Race and Ethnicity Chapter 12 What is race

Race and Ethnicity Chapter 12

What is race? • Race- a group of people with inherited physical characteristics that distinguish it from another group (biological charasteristics) • Thoughts of racial superiority can lead to genocide or the attempt to destroy a group of people because of their presumed race or ethnicity

What is ethnicity? • Ethnicity- people who can identify with one another on the basis of common ancestry and cultural heritage • Sense of belonging centers around nation of origin, foods, clothing, language, music, religion, etc.

Minority groups • People who are singled out for unequal treatment and who regard themselves as objects of collective discrimination. • Not necessarily a numerical minority (ex. Slaves and slave owners) • Dominant groups- have greater power, privilege and social status. Use their position to discriminate those who are different.

Minority groups • How does a group become a minority group? 1. Expansion of political boundaries- when a group expands it produces minority groups if it incorporates people with different customs, physical characteristics, etc. 2. Migration- can be voluntary or involuntary 3. There is still argument on how exactly women became a minority

Sense of ethnicity • Why do you think some people feel an intense sense of ethnic identity while others hardly feel any? Low sense • Part of majority • Greater power • No discrimination Heightened sense • Smaller numbers • Lesser power • Discrimination

Prejudice and Discrimination Explain the difference between discrimination and prejudice. Prejudice is learned from those around us Prejudice does not depend on negative experiences. People can be prejudice against people they have never met or that do not exist. • People can even discriminate against their own group. (ex. Lighter skinned Latinos, African Americans and Indians are seen as more attractive than those who are darker skinned) • https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=EQACkg 5 i 4 AY color test • https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=9 Izfz. Mnw. HJI maintaining cultural identity for Latinos • •

Patterns of Intergroup Relations GENOCIDE • • Ex. The Holocaust and Rwanda • But the real question is. . . Why do ordinary people participate in a genocide? In both cases, ordinary citizens whose participation was facilitated by labels that singled them out as enemies who deserved to die. - Labels that dehumanize others help people to compartmentalize or separate their acts from their sense of being good and moral people - Regarding members of a particular group as inferior or less than human means it’s okay to treat them inhumanely. 8

Patterns of Intergroup Relations POPULATION TRANSFER • Indirect transfer- making life so unbearable for members of a minority that they leave “voluntarily” (ex. Upper class Cubans leaving after Fidel Castro took over) • Direct transfer- dominant group expels a minority (ex. Japanese relocation camps) 9

Patterns of Intergroup Relations INTERNAL COLONIALISM • A country’s dominant group exploits minority groups for its economic advantage • Dominant group manipulates social institutions to suppress minorities and deny them full access to society’s benefits. 10

Patterns of Intergroup Relations SEGREGATION • The separation of racial or ethnic groups • Dominant groups maintain social distance from the minority and yet exploit their labor in low level jobs (ex. cooks or nannies) • Does this institution still exist today in America? 11

Patterns of Intergroup Relations ASSIMILATION • The processes by which a minority group is absorbed into the mainstream culture. • Forced assimilation- dominant group refuses to allow minority group to practice religion and customs (ex. Native Americans) • Permissible assimilation- minority group allowed to adopt dominant group’s patterns in their own way 12

Patterns of Intergroup Relations MULTICULTURALISM (PLURALISM) • Permits or encourages racial and ethnic variation • Minority groups able to maintain separate identifies yet participate freely in the country’s social institutions. • Will this ever happen in America? 13