Chapter 11
Race and Ethnicity
The Social Meaning of
Race and Ethnicity
Race – a socially constructed category
composed of people who share
biologically transmitted traits that
members of a society consider
important.
The Social Meaning of
Race and Ethnicity
• Ethnicity – a shared cultural heritage.
• Race involves highlighting biological traits.
• Ethnicity involves highlighting cultural traits.
Minorities
A minority – any category of people,
distinguished by physical or cultural
difference, that a society sets apart.
Characteristics:
(1) They share a distinctive identity.
(2) Subordination.
Prejudice & Stereotypes
Prejudice – a rigid and irrational
generalization about an entire category
of people.
Prejudice & Stereotypes
• Prejudgments
that are positive
or negative.
• They lead us to
characterize all
members of an
entire group,
most of whom
we’ve never met.
Prejudice & Stereotypes
• Stereotypes – an exaggerated
description applied to every person in
some category.
• Both the majority group and
minorities hold stereotypical beliefs.
Measuring Prejudice
Emory Bogardus
Social Distance Scale
• Student opinions show a trend toward
greater acceptance
• People see less difference among
various minorities
• 9-11 attacks may have reduced social
acceptance of Arabs & Muslims
Measuring Prejudice
Racism
• Racism – the belief • Racial difference in
that one racial
mental abilities result
category is innately
from environment
superior or inferior
rather than biology.
to another.
Theories of Prejudice
• Scapegoat Theory – prejudice
springs from frustration among people
who are themselves disadvantaged.
• A scapegoat – a person with little
power whom people unfairly blame
for their own troubles.
Theories of Prejudice
• Authoritarian Personality Theory –
extreme prejudice is a personality trait in
certain individuals
• These
personalities are
common among
those with little
education and
broken homes.
Theories of Prejudice
• Culture Theory –
extreme prejudice
may be embedded in
culture.
• Bogardus believed
everyone in the
United States
expresses some
bigotry because we
live in a culture of
prejudice.
Theories of Prejudice
• Conflict Theory –
powerful people use
prejudice to justify
oppressing others.
• Steele contends that
minorities themselves
cultivate a climate of
race consciousness in
order to win greater
power.
Discrimination
• Discrimination – treating various
categories of people unequally.
• Institutional prejudice and discrimination.
• Prejudice and
discrimination
often occur
together.
Discrimination
Robert Merton
Prejudice and discrimination may combine in four
waysa)
a) Active bigotry (Southern Racist)
b) Timid bigotry (Nebraska Racist)
c) Fair-weather liberalism (people who are not
prejudice, but will discriminate when they feel
pressured to do so.)
d) All-weather liberalism (doesn’t discriminate)
Discrimination
Prejudice: The
Vicious Circle
Prejudice and
discrimination
can form a
vicious circle,
perpetuating
themselves.
Figure 11.2 (p. 310)
Sociological Theories
Structural Functionalism - Prejudice is
functional in that it creates in-group
solidarity and out-group antagonism.
Social Conflict theory - focuses on
competition and the ability of some group
to exploit others.
Symbolic interactionism-examines how
perception and labels produce prejudice.
Dr. John Musalia, Western Kentucky U.
Majority and Minority:
Patterns of Interaction
• Pluralism – a state in
which racial and ethnic
minorities are distinct but
have social parity.
• Assimilation – the process
by which minorities
gradually adopt patterns of
the dominant category.
Majority and Minority:
Patterns of Interaction
• Segregation – the
physical and social
separation of
categories of people.
• Genocide – the
systematic killing of
one category of
people by another.
Race and Ethnicity in the U. S
Native Americans
• When the Europeans arrived in the fifteenth
century, the Native Americans numbered in the
millions.
• By 1900, they numbered a mere 250,000.
Race and Ethnicity in the U. S
Native Americans
• Christopher Columbus first called them
“Indians” because he thought he landed in
India.
• Not until 1924 were Native Americans
entitled to citizenship.
Race and Ethnicity in the U. S
White Anglo-Saxon Protestants
 WASPs were not the first to inhabit the
U. S., but they came to dominate this
nation.
 Historically, WASP
immigrants were highly
skilled and motivated
to achieve the
Protestant work ethic.
Race and Ethnicity in the U. S
White Anglo-Saxon Protestants
 WASPs were never one single group.
 English remains the dominant language
today, and Protestantism is the majority
religion.
Race and Ethnicity in the U. S
African Americans
• Most accounts mark the beginning of
black history in the United States as 1619.
• A Dutch trading ship brought twenty
Africans to Jamestown, Virginia.
Race and Ethnicity in the U. S
African Americans
• Slavery was the foundation of the southern
colonies’ plantation system.
• In 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment
outlawed slavery.
Race and Ethnicity in the U. S
“An American Dilemma”
 A democratic society’s denial of basic
rights and freedoms to an entire category
of people
 To resolve this, white people defined
African Americans as innately inferior and
undeserving of equality.
Gunnar
Myrdal
Race and Ethnicity in the U. S
Asian Americans
• Enormous cultural
diversity characterizes
this category of people.
• In 2000, the total
number of Asian
Americans exceeded 10
million.
Race and Ethnicity in the U. S
Asian Americans
• The largest category of Asian Americans
is people of Chinese ancestry.
• More than onethird of Asian
Americans live in
California.
Race and Ethnicity in the U. S
Hispanic Americans/Latinos
• In 2000, Hispanic Americans numbered
more than 35 million.
• Few people in this category describe
themselves as “Hispanic” or “Latino.”
Race and Ethnicity in the U. S
Hispanic Americans/Latinos
• Hispanics are really a cluster of distinct
populations, each of which identifies
with a particular ancestral nation.
• Most of the
Hispanic
population lives
in the
Southwest.
Race and Ethnicity in the U. S
Arab Americans
• “Arab” (an ethnic
category) is not the
same as “Muslim” (a
follower of Islam).
• Arab cultures differ from society to society
• Share Arabic alphabet and language
• Arab Americans population is 1.2 million
Race and Ethnicity:
Looking Ahead.
 The United States has been and will
remain a land of immigrants.
 Immigration has generated striking
cultural diversity.
 Many new arrivals face much the same
prejudice as those who came before
them.