Minority Race and Ethnicity Main Idea Races are

Minority, Race, and Ethnicity

Main Idea �Races are socially constructed categories that set people apart according to various physical traits.

Objectives �Explain the social construction of race and ethnicity. �Describe the extent and causes of prejudice. �Distinguish discrimination from prejudice.

Objectives continued �Identify examples of pluralism, assimilation, segregation, and genocide. �Assess the social standing of racial and ethnic categories of US society.

Read �Pages from Fryer’s Higher Geography

�People today have a hard time thinking of themselves as a single category. �What is an “American” anyway?

� Don’t forget the melungeons.

�Race—a socially constructed category of people who share biologically transmitted traits that members of a society consider important.

�We tend to see race �Black, white, Asian �Over time, concepts change � 1900—Jews, Italians, and Irishmen were seen as “non -white”

�The three racial categories differ in just 6% of genes �Biologically, race is important only in assessing risk factors for disease.

The social purpose of race �Racial categories allow societies to rank people in a hierarchy.

�The possibility of a “pure” person of one single race is very rare.

A Class Divided � http: //www. pbs. org/wgbh/frontline/film/clas s-divided/

�Ethnicity—a shared cultural heritage based on common ancestry, language, or religion

� Race is biological, while ethnicity is cultural

�Minority—a group of people with physical or cultural traits different from those of the dominant group in the society.

2 Important Characteristics �Share a distinctive identity based on physical or cultural traits �Experience subordination

�Prejudice—Negative feelings toward persons based on their membership in certain groups.

�Prejudice is unfair because all people in some category are described as the same.

�Stereotype—a belief or association that links a whole group of people with certain traits or characteristics

�Are all Arabs Muslim? Muslims Arabic? Muslims terrorists? terrorists Muslim?

�Name meanings �Translate Iran

�Social distance scale—how closely people are willing to interact with members of some category.

�Ethnocentrism—judging others in terms of one’s own cultural standards

�Subjugation—process by which a minority group is denied equal access to the benefits of a society

�Approximately 10 million Africans were forcibly brought to the Western hemisphere during the time of slavery.

�De jure segregation— denial of equal access based on the law. �When were schools in Hawkins County desegregated?

�De facto segregation—denial to equal access based on everyday practice �Job interviews, applications for rental property, etc

�Racism—an extreme form of prejudice that assumes superiority of one group over others.

�Discrimination—treating people differently based on ethnicity, race, religion, or culture.

�Self-fulfilling prophecy—an expectation that leads to behavior that causes the expectation to become reality. �Remember what Jane Elliot said about test scores?

Theories of Prejudice 1. Scapegoat theory—prejudice springs from frustration among people who are themselves disadvantaged

2. Authoritarian Personality Theory �Personality trait in certain individuals �Rigidly conform to conventional values �Clear cut right and wrong �Hierarchical �Little schooling; demanding upbringing

� 3. Culture theory—some prejudice is found in everyone because it is embedded in culture

� 4. Conflict theory—Powerful people use prejudice to justify their oppression of others

�Think of the racial tensions in the deep south in the 1960 s. How would each of these theories apply?

�Institutionalized discrimination—unfair practices that grow out of common behaviors and attitudes and that are a part of the structure of a society.

�Pluralism—a state at which racial and ethnic minorities are distinct but have social parity. �In other words, categories of people are socially different, but share resources equally.

�Is the United States pluralistic?

�Assimilation—the blending or fusing of minority groups into the dominant society.

� Is the “melting pot” a form of assimilation?

�Miscegenation— biological reproduction by partners of different categories.

1967 � https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=8 BI 5 j. Fy. A d. Z 8

� 1967 Loving v. Virginia �US Supreme Court ruled anti miscegenation laws were deemed unconstitutional.

�Segregation—physical separation of categories of people

�Brown v. Board of Education, Topeka, Kansas �The US Supreme Court ruled unanimously that racially segregated schools provided African-American children with inferior schooling.

1963 University of Alabama

Merton’s typology of prejudice �Bigot--a person who strongly and unfairly dislikes other people, ideas, etc. : a bigoted person; especially : a person who hates or refuses to accept the members of a particular group (such as a racial or religious group)

Timid Bigot �Prejudice; but does not discriminate �Politically correct in public

Active Bigot �Also known as an allweather bigot �Prejudice and does discriminate

Fair-weather liberal �Not prejudice but does discriminate �Laugh at jokes, conform to people around them

All-weather Liberal � Is not prejudice and does not discriminate

Advertising

�Genocide—the systemic effort to destroy an entire population. �The Holocaust is the most obvious example. Think of another.

�The Holocaust is also an example of the scapegoat theory. Germany went through extreme economic hardship after WWl. Hitler convinced the people it was the fault of the Jews

� Hate crime—a criminal act motivated by prejudice.

Native Americans �Not “Indians” � 1871 US government declared Native Americans wards of the government �Forced assimilation

�Entitled 1924 to citizenship in

Asian Americans �Order 9066 -detained people of Japanese decent into detention camps after Pearl Harbor attack.

�Why did no one fear German Americans?