Chapter 9
Racial and Ethnic
Inequality
Chapter Outline
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A Framework for Racial and Ethnic Inequality
The Maintenance of Inequality: Basic
Processes
Race and Ethnic Inequalities in the United
States
The Future of Racial and Ethnic Inequality in
the United States
Ethic Relations in Comparative Perspectives
Race and Ethnicity
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Race refers to a category of people set
apart due to physiological traits.
Ethnicity refers to a social group seen
as sharing cultural traits, including
language, styles of dress, and religion.
Ethnic and racial identities are social
constructions.
The Social Construction of
Race and Ethnicity
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Race refers to presumed genetic
transmission of physical characteristics.
Ethnicity refers to socialization into
cultural characteristics.
The social construction of race and
ethnicity is the process through which a
culture defines what constitutes a race
or an ethnic group.
The Semicaste Model
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Derived from the conflict perspective.
Social classes are hierarchically
ordered within racial categories.
There is a black and a white upper,
middle, and lower class.
Races display very similar orders of
internal inequality.
The Semi-Caste Model
Patterns of Interaction
Interaction between majority and minority
groups fall into four categories:
1. Conflict occurs when a struggle over scarce
resources is not governed by shared “rules
of engagement.”
2. Accommodation occurs when distinctive
cultures or subcultures live in harmony.
Patterns of Interaction
3.
4.
Acculturation occurs when members of
a minority group take on the culture of
the majority group.
Assimilation has occurred when social
distinctions between a majority and a
minority group have fallen away.
% of Income of Families by
Race and Ethnicity, 2000
Income Quintile
African
American
Hispanic
White
Poorest fifth
3%
4%
5%
Second fifth
9
9
10
Third fifth
16
15
16
Fourth fifth
25
23
23
Richest fifth
47
49
47
Factors Contributing to
Prejudice
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Cultural norms - may include hateful
norms directed at racial or ethnic
categories.
Institutional patterns - related to
economic competition or conflict over
scarce resources.
Personal factors - some personality
patterns appear to encourage prejudice.
Relationships between
Prejudice and Discrimination
Personality Factors That Lead
to Prejudice
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Authoritarianism - tendency to obey
authorities however they may be
legitimated.
Frustration - may result in seeking out
scapegoats to blame.
Ideology of the American dream encourages prejudice toward the
socially disadvantaged.
White Ethnic Groups
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Include French, Dutch, Spanish, and
English.
Ethnicity is no longer a primary standard
for stratification among whites.
The place of “unhyphenated whites” in
the multicultural mix of the United
States is not assured.
African-Americans
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Largest minority group in the U.S.,
making up some 13% of the population.
Arrived involuntarily - as slaves.
Most African Americans could trace their
ancestry in America to the early colonial
period.
African-Americans
and Social Conditions
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Politics - proportion of blacks in public office
remains quite small.
 Education - 15% of blacks graduate from
college (compared with 25% of whites)
 Economic disadvantages: Low earnings
and the number of female-headed families
contribute to lower incomes levels.
Education by Race and
Hispanic Origin, 2000
Poverty by Race and Hispanic
Origin, 2000
Family Structure by Race and
Hispanic Origin, 2000
Hispanics
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Majority are of Mexican heritage,
Latinos have also arrived in America
from Cuba, Puerto Rico, and many
Central and South American nations.
Will make up about 20% of the U.S.
population by the year 2050.
Hispanics
Rapid growth rates raises concerns:
1. New immigrants are young and poorly
educated resulting in lower income
levels.
2. Concerns among non-Hispanic
Americans over competition for jobs.
3. Increasing immigration results in
segregation.
Asian Americans
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4% of the U.S. population.
From Japan, China, South Asia, the
Philippines, and Southeast Asia.
Have the highest average household
income of any major ethnic group.
Japanese and Chinese-Americans
surpass whites in educational
attainment.
Native Americans
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Represent more than 200 tribal and
linguistic traditions.
The most disadvantaged of ethnic
groups.
Overall rates of suicide, alcoholism, and
infant mortality are shockingly high on
most Indian reservations.