Week 14 Module Race and Ethnicity Sociology of

Week 14 Module: Race and Ethnicity

Sociology of Arts & Humanities Topic: The Struggle for Equality • Name of Artistic Work or Event: Hairspray • Type of Artistic Work or Event: Film Musical • Sociological Theory: Double Consciousness • Theorist: W. E. B. Du Bois • How it reflects or inspires change in society: The musical reflects change towards racial equality of the 1960’s.

Holocaust: Alienation: A often capitalized : the mass slaughter of European civilians and especially Jews by the Nazis during World War II a withdrawing or separation of a person or a person's affections from an object or position of former attachment The Boy in Striped Pajamas Copyright © 2018, 2016, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Affirmative Action is a social policy designed to help minority groups gain opportunities through employment and education The logic is based on 100 s of years of discrimination However, affirmative action has generated significant controversy in the society I know where you've been Obama Election Night Speech

The Big Questions: Learning Objectives (1 of 5) 11. 1: What is the difference between race and ethnicity? Learning Objectives: 11. 1. 1: Compare and contrast contemporary sociologists’ and Max Weber’s definitions of race and ethnicity. 11. 1. 2: Discuss key distinctions between race and ethnicity. 11. 1. 3: Distinguish racial labels from ethnic ones.

The Big Questions: Learning Objectives (2 of 5) 11. 2: Is race real? Learning Objectives: 11. 2. 1: Explain how changing American definitions of who counts as white supports the constructivist view of race. 11. 2. 2: Analyze the arguments against a biological determination of race. 11. 2. 3: Discuss how race is understood differently around the world.

The Big Questions: Learning Objectives (3 of 5) 11. 3: What is racism? Learning Objectives: 11. 3. 1: Discuss the roles of prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination in the sociological definition of racism. 11. 3. 2: Explain how people can be socialized into racism. 11. 3. 3: Present evidence that racial prejudice and discrimination still exist in the United States.

The Big Questions: Learning Objectives (4 of 5) 11. 4: Do race and ethnicity matter anymore? Learning Objectives: 11. 4. 1: Discuss racial disparities in income, wealth, and employment. 11. 4. 2: Describe patterns of educational attainment for minority groups over the last 30 years. 11. 4. 3: Describe persistent patterns of residential segregation in the United States. 11. 4. 4: Identify sociological explanations for an uneven distribution of African American men in the U. S. prison population. 11. 4. 5: Explain racial and ethnic disparities in indicators related to health. 11. 4. 6: Discuss the relationship between high incarceration rates among African American men and their political participation and representation. 11. 4. 7: Discuss how sociologists account for white privilege on various dimensions of social and economic status. 11. 4. 8: Analyze the debate surrounding affirmative action as a tool in the fight against racial stratification.

The Big Questions: Learning Objectives (5 of 5) 11. 5: How are race and ethnicity changing in the twenty-first century? Learning Objectives: 11. 5. 1: Discuss changes in attitudes toward interracial unions and multiracial people in the United States. 11. 5. 2: Explain how the U. S. census has adapted to the evolving shifts in how Americans identify themselves. 11. 5. 3: Analyze the impact of modern demographic and social changes on racial inequality in the United States.

Big Question 11. 1 What Is the Difference Between Race and Ethnicity?

Understanding Race and Ethnicity • Sociologists distinguish race from ethnicity • In everyday practice, the terms race and ethnicity are often used as synonyms for each other – Ethnicity may be viewed as more polite than race – Federal government defines Hispanics as an “ethnic group, ” but popular culture views them as a racial group • Concepts are similar but focus on different kinds of characteristics used to assign people to ethnic or racial groups

Sociological Definitions of Race and Ethnicity (1 of 2) 11. 1. 1: Compare and contrast contemporary sociologists’ and Max Weber’s definitions of race and ethnicity. • Max Weber: One of first sociologists to define ethnicity and race – Ethnic groups: People who are believed to have a shared descent – Race: People with common inherited and inheritable traits that derive from common descent • W. E. B. Du Bois challenged view that distinctive traits had biological component

Sociological Definitions of Race and Ethnicity (2 of 2) • Contemporary sociologists – Share Weber’s view of ethnicity but reject his definition of race in favor of that of W. E. B. Du Bois – Believe that racial identification is as subjective as ethnic classification ▪ Major difference lies in the basis on which group boundaries are drawn ▪ We look for clues about people’s ethnicity as compared to their race – Have come to believe that even perceptions of biological similarity are subjective – Racial classifications are based on beliefs and socially influenced perceptions of which people are biologically similar and which are different

Key Distinctions Between Race and Ethnicity 11. 1. 2: Discuss key distinctions between race and ethnicity. • Race – Race categories have a stronger impact on people’s lives – Racial categories are imposed on individuals by others – Idea of racial hierarchies promoted by European explorers – Racial categories are more regulated • Ethnicity – Ethnic categories have less impact on economic outcomes – Ethnic categories are self- or group-designated – Idea of hierarchies not used with ethnicity in the contemporary era – Ethnic terms are generally not regulated

Distinguishing Racial and Ethnic Labels 11. 1. 3: Distinguish racial labels from ethnic ones. • Overall – Taxonomies depend on time and place – Ethnic and racial categories vary widely across countries • Race: Anchored in color terms • Ethnicity – Associated with local, national, or regional geography rather than continents – Recognized ethnic groups often, but not always, descendants of immigrants

Big Question 11. 2 Is Race Real?

The Social Construction of Race • Sociologists describe race as a social construct – Social construct: Social phenomenon invented by humans and shaped by social forces present at the time and place of its creation – Idea of “races” is invented, but as long as people and governments see this as meaningful, “races” are real • Two views of race – Constructivist view: Racial categories are social creations, not biological facts – Essentialist view: Enduring differences between races are rooted in biological sources and do not change from one generation to the next

Race and Society (1 of 2) 11. 2. 1: Explain how changing American definitions of who counts as white supports the constructivist view of race. The constructivist view of race – Race is an invented classification system – Race is socially created – Societies’ ideas are subject to change

Race and Society (2 of 2) • Americans’ ideas about who is white have changed, lending support to the constructivist view of race • Matthew Frye Jacobson (1998) – Massive wave of European immigration to the United States, 1880 to 1920 – Wave had major cultural impact • Assimilation: People shifted from original ethnicity to American ethnic identity • Boundaries of white category shifted dramatically over last 200 years – People’s bodily characteristics have not changed – Americans have constructed and reconstructed race categories

Race and Biology 11. 2. 2: Analyze the arguments against a biological determination of race. • Racial group designation is a matter of socialization – We can easily spot surface physical differences between people – We assign people to racial groups—matter of socialization ▪ Socialization: Having been trained to pick out particular bodily characteristics and associate them with particular groups • DNA racial analysis starts with human-made rules: Scientists decide which DNA characteristics indicate racial ancestry

Race and Place (1 of 2) 11. 2. 3: Discuss how race is understood differently around the world. • Depending on location, the race concept has emerged in different forms at different times – Race concept: People’s beliefs about race, including their notions of which groups are races and who belongs to which race • Studies of variations in race concept – Hall 2011: Race based on Arab heritage in West Africa – Race based on specific physical traits in Brazil; can vary between full siblings

Race and Place (2 of 2) • Explanations for variations in race thinking – Dikötter (2008): Western race concept spread across the globe in the wake of imperial conquest – Another approach focuses on demographic, economic, and political factors

Big Question 11. 3 What Is Racism?

Contemporary Racism • Americans use racist or racism to describe long list of things: – People can be viewed as racist because of things they say or do – Can also see ideas, speeches, sermons, movies, songs, books, policies, laws, and even political parties as racist • Controversy over what is and isn’t racist comes from lack of explicit definition of what racism is

How Do Sociologists Define Racism and Discrimination? (1 of 2) 11. 3. 1: Discuss the roles of prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination in the sociological definition of racism. • The term racism includes two phenomena: prejudice and discrimination • Prejudices ▪ Negative beliefs or attitudes held about an entire group ▪ Broadly applied and based on subjective and inaccurate information ▪ Prejudgments based on stereotypes, simplified generalizations about

How Do Sociologists Define Racism and Discrimination? (2 of 2) • Discrimination – Involves actions rather than beliefs – Any behavior that harms individuals or puts them at a disadvantage on the basis of their group membership – Maintains social hierarchy by blocking advancement of subordinate groups – Forms ▪ Using negative words or phrases in reference to particular group ▪ Placing limits on opportunities based on racial group membership ▪ Engaging in violent act against an individual or member of a racial group – Classifications ▪ Individual discrimination ▪ Institutional or structural discrimination

Why Does Racism Occur? 11. 3. 2: Explain how people can be socialized into racism. • Psychologists – Saw racism as an expression of personality disorders – Overlook social contexts that shape underlying racists beliefs and behaviors • Sociologists – Consider types of situations where norms encourage prejudicial beliefs or discriminatory acts – Suggest people are socialized into racism

Does Racism Still Exist in the United States? 11. 3. 3: Present evidence that racial prejudice and discrimination still exist in the United States. • Evidence of prejudice – Whites may avoid openly discussing race and frequently use “color-blind” rhetoric that downplays possibility of racism – Racial prejudice persists in mass media portrayals of racial groups • Evidence of discrimination – Pager (2007) and Bertrand Mullainathan (2004): Found racial discrimination plays role in employment in the United States today – Royster (2003) ▪ Found black workers disadvantaged by limited network connections ▪ White workers perceived a black advantage due to affirmative action

Figure 11. 1 a: Post–Civil Rights Era Racial Attitudes on Marriage, Schools, and Residential Choice

Figure 11. 1 b: Post–Civil Rights Era Racial Attitudes on Inequality Due to Group Characteristics

Big Question 11. 4 Do Race and Ethnicity Matter Anymore?

The Impact of Race and Ethnicity Today • Empirical evidence of ongoing prejudice and discrimination – Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965: Landmark pieces of legislation that legally prohibited discrimination • Research shows a clear racial hierarchy – Whites (and sometimes Asians) on top – Hispanics, blacks, and American Indians on the bottom

Disparities in Income, Wealth, and Employment (1 of 4) 11. 4. 1: Discuss racial disparities in income, wealth, and employment. • Nonwhite families have experienced gains in household income since World War II. Despite gains, issues remain: – Income gaps: Persistent gaps in family income between white and nonwhite households for last 40 years – Wealth gaps: Racial gap in household wealth central to current patterns of racial inequality

Disparities in Income, Wealth, and Employment (2 of 4) • Income gap – Between whites and blacks ▪ Except for a few counties, per capita income of whites is much higher than for blacks ▪ Has changed very little over the last few decades – Black and Latino families more likely than white families to fall below the poverty line ▪ Quarter of all black and Latino families, but just 10 percent of white families, are living in poverty ▪ Asian American families average higher incomes than whites, but when we adjust for education levels, whites earn more

Figure 11. 2: Median Household Income by Race, 1967– 2014

Figure 11. 3: Racial Disparities in Per Capita Income

Disparities in Income, Wealth, and Employment (3 of 4) • Wealth gap – Wealth: The sum of all owned assets minus the sum of all debts – When comparing white families and black families with the same income, white families have (on average) seven times more wealth assets than black families – Linked to intergenerational transfer of wealth ▪ Multiple generations of black families have been excluded from home ownership ▪ They have been unable to pass assets from generation to generation

Figure 11. 4: Wealth Gap in the United States

Disparities in Income, Wealth, and Employment (4 of 4) • Employment gap – Smaller proportion of African Americans able to move into upper-middle-class occupations ▪ Remain underrepresented in professional and managerial positions ▪ Remain overrepresented in the lower-wage service sector – Landry and Marsh (2011): Upper-middle-class blacks earn 85 percent of the income of whites in similar professions – Black-white unemployment gap similar since 1960 s ▪ In 2016, the unemployment rate for blacks was 8. 2 percent ▪ Rate was nearly twice the rate of whites

Disparities in Education 11. 4. 2: Describe patterns of educational attainment for minority groups over the last 30 years. • African Americans and Hispanics have experienced substantial educational gains over last three decades • Whites and Asians have made similar gains – Gap between African Americans/Hispanics and whites/Asians remains high – Asian Americans have highest education rates • Education linked to family resources and white and Asian American households generally have more wealth

Figure 11. 5: Gains in Educational Attainment

Residential Segregation 11. 4. 3: Describe patterns of educational attainment for minority groups over the last 30 years. • Despite Civil Rights Act of 1968, African Americans continued to be most residentially segregated group in the United States – Sharkey (2008): Black families more likely to live in low-income neighborhoods than any other racial group • Growing up in in poor, racially segregated neighborhoods impacts life choices – Low-quality schools – Exposure to crime and violence – Less likely to have access to economic opportunities – Have less political influence

Disparities in the Criminal Justice System 11. 4. 4: Identify sociological explanations for an uneven distribution of African American men in the U. S. prison population. • Incarcerations unevenly distributed across population – As of 2014, African American men made up 37 percent of the prison population but only 13 percent of the general population – In 2014, black men six times more likely to be incarcerated than white men • Causes – Increased exposure to difficult living environments – War on drugs ▪ Similar rates of drug use across races ▪ African Americans more likely than whites to be sent to prison for drug use

Figure 11. 6: Incarceration Rates per 100, 000 by Race and Gender in 2014

Disparities in Health and Healthcare Coverage 11. 4. 5: Explain racial and ethnic disparities in indicators related to health. • Disparities exist in variety of health indicators – African Americans have highest rate of infant mortality, homicides, and HIV infection in the United States (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2015) • Many disparities related to differences in healthcare coverage – 30 percent of Hispanics and 20 percent of African Americans lack health insurance – Compare to less than 12 percent of whites – Living in dangerous areas causes higher rates of stress

Disparities in Political Participation and Representation 11. 4. 6: Discuss the relationship between high incarceration rates among African American men and their political participation and representation. • Before 1960 s, Jim Crow disenfranchising prevented African Americans from participating in politics – Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965: Allowed full participation in political life – Differences in rates of participation in elections have narrowed • Obstacles still exist – Large number of African Americans denied voting rights—laws disenfranchise convicted felons – Threats and intimidation limit voter turnout for minorities

How Do We Explain the Privileges of Being White? 11. 4. 7: Discuss how sociologists account for white privilege on various dimensions of social and economic status. • Sociologists reject historic models – Essentialist (biological) model – Cultural (good vs. bad culture) model • Today’s model: Racial stratification linked to opportunities and constraints that result from social context – American society places racial and ethnic minorities at a disadvantage – Linked to historical events – Racial inequalities created by formal and informal discrimination

What About Affirmative Action? (1 of 2) 11. 4. 8: Analyze the debate surrounding affirmative action as a tool in the fight against racial stratification. • Historically, racial stratification and white privilege seen as desirable • For many, this has changed due to historic events – Civil Rights Act of 1964 – Voting Rights Act of 1965 – Affirmative action

What About Affirmative Action? (2 of 2) • Affirmative action – Policies that require organizations or institutions to “actively” consider individuals’ race when making important decisions to encourage minority persons social access – This is hotly debated and involves people’s opinions ▪ Does the person believe racial inequality exists in the United States today? ▪ Person may think racial inequality reflects the biological and behavioral capacities of each race ▪ Person may not agree with the implementation of the program

Big Question 11. 5 How Are Race and Ethnicity Changing in the Twenty-First Century?

Changes in the Twenty-First Century • Face of America has changed a great deal since nation’s founding more than 200 years ago – Population changes – Changing race categories on U. S. Census – Changing stratification

A Changing Population (1 of 2) 11. 5. 1: Discuss changes in attitudes toward interracial unions and multiracial people in the United States. • Contemporary popular culture talks of “new” multicultural society: Story of a nation with growing tolerance leading to greater immigration and interracial mixture over time • What has changed is our attitudes toward multiracial people – Interracial marriage – Multiracial census classifications

A Changing Population (2 of 2) • Immigration: Other major demographic trend reshaping racial and ethnic makeup of the United States – Kritz and Gurak (2004): 1965: immigration reform made it easier for people to enter the United States – Walters and Trevelyan (2011): Top six countries sending immigrants to the United States are Mexico, China, India, the Philippines, Vietnam, and El Salvador – White population in the United States ▪ Fell from 83. 5 percent in 1970 to 63. 7 percent in 2010 ▪ Projected to be less than 50 percent before 2045 ▪ Estimates based on assumptions about fertility and immigration

Changing Classification and Identity 11. 5. 2: Explain how the U. S. census has adapted to the evolving shifts in how Americans identify themselves. • Twentieth century saw several major shifts in how Americans identified themselves in terms of race and ethnicity – 1997: U. S. Census allowed people to identify themselves as more than one race – Likely change: inclusion of “Hispanic/Latino” as a race on government forms

Changing Stratification 11. 5. 3: Analyze the impact of modern demographic and social changes on racial inequality in the United States. • Race may be becoming less important for some groups • Remains a powerful barrier for others – Still associated with pronounced differences in socioeconomic status ▪ Blacks, Hispanics, and American Indians worse off than whites and Asians – Richard Alba (2009) foresees smooth transfer of opportunities for middle-class life from whites to nonwhites ▪ Baby boomers will retire ▪ White and nonwhite young people will move into those jobs

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