Chapter 9 Race and Ethnicity. Race: Myth and Reality The Reality of Human Variety The Myth of Pure...

Chapter 9

Race and Ethnicity

Race: Myth and Reality

• The Reality of Human Variety

• The Myth of Pure Races

• The Myth of a Fixed Number of Races

• The Myth of Racial Superiority

• The Myth Continues

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Minority, Racial, and Ethnic Groups█ Racial group:

█ Group set apart from others because of obvious physical differences

█ Ethnic group:█ Group set apart from others primarily

because of its national origin and/or distinctive cultural patterns

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Minority Groups█ Minority group: Subordinate group

whose members have significantly less control or power over their own lives

– Properties of minority groups include: • Unequal treatment• Distinguishing cultural characteristics• Involuntary membership• Solidarity• In-group marriage

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Minority Groups█ Minority group does not necessarily

imply a smaller number.

– South African prior to the end of apartheid• Black South Africans were 79% of the total

population and yet they were the minority group

• White South Africans were 9.6% of the population and yet they were the majority group

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Race

█ Research shows that race is not a meaningful way of differentiating people

– Racial group refers to these minorities

– Social construction of race: Society socially constructs which differences are important

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Historical Efforts to Define Race

• Linnaeus: 4 human races

• Blumenbach: 5 human races

• Cuvier: 3 human races

• Hunter: 7 human races

• Burke: 63 human races

• Pickering: 11 human races

Historical Efforts to Define Race

• Very: 2 species; 3 in races

each

• Haeckel: 36 human races

• Huxley: 4 human races

• Topinard: 19 races under 3 headings

• Desmoulins: 16 species

• Deniker: 17 races and 30 types

Race

█ Racial formation: Sociohistorical process in which racial categories are created, inhibited, transformed, and destroyed– Native Americans– “One-drop rule”

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Race█ Recognition of Multiple Identities

– In 1990, Du Bois predicted “the color line” foremost problem of 20th century• Immigration from Latin America

shows fluid nature of race formation• Biracial society being replaced by triracial

– Stereotypes: Unreliable generalizations about all members of a group that do not recognize individual differences with the group

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Prejudice Attitude

█ Prejudice: Negative attitude toward an entire category of people

– Ethnocentrism: Tendency to assume one’s culture and way of life are superior to others

– Racism: Belief that one race is supreme and others are innately inferior

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Discriminatory Behavior█ Discrimination: Denial of opportunities

and equal rights to individuals and groups based on some type of arbitrary bias– Discrimination persists even for educated

and qualified minority members

Glass ceiling: invisible barrier blocking promotion of qualified individuals in work environment because of gender, race, or ethnicity

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Merton’s Typology of Prejudice and Discrimination

PrejudicedAttitude?

Discriminatorybehavior?

Unprejudicednondiscriminator

No No

Unprejudiceddiscriminator

No Yes

PrejudicedNondiscriminator

Yes No

PrejudicedDiscriminator

Yes Yes

Patterns of Racial and Ethnic Group Interaction

• Genocide

• Colonialism

• Segregation

• Acculturation

• Pluralism

• Assimilation

• Amalgamation

Genocide

• Annihilation of an entire nation or people.

• In the 20th century Hitler led the Nazi extermination of 12 million people in the Holocaust.

• In the early 1990s ethnic Serbs attempted to eliminate Muslims from parts of Bosnia.

Genocide

• In 1994 genocide took pace in Rwanda when Hutus slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Tutsis.

• Currently in the Darfur region of Sudan, the Sudanese government, using Arab janaweed militias, its air force, and organized starvation, is systematically killing the black Sudanese population.

Colonialism

• A racial or ethnic group from one society takes over and dominates the racial or ethnic group(s) of another society.

• Examples: European invasion of North America, British occupation of India, Dutch presence in South Africa before the end of apartheid

Segregation

• Physical separation of two groups in residence, workplace, and social functions.

– de jure ( by law)

– de facto (in fact)

Expulsion or Population Transfer

• Occurs when a dominant group forces a subordinate group to leave the country or to live only in designated areas of the country.

• The 1830 Indian Removal Act called for the relocation of eastern tribes to land west of the Mississippi River.

Acculturation

• Refers to adopting the culture of a group different from the one in which a person was originally raised.

• Acculturation may involve learning the dominant language and adopting new values and behaviors.

Pluralism

• Refers to a state in which racial and ethnic groups maintain their distinctness but respect each other and have equal access to social resources.

• In Switzerland, four ethnic groups—French, Italians, Germans, and Swiss Germans—maintain their distinct cultural heritage and group identity in an atmosphere of mutual respect and social equality.

Assimilation

• The process by which formerly distinct and separate groups merge and become integrated as one.– Secondary assimilation: integration in

public areas and social institutions, such as neighborhoods, schools, workplaces, and government.

– Primary assimilation integration in personal, associations, as with friends, family, and spouses.

Amalgamation• When different ethnic or racial groups

become married or pair-bonded and produce children.

• Since 1960:– Number of black-white married couples

has increased fivefold – Number of Asian-white married couples

has increased tenfold– Number of Hispanics married to non-

Hispanics has tripled

Ethnic Groups

• People often confuse the terms race and ethnic group

• Race Refers to Biological Characteristics

• Ethnicity Refers to Cultural Characteristics– Common Ancestry– Cultural Heritage– Nations of Origin


Minority and Dominant Groups

• Minority Group - People Singled Out for Unequal Treatment

• Minority Group Not Necessarily Numerical Minority

• Emergence of Minority Groups– Expansion of political boundaries– Migration


Minority and Dominant Groups

• Dominant Group - Group with Most…– Power– Privileges– Highest Social Status

• Dominant Group Does the Discriminating


Constructing Racial-Ethnic Identity

• Sense of Ethnicity– Relative Size– Power– Appearance– Discrimination

• Ethnic Work and the Melting Pot


Prejudice and Discrimination

• Learning Prejudice– Prejudice vs. Discrimination– Learning from Association– Far-Reaching Nature of Prejudice– Internalizing Dominant Norms

• Lighter/Darker Skin• Ethnic Maps


Individual and Institutional Discrimination

• Home Mortgages– African Americans and Latinos were 60

percent more likely to be rejected

• Health Care– Discrimination does not have to be deliberate– Researchers do not know why race–ethnicity

is a factor in medical decisions


Theories of Prejudice

• Psychological Perspectives– Frustration and Scapegoats– The Authoritarian Personality

• Sociological Perspectives– Functionalism


Theories of Prejudice

– Conflict Theory• Keep Workers Insecure• Exploit Racial-Ethnic Divisions

– Symbolic Interactionism• How Labels Create Prejudice• Labels and Self-Fulfilling Stereotypes


Race and Ethnic Relations in the United States: Europeans Americans

• White Anglo Saxon Protestants (WASPs) held deep prejudices against other whites

• Nation’s Founders Included Only Those from England

• Other “White” Europeans Inferior

• Naturalization Act of 1790: only white immigrants could apply for citizenship



Race-Ethnicity of the U.S. Population


U.S. Racial-Ethnic Groups


The Distribution of Dominant and Minority Groups


Geographical Origins of U.S. Latinos


Where U.S. Latinos Live

Race and Ethnic Relations in the United States: Asian-Americans

• Background of Discrimination

• Diversity

• Reasons for Success– Family life– Educational achievement– Assimilation into mainstream culture



Countries of Origin of Asian Americans

Race and Ethnic Relations in the United States: Native Americans

• Diversity of Groups

• From Treaties to Genocide and Population Transfer

• The Invisible Minority and Self-Determination

• Pan-Indianism


Chapter 9 Race and Ethnicity. Race: Myth and Reality The Reality of Human Variety The Myth of Pure...

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