UNDERSTANDING RACE AND ETHNICITY

1. UNDERSTANDING RACE AND ETHNICITY CHAPTER 1

2. SOCIOLOGY OF INTERGROUP RELATIONS • THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES • Functionalism • Conflict Theory • Labeling Theory • Subordinate groups created by processes of: • Immigration • Annexation • Colonialism

3. Process of expulsion may remove the presence of a subordinate group • ASSIMILATION • Demands subordinate-group conformity • PLURALISM • Implies mutual respect between diverse groups • Assimilation and pluralism are significant for racial and ethnic oppression in the US today

4. What is a Subordinate group? • What does and does not determine minority group status? • Minority status is not based on the size of a group • Minority/Majority group membership is not necessarily mutually exclusive • Minority status may vary according to geopolitical boundaries • Minority/Majority is related to the distribution of power

5. What are the five characteristics that defines a minority/subordinate group? • 1. Unequal treatment and less power over one’s life • 2. Distinguishing physical or cultural traits that the dominant group holds in low regard • 3. Involuntary membership or ascribed status • 4. Group solidarity awareness of subordinate status and oppression • 5. Marital endogamy - patterns of in-group marriage

6. Types of Subordinate Groups • Racial groups - are groups that are set apart on the basis of obvious physical differences within a society • What is obvious is relative to the group or society • Ethnic groups - are groups that are set apart on the basis of cultural traits and nationality • Religious groups - consists of religious associations that are set apart from the dominant religion • Gender groups - such as women who are set apart on the basis of sex • Other subordinate groups - are those that are set apart on the basis of age, disability or sexual orientation

7. Does Race Matter? • Biological school of thought and meaning of race • Racial groups as genetically discrete population groups are based on the following: • There are subpopulations within the human race • That one sub-group may be distinguished biologically from another on the basis of genetic traits

8. Criticisms of the Biological View • Idea of Biological Race is based on mistaken notion of a genetically isolated human group • Genetic traits are continuous so it is impossible to state where one group begins and ends and another starts • Within group, variations are greater than differences between groups • Each trait is independent from the other • Human species contain no subgroups

9. Social Construction of Race • Race is important because of the social meaning people have attached to it • Race is a social construct based on how people define themselves and others on physical and social characteristics • Racial classifications are a function of how people define, label and categorize themselves and others into groups • Racism • The feeling that certain groups or races are inherently superior to others

10. Racial Formation • A socio-historical process by which racial categories are created, inhibited, transformed, and destroyed • Powerful define groups of people in a way that depends on a racist social structure • Dominant group has the power to impose its racial definitions onto others • In Southern U.S., social construction was known as the “one-drop rule”

11. Stratification by Class and Gender • Stratification • The structured ranking of entire groups that perpetuates unequal rewards and power in a society • Class or Social Ranking • People who share similar wealth, according to Weber’s definition • Upward mobility may be difficult for subordinate group members faced with lifelong prejudice and discrimination

12. Sociology and the Study of Race and Ethnicity • Ethnic and racial stratification • The structure and process by which race and ethnicity determines life chances and access to socially desirable resources such as housing, justice, education, wealth, power, etc. • Stratification is interconnected by • Racial • Ethnic • Religious • Age • Gender

13. Theoretical Perspectives • Functionalist Perspective • society is like a living organism in which each part contributes to the whole and emphasizes how the parts of society are structured to maintain its stability • The five functions of racial inequality • Racist ideologies provides justification for unequal treatment • Discourages subordinate people from attempting to question their low status • Justify existing practices but also serves as a rallying point for social movements • Racists beliefs provide support for the existing social order • Relieve the dominant group of responsibility to address the economic and educational problems faced by subordinate groups

14. Dysfunctions of racial inequality • Fail to utilize all human potential and limits the search for talent and leadership to the dominant group • Aggravates social problems and places the financial burden of alleviating those problems on the dominant group • Investment of time and money to defend barriers that prevent full participation of all • Undermines diplomatic ties between nations and affect efforts to increase global trade • Inhibits social change because this may assist a subordinate group • Promotes disrespect for law enforcement and the peaceful settlements of disputes

15. Conflict Perspective • Assumes the social structure is best understood in terms of conflict or tension between competing groups • The subordinate group is criticized for its low status and the dominant’s group responsibility is often ignored • Ryan (1976) • “Blaming the Victim” – portraying the problems of racial and ethnic minorities as their fault rather than recognizing society’s responsibility

16. Labeling Approach • Related to the conflict perspective and its concern over blaming the victim and is titled labeling theory • Labeling Theory • Concept introduced by Howard Becker • Attempt to explain why certain people are viewed as deviant and others engaging in the same behavior are not • Stereotypes • Unreliable generalizations about all members of a group that do not take individual differences into account and is not limited to racial and ethnic groups

17. The Creation of Subordinate-Group Status • Population Migration – 1st Pattern • Emigration or leaving an area to move elsewhere such as the Irish leaving Ireland • Immigration or coming into an area such as the Irish coming to the United States. • Immigration may be voluntary or it may be involuntary • Populations usually migrate because of a combination of push and pull factors

18. Annexation – 2nd Pattern • An indigenous group is incorporated into another society • Colonialism – 3rd Pattern • The political, socio-cultural and economic domination of an indigenous population by a foreign power • Internal Colonialism • Relations between the colonizer and the colony are similar to those between the dominant and subordinate people within the same country

19. The Consequences of Subordinate-Group Status • Genocide • Systematic extermination of subordinate group at the hands of the dominant group • Extermination • The forcing of a specific subordinate group to leave certain areas or even vacate a country • Secession • A group ceases to be a subordinate group when it secedes to form a new nation or moves to an established nation, where it becomes dominant

20. Segregation • The physical separation of two groups in residence, workplace, and social functions, generally imposed by the dominant group • Fusion • Occurs when a minority and majority group combine to form a new group • Amalgamation • The process by which a dominant group and a subordinate group combine through intermarriage • Melting Pot • Diverse racial or ethnic groups form a new creation, a new cultural identity

21. Assimilation • The process by which a subordinate individual or group takes on the characteristics of the dominant group and is eventually accepted as part of that group • Five reasons assimilation would take longer: • Differences between minority and majority are large • Majority is not receptive or minority retains its culture • Minority group arrives over a short period of time • Minority group residents are concentrated rather than dispersed • Arrival is recent and the homeland is accessible

22. The Pluralist Perspective • Pluralism • Implies that various groups in a society have mutual respect for one another’s culture, a respect that allows minorities to express their own culture without prejudice or hostility • Bilingualism • The use of two or more languages in places of work or education with each language being treated as equally legitimate

23. Who Am I? • Ethnic Identity • Non-ethnics • Panethnicity • Ethnicity as a political and bureaucratic administrative process • Marginality • The status of being between two cultures • DuBois “Double-Consciousness” • Also caused by incomplete assimilation

24. Resistance and Change • Dominant group define the terms by which all members of society operate • Continuing theme in dominant-subordinate relations is the minority group’s challenge to its subordination • Resistance is seen in efforts by racial and ethnic groups to maintain their identity through newspapers, organizations, and modern technology

25. Resistance may begin through small actions that leads into a broader investigation • Change is occurring • Hate-crime legislation • Afrocentric Perspective • Emphasizes the customs of African Cultures and how they pervaded the history, culture, and behavior of Blacks in the U.S. and around the world • In considering today’s inequalities, it is easy to forget how much change has taken place

26. Questions

27. What are three examples of the Social Construction of race in U.S. Culture?

28. Describe the process of racial formation in America. How was it designed?

29. What is the Function(alism) of racism in human society?

30. Provide an example of the Conflict Perspective of race in human society.

31. Besides racial groups, what other groups can be stereotyped?

32. Was there ever a genocidal action in America? Describe how and against whom.

33. Why is it difficult for racial minorities to assimilate in the dominant group of America?