RACE IN SOCIOLOGY
ALEXIS, BISHOP, ODAYLS, QUADESHA
• People have always longed to catergorize
people according to their physical attributions
like skin color, hair texture and color, and body
structure.
• Originally scholars used these three categories:
Mongoloids, Caucasoids, and Negroids.
• Monogoloids- yellowish or brownish skin, distinctive folds on one’s
eyelids
• Caucasoids- fair skin with straight or wavy hair
• Negroids- dark skin with tightly curled hair
• This system left out a lot of people
• Race- a category of people who share
inherited physicl characteristics and whom
others see as being a distinct group
ETHNICITIES
• Ethnicity- cultural charactistics that distinguishes one
group from another
• Ethnic group- a group of people who share cultural
characteristics
• Beliefs are passed from generation to generation
• Example: judiasm
ETHNICITIES
MINORITY GROUPS
Definition- a group of people who are singled out and
unequally treated due to their physical characteristics,
beliefs, or cultural characteristics
1. They possess identifiable characteristics- physical or
cultural- that differ from those of the dominant group.
2. Members of the minority group are victims of unequal
treatment at the hands of the dominant group.
3. Membership in the group is an ascribed status.
4. Group members share a strong sense of community.
5. Members tend to marry other members inside the
group. A term referred to as endogamy
MINORITY GROUPS
TYPES OF DISCRIMINATION
• Legal discrimination- upheld by the law.
• examples include apartheid in South Africa and the Jim
Crow Laws in America
• Institutionalized discrimination- an outgrowth of the
structure of society
• This is when minority groups can’t buy or rent houses in
certain parts of town and become concentrated in lowincome housing in one part of town that the dominant
group will avoid going to
RACISM
• Definition- the belief that one’s own race or ethnic
group is naturally superior to other races or ethnic
groups
• This leads to stereotypes (oversimplified,
exaggerated or unfavorable generalization about a
group of people)
• Self- fulfilling prophecy: a prediction that results in
behavior that makes the prediction comes true. ( if
members of a minority group are told they won’t
understand technical training then they aren’t
trained and don’t possess the skills to have the
technically trained jobs, making the prophecy true.
SOURCES OF DISCRIMINATION
• Taught from other people
• Embedded in social norms- the norms explain how
parts of a society interact and relate with another
part
• Scapegoating- blaming an innocent person(s) for
one’s problems
• Arises out of the competition for scarce resources
SOURCES OF DISCRIMINATION
DIFFERENT TYPES OF ACCEPTANCE OF
MINORITY GROUPS
• Cultural pluralism- ethnic and racial variety encouraged
• Assimilation- culturally distinct groups blended into a
single group with common culture
• Legal protection- minority rights protected by law
• Segregation- minority group physically separated from
the dominant group
• Subjugation- dominant group controls every aspect of
minority group life through force
• Population transfer- dominant group moves minority
group to new locations within or outside of the country
• Extermination- dominant group attemps to destroy the
minority group