CHAPTER 12

Inequalities of Race and Ethnicity

Chapter Outline

The Meaning of Race and Ethnicity When Worlds Collide: Patterns of Intergroup

Relations Culture and Intergroup Relations Theories of Racial and Ethnic Inequality A Piece of the Pie

Race

Biological race refers to distinct physical characteristics.

Race is also a social concept that varies from one society to another.

Racism is the belief that certain traits are marks of inferiority that justify discriminatory treatment of people with those traits.

Ethnic Groups

Ethnic groups are populations that have a sense of group identity based on a distinctive cultural pattern and shared ancestry, whether actual or assumed.

Ethnic Groups

Their members usually have migrated to a new nation or been conquered by an invading population.

The Native Americans are believed to have crossed the Bering Strait as migrant peoples between 14,000 and 20,000 years ago.

Minority Groups

A minority group is a set of people who, because of their physical or cultural characteristics, are singled out from the others in the society in which they live for differential and unequal treatment, and who regard themselves as objects of collective discrimination.

Minority status carries with it exclusion from full participation in the life of the society.

Periods of Migration and Settlement in the U.S.

1820–1885: “Old” Northwest European and Asian migration

1885–1940: “Intermediate” migration from Southern and Eastern Europe and beginning of heavy immigration from Mexico

1921–1959: Immigration by quota and refugee status

1960 to the Present: Worldwide immigration

Patterns of Intergroup Relations

Genocide - state-sponsored mass killing to exterminate a population deemed racially or ethnically different and threatening to the dominant population.

Expulsion - the forcible removal of one population from territory claimed by another.

Patterns of Intergroup Relations

Slavery - ownership and control of one population by another.

Segregation - ecological and institutional separation of races or ethnic groups.

Assimilation - blending of a minority group into the majority population, leading to its eventual disappearance as a distinct people.

A Continuum of Intergroup Relations

Is Interracial Dating OK?

The Transatlantic Slave Trade From the end of the16th

century to the early decades of the 19th, approximately 11 to 12 million Africans were imported to the New World.

The thickness of the arrows shows the approximate volume of the slave trade to each region.

Segregation in Areas With Largest Black Populations

Metropolitan Area 19701980

1990

2000

Boston 81.2 77.6 68.2 65.7

Chicago 91.9 87.8 85.8 80.8

Cleveland 90.8 87.5 85.1 77.3

Detroit 88.4 86.7 87.6 84.7

Kansas City 87.4 78.9 72.6 69.1

Los Angeles–Long Beach

91.0 81.1 73.1 67.5

Milwaukee 90.5 83.9 82.8 82.2

New York 81.0 82.0 82.2 81.8

Segregation in Areas With Largest Black Populations

South 1970 1980 1990 2000

Atlanta 82.1 78.5 67.8 65.6

Baltimore 81. 9 74.7 71.4 67.9

Birmingham 37.8 40.8 71.7 72.9

Dallas–Fort Worth 86.9 77.1 63.1 59.4

Houston 78.1 69.5 66.8 67.5

Memphis 75.9 71.6 69.3 68.7

New Orleans 73.1 68.3 68.8 69.3

Washington, DC 81.1 70.1 66.1 63.1

Segregation in Areas With Largest Black Populations

U.S. Immigration

Minority Groups in the U.S.

Three ideological tendencies Anglo-conformity The melting-pot theory Cultural pluralism

Interracial Marriages, United States

Receptivity Toward Immigrants, by Area

Receptivity Toward Immigrants, by Area

Receptivity Toward Immigrants, by Area

Assimilation How many ethnic

groups can you spot in this photo?

The effects of assimilation are powerful, and it is likely that the immigrants’ children will prefer to read signs in English when they are adults.

Culture and Intergroup Relations Stereotypes - images of a racial or cultural

group that are held whether or not they are true.

Prejudice - judging a person on the basis of real or imagined characteristics of a group of which that person is a member.

Discrimination - unfair treatment of people on the basis of their group membership.

Merton’s Typology of Prejudice and Discrimination

Social-psychological Theories of Racial and Ethnic Inequality

Theory Example

Frustration-aggression

Scapegoating of minority groups such as gypsies or Jews.

ProjectionAttribution of one’s own sexual

desires to others.

Social-psychological Theories of Racial and Ethnic Inequality

Theory Example

Authoritarian

Personality

Authoritarian individuals were punished frequently as children. They feel an intense anger that they fail to examine and submit to people in positions of authority, greatly fear self-analysis and have a tendency to blame their troubles on people or groups whom they see as inferior.

Theories of Racial and Ethnic Inequality

Theory Example

Interactionists

Groups that need to cooperate (e.g., sports teams) often find ways to reduce racial or ethnic tensions.

FunctionalistInequalities derived from prejudice help maintain a supply of low-wage workers.

Theories of Racial and Ethnic Inequality

Theory Example

Conflict Theories

African Americans were treated as a colonial people until they mobilized to fight back.

Ecological Theories

People in racial or ethnic ghettos seeking upward mobility.

Internal Colonialism Theory

Minority groups are essentially colonial peoples within the larger society. The “colonial” people did not enter the society

voluntarily. The culture of the “colonial” people has been

destroyed or transformed. The “colonial” population is controlled by the

dominant population. Members of the “colonial” people are seen as

inferior and are socially and psychologically oppressed.

Park’s Model of Urban Intergroup Relations

Five Stages: 1. Invasion

2. Resistance

3. Competition

4. Accommodation and cooperation

5. Assimilation

Native Americans

As a result of their unsuccessful resistance to the European invasion, Native Americans were segregated on reservations, many of which lacked adequate resources to permit them to share in the “American dream.”

Racial Inequality in the United States

Blacks have been excluded from full participation in American social institutions longer than any other group.

Black families have higher rates of family breakup than white families.

Structural changes in the American economy have continually placed blacks at a disadvantage.

QUICK QUIZ

1. Which is true about "race?"a. It is irrelevant in our society.

b. There are only two races in the world.

c. Race and stratification are today unrelated in the U.S.

d. Race relates to people sharing presumably similar physical characteristics.

Answer: d

The following statement is true about "race”: Race relates to people sharing presumably

similar physical characteristics.

2. A minority group is primarily defined in a sociological sense on the basis of its

a. small population size.

b. ethnic or racial background of members.

c. negative treatment by the dominant society.

d. low level of educational and occupational attainment.

Answer: c

A minority group is primarily defined in a sociological sense on the basis of its negative treatment by the dominant society.

3. The ________ theoretical perspective is best supported by the fact that many minorities remain segregated in ghettos and barrios, and are exploited politically and economically by capitalist interests.

a. conflict

b. functional

c. interactionist

d. social-psychological

Answer: a

The conflict theoretical perspective is best supported by the fact that many minorities remain segregated in ghettos and barrios, and are exploited politically and economically by capitalist interests.

4. Prejudice is to discrimination as ________ is to ________.

a. attitude / action

b. stereotype / prototype

c. assimilation / acculturation

d. necessity /the mother of invention

Answer: a

Prejudice is to discrimination as attitude is to action.