RACE AND ETHNICITY

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RACE AND ETHNICITY

• RACE
• Biological characteristic that is common to a
  given group of people that society deems socially
  significant.
• Reality --humans come in different colors and
  shapes

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• Myth -- because there are no pure races.
• Race is therefore socially constructed in order
  to rank people in a hierarchy.
• Ethnicity
• refers to cultural characteristics that
  distinguish people.

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• Minority -- group of people who are singled out
  for unequal treatment. They are not necessarily
  numerical minority.
• The group that does the discrimination is known
  as the dominant group -- have more power,
  privilege, and social status.

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Prejudice

• Is a rigid positive or negative opinion about a
  category of people based on real or imagined
  characteristics.
• Stereotypes -- prejudicial views of some
  category of people.
• Racism -- belief that one racial group is
  superior or inferior to another.

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Discrimination

• Involves treating certain categories of people
  unequally. Can be positive or negative.
• Institutional discrimination -- refers to bias in
  attitude that is inherent in the operation of an
  institution.

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• Robert Merton -- prejudice and discrimination may
  combine in four ways
• a) Active bigotry
• b) Timid bigotry
• c) Fair-weather liberalism
• d) All-weather liberalism

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Interaction between Majority and Minority

• Pluralism --- racial and ethnic minorities are
  distinct, but are equal.
• Genocide -- the dominant group tries to destroy
  the minority.
• Segregation -- dominant group structures social
  institutions to maintain minimal contact with the
  minority.

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• Assimilation -- The dominant group absorbs the
  minority.
• Internal colonialism -- the dominant group
  exploits the minority.
• Miscegenation (amalgamation) -- racial
  interbreeding.
• Hypersegregation -- formation of socially
  isolated minority ghettoes.

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THEORIES OF PREJUDICE

• Why are people prejudiced?
• Eugene Hartley (1946) prejudice research found
  that
• a) People prejudiced against one racial or ethnic
  group tend to be prejudiced against other groups.
• b) Prejudice does not depend on negative
  experience with others.

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• Psychological Theories
• Frustration and Scapegoat. In 1939, psychologist
  John Dollard suggested that prejudice is the
  result of frustration.
• The authoritarian Personality theory by Theodore
  Adorno. Sees prejudice as a personality-level
  trait.
  

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Sociological Theories

• Structural Functionalism -- Prejudice is
  functional in that it creates in-group solidarity
  and out-group antagonism.
• Social Conflict theory -- focuses on competition
  and the ability of some group to exploit others.
• Symbolic interactionism--examines how perception
  and labels produce prejudice.