreme
form of
cultural pluralism.
When a minority maintain their own way of
life.
 Learns to deal with or accommodate the
dominant culture but remains independent in
language and culture.

 Sociologist
examine historical records and
analyze current events in order to find
patterns of conflict.
 3 basic patterns:
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Genocide
Population transfer
Subjugation
 What
is the most extreme pattern of
conflict?

Genocide
 Genocide-systematic
entire population.
effort to destroy an
A
minority is forced to move or relocate from
territory controlled by the majority.
 Most
common pattern of conflict.
 Process by which a minority group is denied
equal access to the benefits of a society.
 De Jure Subjugation-based on laws
 De Facto Subjugation:
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De Fact-used in case law that means the actual,
or real, situation regardless of what the law is.
Denial of equal access based on everyday
practice.
 Prejudice-a
negative prejudgment of a group
and its individual members.
 An attitude is a distinct combination of
feelings. Inclinations to acts and beliefs.
 3 aspects of attitude.
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Affect-feelings
Behavior tendencies-inclinations to act.
Cognition-beliefs
 Negative
evaluations that mark prejudice can
stem from emotional associations, from the
need to justify behavior, or from negative
beliefs called stereotypes.
 A problem with stereotypes arises when they
are overgeneralized or just plain wrong.
 A stereotype can be embedded in a single
word or phrase.
 Stereotypes can be either positive or
negative.
 Prejudice-negative
attitude
 Discrimination-negative behavior.
A
criminal offense committed against a
person or property which is motivated in
whole or part by the offender’s bias against a
race, religion, ethnic/national origin group,
or sexual orientation group.
Minority Groups in the United States
 Unfair
practices that grow out of common
behaviors and attitudes that are part of the
structure of society.
 Seniority systems-promotion and pay
increase with years of service.
 Public education can also be discriminatory.
 What
are the barriers to African American
assimilation?

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Skin color
Early African-American history.
 Un-equal
income levels for African Americans
 Jobless rates of African Americans are two
times that of whites.
 Hidden employment-unemployment that
includes people not counted in the
traditional unemployment categories.
 Greatest
unemployment problem exists in
African American teenagers.
 Underclass-people typically unemployed who
come from families that have been poor for
generations.
 Latino
is the term that refers to ethnic
minorities in Latin America.
 One of the fastest growing minorities in the
U.S.
 Year 2000: more Latinos than AfricanAmericans in the U.S.
 60% of Latinos living in the U.S. are from
Mexico.
 Latinos are a very diverse group that came to
America for different reasons.
 50% or more complete high school.
 Largest
group are from China, Philippines,
Japan, India, Korea, and Vietnam.
 Japanese and Chinese are the most
successful.
 Attracted by the California gold rush in the
1850’s.
 Began work as railroad builders.
 What
has been the history of Japanese in the
United States?


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Treated much like the Chinese in the early years.
1940’s during World War II Japanese were placed
in internment camps (110,000 people).
One of the most successful minorities in the U.S.
 Descendants
of immigrants from Eastern and
Southern Europe (Italian, Polish, Irish, Slavic,
and Greek).