Transcript Chapter 1

Chapter 9
Race and Ethnicity
( 1 of 18)
Short Film: “MultiFacial”
Discussion:
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Race/ethnicity
Multi-racial identity
Language/superlatives
Looking-glass self
Dramaturgical analysis
Stereotypes
( 2 of 18)
Race is a socially constructed reality
• Race
– No biological or genetic validity
– category of people who have been singled
out as inferior on the basis of . . .
subjectively selected attributes
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( 4 of 18)
• Ethnicity - sharing of common characteristics
• Ethnic group
– A collection of people distinguished, by
others or by themselves, primarily on the
basis of cultural or nationality
characteristics
(1) unique cultural traits
(4) ascribed membership
from birth
(2) sense of community
(5) territoriality
(3) feeling of ethnocentrism
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Human Racial
Classification
Family and
Ancestral ties
Lineage
Religion and
Cultural
Differences
Skin hues, hair
texture,
eye shape
Culture
Physiognomy/
Biology
“White”
superiority
time
( 6 of 18)
Power Relationships
• Majority Group and Minority Group
• Dominant group
– advantaged
– has superior resources and rights
• Subordinate group
– disadvantaged
– subjected to unequal treatment
– objects of collective discrimination
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• Prejudice
– negative attitude based on faulty generalizations
about members of selected racial, ethnic, or other
groups
• Stereotypes
– overgeneralizations
• appearance
• behavior
• other characteristics
• Racism
– Beliefs Attitudes  Practices
– justification of superior and inferior treatment
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Theories of Prejudice
• Frustration-aggression hypothesis
– aggression towards others when
goals are not met
• “scapegoat”  substitutes for
actual source of the frustration
• Social learning
– observing/imitating others
(parents and/or peers)
• Authoritarian personality
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excessive conformity
submission to authority
intolerance, insecurity
rigid stereotypical thinking
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Which theories of prejudice might apply to this photo?
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Merton’s Typology of Prejudice and Discrimination
Prejudiced
attitude?
Discriminatory
behavior?
Unprejudiced
nondiscriminator
No
No
Unprejudiced
discriminator
No
Yes
Prejudiced
nondiscriminator
Yes
No
Prejudiced
discriminator
Yes
Yes
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Functionalist Perspectives:
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Assimilation - absorption
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Cultural (acculturation)
Structural (integration)
Biological (amalgamation)
Psychological
Ethnic Pluralism - coexistence
Melting pot
or
salad bowl?
• Equalitarian (accommodation)
• Inequalitarian (segregation)
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de jure “by law”
de facto “by custom”
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• Sincere fictions
– personal beliefs that reflect
larger societal mythologies
Racism no
longer
exists!
“How is it possible to have this tremendous level of
racial inequality in a country where most people
(whites) claim that race is no longer a relevant social
factor and that "racists" are a species on the brink of
extinction? More significantly, how do whites explain
the contradiction between their professed colorblindness and America's color-coded inequality?”
-excerpted from
-“The Strange Enigma of Racism in Contemporary America”
by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva
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Questions?
Comments?
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