Race Chapter 13 Lecture PowerPoint © W. W. Norton & Company, 2008

Race

Chapter 13

Lecture PowerPoint

© W. W. Norton & Company, 2008

Figure 13.5 | Race Questions from the 2000 U.S. Census

What is Race?

You May Ask YourselfCopyright © 2008 W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

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Race = a group of people who share a set of characteristics—usually physical ones—and are said to share a common bloodline.

Racism = belief that members of separate races possess different and unequal human traits.

Race is also a social construct – defined by culture and society (e.g., “whiteness” was broadly defined in the past, more narrow now).

The Concept of Race from the Ancients to Alleles


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Ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome: Did not discriminate based on race. (But did discriminate on other characteristics).

Europeans used racism to justify colonization 19th century: “scientific” attempts to explain race

Most were ethnocentric – saw white as superior Ontological equality – belief that differences were external only

(environmental); all people essentially created equal Darwinism – belief in evolution of most successful traits (white) Eugenics – races had distinct origins, were biologically different

20th century – focus on blood, genetics, DNA

Racial Realities


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Racial identity – race as part of one’s self-concept Racialization formation of a new racial identity around a

formerly unnoticed group of people. Example: 911 - anti-Muslim backlash – singling out of

Arabs or anyone who “looks Arab” Has resulted in prejudice, profiling, and discrimination

based on name or appearance

Race versus Ethnicity


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Race is imposed, usually based on physical differences, hierarchical, exclusive, and unequal.

Ethnicity is voluntary, self-defined, nonhierarchical, fluid, cultural, and not always linked with power differences.

Ethnic identity becomes racialized when it is subsumed under a forced label, racial marker, or “otherness.”

Some sociologists refer to racial-ethnic groups

Racial -ethnic groups in the U.S.


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Native Americans Decimated by European colonizers through war and new

diseases Segregated on reservations, often land that no one

wanted forced assimilation of children in government-run

schools Today Native Americans are on the bottom of the

socioeconomic ladder.

Ethnic Groups in the United States


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The black community in America is marked by high rates of poverty, crime, unemployment, incarceration, and health problems. The community is also expanding as new immigrants from Africa and even “old” immigrants from the Caribbean resist being lumped in with African Americans.



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The Latino population in America is very diverse, though one common trait is that most Latino immigrants have come to the United States voluntarily in search of economic opportunity. Latinos have a somewhat ambiguous racial identity—sometimes they are grouped with whites and sometimes not.



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The first wave of Asian immigrants to the United States in the mid-nineteenth century was mostly unskilled laborers. The current, second wave consists primarily of well-educated and highly skilled people from all over Asia. Asians are unique among U.S. minorities in that they generally achieve a high economic status.

The Importance of Being White


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White people are NOT identified by their specific race American society and culture are mainly “white” White people have more flexibility and power to choose

how they want to be identified. White = not having to think much about race Whiteness has been held up as a standard of normality or

neutrality.

Minority-Majority Relations: Assimilation


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Park (1920) straight-line assimilation model: 4 stages Contact Competition Accommodation Assimilation.

Gordon (1964): variation on Park’s model seven stages or types of immigration Could become stuck in one stage Did not assume that full assimilation was always the

outcome.

Table 13.2 | Gordon’s Stages of Assimilation

Minority-Majority Group Relations


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Ethnic identification can persist even after a group has become fairly well assimilated. One explanation for this phenomenon is primordialism

(the ethnic ties are fixed in a deeply felt connection to one’s homeland culture).

Another is that it is in people’s interests to maintain a strong ethnic identification—it serves as a type of interest group to promote and protect its members.

Minority-Majority Group Relations: Pluralism


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Coexistence of numerous distinct groups in one society, with no one group being in the majority.

Statistical pluralism does not imply cultural pluralism.

The most contentious form of minority-majority group relations is, of course, outright conflict. Genocide is the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group.

Figure 13.2 | Five Largest Foreign-Born Populations in the United States, 1850 to the Present (in thousands)

Minority-Majority Relations: Segregation


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is the legal or social practice of separating people on the basis of their race or ethnicity.

Segregation was official policy in the United States, particularly in the South, until the 1960s.

Still exists in American society today, particularly in schools, housing, and prisons.

Residential segregation has pervasive and long term effects – schools, social networks, job opportunities, safety and security

Minority-Majority Relations: Conflict Forced emigration or deportation Violence, war Genocide Often backed by government policy Based on perceived supremacy of one group. May be reinforced by religion. Recent examples in central Asia, Africa

Four Responses to Domination


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Withdrawal – leave the country or area Passing – change name or appearance to look

more like majority. Other group members may view as rejection of one’s culture

Acceptance – giving in, following norms of dominant culture

Resistance – may be passive, practice own culture in private, or active social movement

Prejudice, Discrimination, and the New Racism


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Prejudice = negative thoughts and feelings about an ethnic or racial group.

Discrimination = harmful or negative acts against people deemed inferior on the basis of their racial category.

Obvious prejudice and discrimination are no longer acceptable, but “new racism,” based on culture and nationality, is emerging. More subtle, harder to fight.

Figure 13.4 | Merton’s Chart of Prejudice and Discrimination

Discriminates Does not discriminate

Prejudiced

Not prejudiced

How Race Matters: The Case of Wealth


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wealth gap = difference in net worth, property, assets. Median family net worth, 2001

White: $106,400 Black: $10,700 Latino: $3000

“Equity Inequality” Has accumulated over many generations Has resulted in part from govt. seizure of land & property Property in minority areas does not appreciate as quickly Govt. policies have not addressed this issue

The Future of Race


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by 2050 whites will no longer be a majority in U.S. Could cause narrowing of definition of white, as

happened in the nineteenth century Whites may try to demarcate boundaries

Significant resegregation in public schools Some desegregation decisions recently reversed White students leave when minorities come

Increasing gaps in wealth and opportunities Possibly wider cultural gaps, more strain & conflict

Documents

Race Chapter 13 Lecture PowerPoint © W. W. Norton & Company, 2008