1 Ethnicity and Race Ethnic Groups and Ethnicity

1 Ethnicity and Race • • Ethnic Groups and Ethnicity Race The Social Construction of Race Stratification and “Intelligence” Ethnic Groups, Nations, and Nationalities Peaceful Coexistence Roots of Ethnic Conflict © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc.

2 Ethnic Groups and Ethnicity • Ethnic group – members share certain beliefs, values, habits, customs, and norms because of their common background – Ethnicity revealed when people claim a certain ethnic identity for themselves and are defined by others as having that identity © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc.

3 Ethnic Groups and Ethnicity • Race is ethnic group assumed to have a biological basis – American culture doesn’t draw a very clear line between ethnicity and race. – Ethnicity – identification with, and feeling part of, an ethnic group and exclusion from certain other groups because of this affiliation © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc.

4 Race/Ethnic Identification in the United States, 2002 © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc.

5 Ethnic Groups and Ethnicity • Status – various positions that people occupy in society – Ascribed status – little or no choice about occupying status • People are born members of a certain group and remain so all their lives – Achieved status – gained through choices, actions, efforts, talents, or accomplishments • May be positive or negative © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc.

6 Social Statuses © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc.

7 Ethnic Groups and Ethnicity • Status Shifting – Some statuses, particularly ascribed ones, mutually exclusive – Some statuses are contextual – Minority Groups – ascribed status associated with a position in the socialpolitical hierarchy • Inferior power and less secure access to resources than majority groups © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc.

8 Race • Cultural category rather than a biological reality – Not possible to define human races biologically – Better to use term “ethnic group” instead of “race” to describe any social group © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc.

9 The Social Construction of Race • Social Races – Ethnic groups assumed to have biological basis but actually defined in a culturally arbitrary, rather than scientific, manner • Race is socially constructed © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc.

10 Hypodescent: Race in the United States • In American culture, one acquires his or her racial identity at birth – Rule of Descent – assigns social identity on basis of ancestry – Hypodescent – automatically places children of a union or mating between members of different groups in the minority group • Helps divide American society into groups that have been unequal in access to wealth, power, and prestige © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc.

11 Race in the Census • U. S. Census Bureau gathering data by race since 1790 – Constitution specified that a slave counted as three-fifths of a white person, and Indians not taxed – Attempt by social scientists and interested citizens to add a “multiracial” category to the census category opposed by NAACP and National Council of La Raza © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc.

12 Reproduction of Questions on Race and Hispanic Origin from Census 2000 Source: U. S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 questionnaire © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc.

13 Americans Reporting They Belonged to Just One Race © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc.

14 Not Us: Race in Japan • American culture ignores considerable diversity as it socially constructs race within U. S. – Also overlooks diversity in Japan – Scholars estimate 10% of Japan’s population minorities of various sorts – Intrinsic racism – belief that perceived racial difference is a sufficient reason to value one person less than another © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc.

15 Not Us: Race in Japan • Valued group in Japan is majority (“pure”) Japanese, who are believed to share “the same blood” – Children of mixed marriages between majority Japanese and others may not get the same “racial” label as the minority parent, but still stigmatized for non-Japanese ancestry © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc.

16 Not Us: Race in Japan • Majority Japanese define themselves by opposition to others – Japanese culture regards certain ethnic groups as having a biological basis, when there is no evidence • Burakumin – descendants of a low-status social class; genetically indistinguishable from the dominant population; treated as a different race • Discrimination against burakumin strikingly similar to discrimination that blacks faced in U. S. © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc.

17 Phenotype and Fluidity: Race in Brazil • The Brazilian construction of race is attuned to relatively slight phenotypic differences – Phenotype – organism’s evident traits, its physiology and anatomy, including skin color, hair form, facial features, and eye color – More than 500 distinct racial labels reported © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc.

18 Ethnic Groups and Ethnicity • Brazilian “race” far more flexible – Individual’s racial classification may change due to achieved status, developmental biological changes, and other irregular factors – No hypodescent rule ever developed in Brazil to ensure whites and blacks remained separate © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc.

19 Stratification and “Intelligence” • Dominant groups declare minorities to be biologically inferior – Evidence that within any stratified society differences in performance between economic, social, and ethnic groups reflect different experiences and opportunities • Differences not genetic – Contemporary human populations seem to have comparable learning abilities © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc.

20 Ethnic Groups, Nations, and Nationalities • Nation once synonymous with “tribe” or “ethnic group” • Nation now means a state – independent, centrally organized political unit • Migration, conquest, and colonialism led most nation-states to become ethnically heterogeneous. © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc.

21 Nationalities and Imagined Communities • Nationalities – groups that now have, or wish to have or regain autonomous political status – Nationalities are imagined communities • Diasporas – dispersed populations spread out from a common center or homeland © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc.

22 Assimilation • When minority adopts the patterns and norms of a host culture – “Melting pot” model – Incorporates into the dominant culture to point where it no longer exists as a separate cultural unit © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc.

23 The Plural Society • A society combining ethnic contrasts, ecological specialization, and economic interdependence – Barth believed ethnic boundaries are most stable and enduring when groups occupy different ecological niches – Barth shifted analytic focus from specific cultural practices and values to relations between ethnic groups (interdependence and exchange) © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc.

24 Multiculturalism and Ethnic Identity • Multiculturalism – socializes individuals into the dominant (“national”) culture and into a minority (“ethnic”) culture (salad/mosaic model) – Number and size of minority ethnic groups grew dramatically in recent years – Multiculturalism seeks ways for people to understand interact with a respect for differences © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc.

25 Ethnic Composition of the United States © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc.

26 Roots of Ethnic Conflict • Prejudice and Discrimination – Prejudice – devaluing a group because of its assume behavior, values, capabilities or attributes – Discrimination – policies and practices that harm a group and its members • De facto – practiced but not legally sanctioned • De jure – part of the law © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc.

27 Roots of Ethnic Conflict • Chips in the Mosaic – Ethnic competition and conflict evident in North America • New arrivals versus long-established ethnic groups • Aftermaths of oppression – Genocide – Forced assimilation – Ethnocide – Cultural colonialism © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc.

28 Roots of Ethnic Conflict • Cultural colonialism – Colonialism – political, social, economic, and cultural domination of a territory and its people by a foreign power for an extended time – Refugees – people who have been forced or who have chosen to flee a country to escape persecution or war © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. © 2008 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc.