Transcript Race: Myth and Reality - Yesenia King

Inequalities of Race and Ethnicity
Chapter 9
Race: Myth and Reality
• Myth 1 - Idea That Any Race is Superior
– All Races Have Geniuses and Idiots
– Genocide Still Around
• Myth 2 - Idea that Any Race is Pure
– Human Characteristics Flow Endlessly Together
The Significance of Race
• Race - a category of people with inherited physical
features that distinguish it from another category.
– Both a myth and a reality
• Myth of race makes a difference for social life.
Race and Ethnicity
• Racism connects biological differences
with judgment of innate superiority or
inferiority.
• Ethnicity and ethnic – refer to cultural
characteristics that distinguish people.
Definition of a Minority
•
•
A minority refers to a relatively small number of
people.
Refined the definition to specify:
– a group of people who are physically or culturally
singled out from others for unequal treatment &
– who regard themselves as objects of collective
discrimination.
• Not necessarily a numerical minority
The Significance of Ethnicity
• Ethnic minority – socially identified by its unique
characteristics related to culture or nationality.
– Cultural differences define ethnic minorities.
– Because of their differences from the host culture,
ethnic minorities are subcultures.
– Ethnic minorities have a way of life that is based
on their own language, religion, values, beliefs,
norms, and customs.
Minority and Dominant Groups
• Dominant Group - Group with Most…
– Power
– Privileges
– Highest Social Status
• Dominant Group Does the Discriminating
• Minority Groups Occur Because of…
– Expansion of Political Boundaries
– Migration
Patterns of Racial and Ethnic
Relations
• When different racial and ethnic groups interact
there are two major types of outcomes:
– pattern of assimilation- groups become cultural
and socially fused
• assimilation, multiculturalism
– pattern of conflict
• genocide, population transfer, internal
colonialism, segregation
Patterns of Racial and Ethnic
Relations
Theories of Prejudice and Discrimination
• Prejudice – is prejudging in some way, usually
negative; an overgeneralization based on biased or
insufficient information; attitude/belief.
– Internalizing Dominant Norms
• Lighter/Darker Skin
• Ethnic Maps
• Discrimination – unequal treatment of people
based on their minority membership.
– Discrimination is action
A Sense of Ethnicity
Theories of Prejudice and Discrimination
• Stereotype – a set of ideas based on distortion,
exaggeration, and oversimplification that is applied
to all members of a social category.
• Hate Crime – a criminal act motivated by prejudice
(related to race, religion, sexual orientation, national
origin, or ancestry).
Institutionalized Discrimination
• Institutionalized discrimination – negative treatment
of a minority group that is built into society’s institutions.
– the result of unfair practices that are part of the structure of
society and have grown out of traditionally accepted
behaviors.
• American history reflects the open and legal practice of
discrimination against members of various minorities
(e.g., internment of Japanese Americans during WWII).
Direct and Indirect Institutionalized
Discrimination
• Direct institutionalized discrimination – refers to
organizational or community actions intended to
deprive a racial or ethnic minority of its rights (e.g.,
Jim Crow laws)
• Indirect institutionalized discrimination – refers to
unintentional behavior that negatively affects a
minority (e.g., high school exit exams).
• Color-blind Racism- Edward Bonilla Silva
Institutional Discrimination
• Health Care
Race – Ethnicity and Mother/Child Deaths
Institutional Discrimination
• Home Mortgages and Car Loans
Buying a House: Institutional Discrimination in Mortgages
Functionalist Perspective
• Functionalists have focused on the functions and
dysfunctions of prejudice and discrimination
– Functions: in-group solidarity and out-group
antagonism
– Dysfunctions: negative; destroys human relationships;
social, political, educational, and economic costs of
the exploitation and oppression of minorities are
extremely high.
Conflict Perspective
• According to conflict perspective, a majority uses
its prejudice and discrimination as weapons of
power in the domination of a minority.
• Ruling class systematically pits group against
group.
– Solidarity among groups weakens = they benefit
– Keep Workers Insecure
– Exploit Racial-Ethnic Divisions
– Ex. Black / Latino conflict
Symbolic Interactionist Perspective
• Prejudice and discrimination are acquired through
socialization.
• The labels we learn color our perceptions – leading to
selective perception (labels create prejudice)
– We see certain things and are blind to others
• We learn our prejudices in interaction with others.
• Self-fulfilling prophecy – Stereotypical behavior in those
who are stereotyped
– Ex. Asians’ pressure to succeed
Theoretical Perspectives: Prejudice
and Discrimination
African Americans
• Face a legacy of discrimination.
• African Americans make up second largest minority
group.
• Gap between African Americans and whites in
education, income, and employment represents the
legacy of centuries of prejudice and discrimination.
U.S. Population by Racial and
Ethnic Group, 2008
Socioeconomic Characteristics of
African Americans
Gender Differences for African
Americans
• African American females with college degrees
earn substantially more than the median for all
African American men.
• African American college-educated women earn as
much as white women with college degrees.
• 1/3 of African American women enter college and
1/4 of African American men enter college.
“Two Black Americas”
• According to Richard Freeman, a black elite has
been emerging in America,
• As opposed to a black underclass composed of
the permanently poor trapped in inner-city
ghettos.
“Two Black Americas”
• Some theorists, such as
William Julius Wilson,
discuss the declining
significance of race for
African Americans.
• The premise is that race is
less important than
resources in determining life
chances or economic class.
• Ex. Discrimination in
Apartment Rentals
Latinos
• May be black, white, or Native American
• Latinos make up largest minority group
• Just under 2/3 of Latinos are of Mexican descent. About 1/10
are Puerto Ricans. Cubans are the third most populous
category of Latinos.
Socioeconomic & Educational Status of Latinos
• 62% of Latinos (age 25+) have completed high school.
– Mexican Americans have the lowest levels of educational achievement,
and Cubans the highest.
• Average income is higher than African Americans, but lower than whites.
– Puerto Ricans are the poorest among Latino groups and Cubans are
the most affluent.
Native Americans
• Divided into approximately 500 tribes and bands.
• Tribal groups are as different from one another as from the
dominant culture.
• Number between 2 million – 4.5 million.
• Median income is less than $35,000/year
• 14% of Native Americans 25 years or older had completed four
years or more of college.
• Currently no Native American members of the U.S. Senate and two
in the House of Representatives.
• Invisible minority
Asian Americans
• Nearly 15 million Asians live in the United States.
• Largest groups are from China, the Philippines, Japan, India,
Korea, and Vietnam.
• Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) suspended all Chinese immigration
for 10 years; Strict federal legislation continued to be passed until
after 1940.
• 1942 led to internment of Japanese in America (2/3 were
American citizens).
• Asian Americans have been particularly successful at using the
education system for upward mobility.
• Almost 50% of Asian Americans have completed 4 years of college.
White Ethnics
• WASPS – very ethnocentric and racist
• White ethnics are immigrants or descendants
of immigrants from eastern and southern
European nations.
• White ethnics, when compared to WASPs,
were more likely to be sympathetic to
government help for the poor and were more
in favor of integration.
Middle Easterners
• Arabs are people from the Middle East (Pakistan,
Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Turkey, the Arabian peninsula)
and Arab North Africa.
• Muslims are followers of Islam; Not all Arabs are
Muslims and not all Muslims are Arabs.
• Immigrant population: 200,000 in 1970 to
1.5 million today.
• ½ of all Middle Easterners have graduated
from college; 20% with post-graduate
degrees.
What are the consequences of
increased immigration?
Positive
• helps employers because
immigrants will often do work
avoided by the native
population, and they will work
longer for less pay
• immigrants can promote
increased tolerance and
understanding of diversity
• educated immigrants provide
a talent pool benefiting their
new country
Negative
• employers exploit immigrants
because they work more
cheaply at unpleasant jobs
• the poorer countries from
which many immigrants come
experience a talent pool drain
• immigration may bring
increased criminal activity
• immigrant minorities
• can create conflict within a
society
Dual Labor Market Theory
• The dual labor market theory - the existence of a
split between core and peripheral segments of the
economy and the division of the labor force into
preferred and marginalized workers.
• Rewards for hard work, education, and training vary.
– Workers in the core sector enjoy high wages,
opportunities for advancement, and job security.
– Those in the peripheral sector are employed in lowpaying jobs with little hope for advancement.
Global and U.S. Ethnic Diversity
• Normally, immigration is from developing
countries to more developed countries,
with people seeking better jobs, wages,
and living conditions.
– push and pull factors
Looking Towards the Future
• The Immigration Debate
• Affirmative Action
• Towards a True Multicultural Society
Projections of the Racial–Ethnic Makeup of the
US Population
Race – Ethnicity and Comparative Well-Being
Race – Ethnicity and Education