Ethnicity, “Race”
Concepts are key Race and ethnic relations: structured
inequality
Concepts: “race”
“physical variations singled out by the members of a community or society as socially significant.” (Giddens & Duneier, 2003: 333)
“race”
A century of failed attempts to designate races as biological categories (scientific racism)
So does this mean race doesn’t exist? Was W. E. B. DuBois wrong to say the “color line” was the problem of the twentieth century?
W. I. Thomas on the definition of the situation:
“If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences.” (1928)
So “race” as a concept is a social construct.
Differences in skin color have been singled out as significant, and have
been made significant in their consequences.
Concepts: ethnicity
“cultural practices and outlooks of a given community that have emerged historically” (Giddens & Duneier: 334)
Since they are cultural, ethnicities are learned.
Choice and ethnicity
Situational ethnicity: assertion of ethnic identity is chosen when it may have positive results (e.g., affirmative action)
Symbolic ethnicity: occasional use of only the symbolic features of ethnicity (e.g., “kiss me I’m Irish” button on St. Patrick’s Day)
Concepts: prejudice
Preconceived opinions or attitudes about a group
Attitudes are learned Substantial psychological research on
prejudice
Psychology of prejudice
Prejudice based on stereotypical thinking: using rigid, inflexible categories
Involves displacement: misdirected anger toward scapegoats
Involves projection: unconscious attribution of one’s own desires to others
Authoritarian personality type prone to prejudice
Concepts: discrimination
Acts that deny members of a group or category access to valued resources or opportunities
Discrimination is behavior May or may not be based on prejudice
Concepts: racism
Shafer: racism is an ideology supporting stratification based on the social construction of race
Giddens: a system of domination in institutions or individual consciousness
Concepts: racism
Review: ideology is a system of ideas which are used to justify a system of power and the actions of the powerful (Giddens, et. al. p. 20)
Racism developed historically– Along with the very concept of race– To justify slavery, conquest, racial prejudice and
discrimination
Concepts: individual racism
Giddens/Duneier/Appelbaum: “Racism is commonly thought of as behavior or attitudes held by certain individuals or groups.” (2002: 336)
This is the direct form of racism experienced in everyday life.
individual racism
racist minority group
prejudice
discrimination
Concepts: institutional racism
Giddens/Duneier/Appelbaum: “racism pervades all of society’s structures in a systematic manner.” (336)
Shafer: patterns of racial stratification woven into the social structure (may include latent, unintended consequences)
institutional racism
Racial stratification: explanations
Historical explanation: Blauner
Lowest ranking minorities (Native Americans, African Americans, Latinos) were oppressed by colonization.
Types of race/ethnic relations: United States and Native Americans
Pluralism: separate identities, equal rights
Genocide: systematic destruction of a group
Ethnic cleansing: forced migration
Assimilation: minority accepted when they adapt majority culture
Constitutional recognition of native nations, treaty rights
Bioterrorism: smallpox blankets
Trail of Tears
Dawes Act (allotment), boarding schools (Haskell)
Racial stratification: why still unequal?
Prejudice has declined Discrimination is illegal Black middle class has improved Asian Americans are the “model minority”
William Julius Wilson: the significance of class
Conditions of the urban underclass have deteriorated
Primarily because of economic shifts, loss of job opportunities
Critics: prejudice and discrimination persist
Wilson responds: meaning and significance of race
Disappearance of work is the central problem of the ghetto
These problems have aggravated race relations
Employers exclude inner city blacks (especially men) from applicant pools: statistical discrimination
Recently, sociologists analyzing interaction of race, class, and gender in social inequality.
raceclass
gender
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