Race and Ethnicity
Chapter Outline
 Defining Race and Ethnicity
 Race and Ethnic Relations
 Theories of Race and Ethnic Relations
 Some Advantages of Ethnicity
 The Future of Race and Ethnicity
Prejudice and Discrimination
 Prejudice is an attitude that judges a person
according to his or her group’s real or imagined
characteristics.
 Discrimination is unfair treatment of people because
of their group membership.
The Social Construction of Race
 Many scholars believe we belong to one human race
which originated in Africa.
 Migration, geographical separation, and inbreeding
led to the formation of more or less distinct races.
The Social Construction of Race
 Humanity has experienced so much intermixing that
race as a biological category has lost meaning.
 Sociologists use the term “race” because perceptions of
race affect the lives of most people profoundly.
Race
 Race refers to socially significant physical differences,
such as skin color, rather than biological differences
that determine behavioral traits.
 Racial distinctions are social constructs, not biological
“givens.”
Why Race Matters
 Race allows social inequalities to be created and
maintained.
 Racial groups are often used as scapegoats for
societies’ problems.
 A scapegoat is a disadvantaged person or category of
people whom others blame for their own problems.
The Vicious Cycle of Racism
Ethnic Group
 An ethnic group is composed of people whose
perceived cultural markers are deemed socially
significant.
 Ethic values effect the way people behave less than
commonly believed, as social-structural differences
underlie cultural differences.
Ethnic Groups
 Differ in:
 Language
 Religion
 Customs
 Values
Minority Group
 A group of people who are socially disadvantaged
although they may be in the numerical majority.
Formation of Racial and
Ethnic Identities
 The nature of relations with members of other racial
and ethnic groups shape one’s own racial and ethnic
identity.
 Changes in social context lead to changes in self-
conception.
Hispanic Americans
 According to the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly 48 million
Hispanic Americans lived in the United States in 2009.
 The Bureau predicts they will number more than 133
million in 2050.
Racial and Ethnic Composition
Ethnic Enclave
 A geographical concentration of ethnic group
members who establish businesses that serve and
employ mainly members of the ethnic group and
reinvest profits in community businesses and
organizations.
Population by Hispanic Origin
and Region, 2002
Mexican
Puerto
Rican
Cuban
Other
Northeast
2.4
58.0
13.3
30.2
Midwest
8.7
8.5
3.0
4.8
South
34.3
27.0
75.1
32.6
West
54.6
6.4
8.5
32.4
Unification of Hispanic Americans
 The term Hispanic American has become more
popular for three main reasons:
1. Political clout flows from group size and unity.
2. The government uses the term for data collection.
3. It is a convenient label for non-Hispanic
Americans.
Hispanic American Label
 Hispanic American is a new ethnic label and identity
despite the many differences that exist within the
community.
 This label, like all others, is socially constructed out of
necessity.
Ethnic and Racial Labels
 Although socially constructed, people are not always
free to choose their identity
 Ethnic minorities are freer to choose their identity
than racial minorities
 White Americans whose ancestors came from Europe
more than two generation ago have the most freedom
to choose their racial or ethnic identity.
Symbolic Ethnicity
 A nostalgic allegiance to the culture of the immigrant
generation, or that of the old country, that is not
usually incorporated into everyday behavior.
Racism
 The belief that a visible characteristic of a group, such
as skin color, indicates group inferiority and justifies
discrimination.
 Institutional racism is bias that is inherent in social
institutions and is often not noticed by members of
the majority group.
Institutional Racism
 Examples:
 When police single out African Americans for car
searches.
 When department stores tell floorwalkers to watch for
African American shoplifters.
Assimilation and Segregation
 Assimilation is the process by which a minority group
blends into the majority population and eventually
disappears as a distinct group.
 Segregation is the spatial and institutional separation
of racial and ethnic groups.
Conflict Theories
Several conflict theories explain why assimilation is
more difficult for certain minority groups. These
theories include:
 Internal Colonialism
 The Split Labor Market
Internal Colonialism
 Involves one race or ethnic group subjugating another
in the same country.
 Prevents assimilation by segregating the subordinate
group in terms of jobs, housing, and social contacts.
Split Labor Markets
 In split labor markets, low-wage workers of one race
and high-wage workers of another race compete for
the same jobs.
 High-wage workers resent the low-wage competitors,
resulting in conflict and the development of racist
attitudes
Native Americans
 Expulsion and genocide best describe the treatment
of Native Americans by European settlers in the 19th
century.
 Expulsion is the forcible removal of a population from a
territory claimed by another population.
 Genocide is the intentional extermination of an entire
population defined as a race or a people.
Native Americans
 1830 Indian Removal Act - Called for relocation of all
Native Americans to land west of the Mississippi.
 In the “Trail of Tears,” the U.S. Army rounded up all
16,000 Cherokees and marched them to Oklahoma.
 4,000 Cherokees died.
Native Americans
 Late 19th century - government adopted a policy of
forced assimilation.
 1930’s and 40s - Roosevelt adopted a more liberal
policy:
 Prohibited further breakup of Native lands.
 Encouraged Native self-rule and cultural preservation.
Native Americans
 1950s - government proposed to
 end the reservation system
 deny sovereign status of the tribes
 cut off government services
 stop protecting Indian lands held in trust for the tribes.
 The proposal was not implemented due to strong
resistance by the Native-American community.
Native Americans
 Despite new sources of wealth, including revenue from
casinos, Native Americans still suffer from internal
colonialism.
 The median household income for Native Americans is
about half the national average.
 On reservations, the unemployment rate is nearly
50%.
Chicanos
 Chicanos, or Mexican-Americans live mostly in the
South and West.
 Until the 1970’s Chicanos lived in barrios, or ghettos,
and many still do.
 Most still work as agricultural and unskilled laborers.
 Segregation has prevented Chicanos from assimilating
into American culture.
Slavery
 The ownership and control of people.
 By about 1800, 24 million Africans had been
transported on slave ships to North, Central, and
South America.
 11 million survived the passage.
 Fewer than 10% of the survivors arrived in the United
States.
Slavery
 Because the birthrate of African slaves in the U.S. was
so high, nearly 30% of the black population in the New
World was living in the U.S. by 1825.
 By the outbreak of the Civil War, 4.4 million black
slaves lived in the U.S.
 The cotton and tobacco economy of depended on their
labor.
Slavery
 Even after slavery was banned in 1863, Jim Crow laws
kept blacks from voting, attending white schools, and
participating equally in social institutions.
 In 1896 the U.S. Supreme Court approved segregation
when it ruled that separate facilities for blacks and
whites were legal as long as they were of nominally
equal quality.
African Americans
 During the period of rapid industrialization in the late
19th and early 20th centuries, many new jobs were
created in the North.
 The government could have encouraged African
Americans to migrate north, which would have helped
them integrate.
 U.S. policy instead encouraged white European
immigration.
African Americans
 Some black migration did occur though and by the
1960’s four million African Americans were living in
the northern and western urban centers.
 Although segregation decreased and economic
conditions improved, social-structural impediments
have prevented assimilation.
Chinese Americans
 In 1882 Congress passed an act prohibiting the
immigration of three classes of people into the United
States for 10 years: lunatics, idiots, and Chinese.
 The act was extended for another decade in 1892, made
permanent in 1907, and repealed in 1943, when
Congress established a quota of a grand total of 105
Chinese immigrants per year.
Chinese Americans
 Split labor markets prevented upward mobility and
assimilation until the middle of the 20th century.
 Chinese Americans have experienced considerable
upward mobility in the past half century.
 More than 30% of Chinese Americans now marry
whites.
Advantages of Ethnicity
Membership in an ethnic group has three main values
for some Americans:
1. Economic— “Ethnic entrepreneurs” operate largely
within their ethnic community.
2. Political—Political conflicts help strengthen ethnic
group solidarity.
3. Emotional—Ethnic groups offer security in hostile
environments.
Percent Foreign Born,
United States, 1900–2050
INSERT FIGURE 8.3 FROM PAGE 190
Future of Race and Ethnicity
Two factors will ensure the persistence of strong ethnic
and racial identities in the United States:
 Discrimination
 Immigration
Consider this…
Is race still a significant force in shaping the lives of
African Americans?
Discrimination
Some sociologists argue that race is declining in
significance.
 Civil Rights legislation
 Weakening prejudice against blacks
 Shrinking income gap
Critics of this viewpoint note:
 Racial profiling is well documented
 Discrimination exists in the mortgage industry
 Only 1/3 of African Americans are middle-class
INSERT FIGURE 8.4 FROM PAGE 191
Immigration
 Immigration ensure the persistence of ethnic and
racial identify.
 New immigrants bring knowledge and appreciation of
language, culture and community.
 The current immigration rate is the highest it has been
since the early 20th century.
Six Degrees of Separation: Ethnic and Racial
Group Relations
Continuing Diversity
 Although segregation persists, American society is
now based more on assimilation and pluralism—the
retention of racial and ethnic culture combined with
equal access to basic social resources.
 Intermarriage and immigration has led to a growth of
tolerance in the United States.
% Opposed to Having a Neighbor of a Different
Race, Selected Countries, 2006 – 2008
 INSERT FIGURE 8.6 FROM PAGE 193
Continuing Stratification
 Despite the growth in tolerance, some racial and
ethnic groups are disproportionately clustered at the
bottom of American society
 African Americans, Native Americans, Puerto Rican
Americans, Chicanos and some Asian Americans
remain the most disadvantaged groups in the country.
1. Race is:
a.
b.
c.
d.
an attitude that judges a person on his or her
group's real or imagined characteristics
a category of people whose perceived cultural
markers are deemed socially significant
a social construct used to distinguish people in
terms of one or more physical markers
the tendency to blame other racial or ethnic
groups for one's own problems
Answer: c

Race is a social construct used to distinguish
people in terms of one or more physical
markers.
2. Most sociologists believe race matters because it
allows social inequality to be created and
maintained.
a.
b.
True
False
Answer: True
 Most sociologists believe race matters because it
allows social inequality to be created and
maintained.
3. An ethnic group is:
a.
b.
c.
d.
an attitude that judges a person on his or her
group's real or imagined characteristics
a category of people whose perceived cultural
markers are deemed socially significant
a social construct used to distinguish people in
terms of one or more physical markers
the tendency to blame other racial or ethnic
groups for one's own problems
Answer: b

An ethnic group is a category of people whose
perceived cultural markers are deemed socially
significant.
4. We see institutional racism in practice when:
a.
b.
c.
d.
police single out African Americans for car
searches
department stores tell their floorwalkers to keep a
sharp eye out for African-American shoplifters
banks reject African-American mortgage
applications more than applications from white
Americans of the same economic standing
all of these choices
Answer: d

We see institutional racism in practice when police
single out African Americans for car searches,
department stores tell their floorwalkers to
keep a sharp eye out for African-American
shoplifters, and banks reject African-American
mortgage applications more than applications
from white Americans of the same economic
standing.
5 . Internal colonialism prevents assimilation by
a.
b.
c.
d.
creating competition between low-wage workers of
one race and high-wage workers of another race.
forcibly removing a popluation from a territory
claimed by another population.
segregating ethnic groups in terms of jobs, housing
and social contacts.
all of these choices
Answer: c

Internal colonialism prevents assimilation by
segregating ethnic groups in terms of jobs,
housing and social contacts ranging from
friendship to marriage.
6. The words that best describe the treatment of
Native Americans by European settlers in the 19th
century are:
a.
b.
c.
d.
expulsion and genocide
prejudice and discrimination
scapegoat and minority group
race and ethnicity
Answer: a
 The words that best describe the treatment of Native
Americans by European settlers in the 19th century are
expulsion and genocide.
7. Prejudice is:
a.
b.
c.
an attitude that judges a person on his or her group’s
real or imagined characteristics
unfair treatment of people due to their group
membership
directed toward people whose cultural markers are
socially significant
Answer: a
 Prejudice is an attitude that judges a person on his or
her group’s real or imagined characteristics.