RACE & ETHNICITY

What is race?

• A group with inherited physical characteristics that distinguishes it from another group
• Race is a reality...
• We come in different shapes & colors

HOW IS RACE A MYTH?

• No race is superior to others
• No pure races exist - Classifications have ranged 2-2000
• People are 99% similar as mapped by human genome project
• The myth of race makes a difference for social life - people believe ideas are real and they act on their beliefs

ETHNICITY

• Often confused with race
• Ethnicity/ethnic refer to cultural characteristics that define people
• We see cultural differences and then use them to define race

MINORITY GROUPS

• People who are singled out for unequal treatment & who regard themselves as objects of collective discrimination
• Do not need to be numerical minority

Untitled Slide

• Dominant group has greater power, more privilege & higher social status
• Dominate group attributes its privileged position to superiority not result of discrimination

MINORITY GROUP CHARACTERISTICS:

• Membership based on ascribed status
• Traits not valued by society
• Practice endogamy
• Strong sense of group solidarity
• Receive unequal treatment -

ETHNIC WORK

• Refers to how ethnicity is constructed
• Includes enhancing/maintaining a group's distinctiveness or attempting to recover ethnic heritage
• Challenges the notion of "melting pot"

PREJUDICE & DISCRIMINATION

• Discrimination is unfair treatment directed toward someone
• Prejudice is prejudging someone (usually in a negative way)
• Implicit association test - psychologists have found that we hold biased perceptions of racial groups through ethnic maps that we have learned in our culture

INSTITUTIONAL DISCRIMINATION

• Negative treatment of a minority group that is built into society's institutions
• Ex. Race as a factor in mortgage/car loans (AfAm/Latinos 60% to be denied loan)
• Ex. Effects medical care - less likely to receive coronary bypass/knee replacement surgery

PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES

• Results from frustration - find scapegoats to unfairly blame
• Authoritarian personality

SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES

• F: Social environment can generate positive or negative feelings about people
• C: Ruling class systemically pits groups against each other - weakens worker solidarity & bargaining power

Untitled Slide

• SI: labels we learn color our perceptions - leading to selective perception; labels are powerful, emotional laden stereotypes which justify prejudice/discrimination and lead to self-fulfilling prophecy

PATTERNS OF INTERGROUP TREATMENT

• Genocide
• Population transfer
• Subjugation
• Segregation - dejure/defacto
• Assimilation - forced/permissive
• Multiculturalism (cultural pluralism)

U.S. RACE & ETHNIC RELATIONS

WASPS

• 61% of total U.S. population
• Established basic social institutions in the U.S.
• WASPS were very ethnocentric - viewed immigrants as inferior
• White ethnics (Germans, Irish, Poles, Jews, & Italians) were white immigrants whose cultures differed from WASPS; initially discriminated

LATINOS

• 18% of total U.S. population
• Made up of different ethnic groups
• May be black, white, or Native American
• Largest minority group in the U.S.
• Concentrated in 4 states: CA, TX, NY, FL
• Divisions of social class and country of origin prevent political unity

AFRICAN AMERICANS

• 12% of total U.S. population
• Face legacy of racism
• Political & economic progress since Civil Rights Movement
• Still lag behind: average 61% of whites' income

ASIAN AMERICANS

• 6% of total U.S. population
• History of discrimination - Chinese/1880s, Japanese/WWII
• On average, higher annual income & lower unemployment rates
• 3 Success factors: assimilation, education, close family life
• Resent "model minority" label

NATIVE AMERICANS

• 1% of total U.S. population
• Invisible minority group
• Half live in 3 states: OK, CA, AZ
• Highest rates of suicide & lower life expectancy of any U.S. minority group
• 1960s legal victories restored control over land and right to determine economic policy
• Led to many Native Americans to be interested in recovering/honoring their own traditions

LOOKING TOWARD THE FUTURE

• Fear of immigration consequences is at issue again
• Role of affirmative action
• Can we become a multicultural nation?