Race and Ethnic Group Stratification:

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Race and Ethnic Group Stratification

• Beyond We and They

Soc 100
Dr. Santos
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What Characterizes Race and Ethnic Groups?

• Minority groups
• Distinguishable
• Excluded or denied full participation
• Defined and valued differently
• usually less favorably
• Stereotyped, ridiculed, condemned, or otherwise
  defamed
• Develop collective identities

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What Characterizes Race and Ethnic Groups?

• Minority groups are formed historically and
  sustained by ideology social practice
• Dominant groups are not always a numerical
  majority, but always hold power
• Ethnic and racial groups are the most common
  minority groups in the world, but also castes,
  indigenous tribes, oppressed nationalities

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The Concept of Race

• Race is a group within the human species that is
  identified by a society as presumably having
  certain biologically inherited physical
  characteristics that are significant
• Racial classifications have been based on
  numerous physical characteristics, usually
  accompanying European colonial expansion in the
  American, Asia, and Africa.
• Became highly academic in the 19th century

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Origins of the Concept of Race

• Race relation problems are social-historical in
  origin
• Racist doctrines lack any scientific basis
• Pre-Darwin climate theories, polygenesis vs.
  monogenesis
• In the 1970s, the United Nations issued a
  Statement on Race that stated
• All people are born free and equal both in
  dignity and in rights
• Racism stultifies personal development
• (Racial) conflicts cost nations money and
  resources
• Racism foments international conflict

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Social Construction of Race Symbolic Interaction
Analysis

• Social significance is the idea from Symbolic
  interaction theory that social consequences
  constitute reality when people believe
  something is real, then it becomes real in its
  consequences.
• All individuals classify objects, including
  humans
• People assigned group membership, in part, on
  physical appearance as an easy classificatory
  scheme
• Classifications are used to scientifically study
  humans
• Classifications can provide individuals with an
  identity

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The Significance of Race versus Class

• Racial stratification was the central
  stratification system in the US for many years
• Inequality between Blacks and Whites persist
• Residential segregation persists
• Wealth income inequality persist
• Socioeconomic indicators show persistent
  inequality
• The class division of Black America is growing
• Two in five African Americans are middle-class
• A Black underclass persists in inner-city areas

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Ethnic Groups

• Ethnic groups are groups where membership is
  based on shared cultural heritage and is often
  connected with a national or geographic identity
• Many racial groups are ethnic groups
• Some ethnic groups concentrated in ethnic
  enclaves
• The federal government plays a central role in
  creating ethnic groups regulating ethnic
  relations

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Processes that Keep Minorities Unequal from the
Dominant Group
PROCESS RESULT
Stratification Minority status
Prejudice Poor self-concept, negative relations with others
Racism Negative attitudes, stereotypes, self-fulfilling prophecy
Discrimination Poor jobs, income, education, housing
Negative Contact Hostilities, war, conflict between groups
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Prejudice and Racism Micro-Level Analysis

• Prejudice are attitudes (thoughts and feelings)
  that prejudge/devalue a group, usually negatively
  and not based on facts
• Stereotyping is the categorization of large
  numbers of people by prejudiced individuals
• Often distorted, oversimplified, or exaggerated
  ideas
• Passed down over generations through the culture
  and tradition
• Applied to all members of a group
• Used to justify prejudice, discrimination, and
  unequal distribution of resource
• A self-fulfilling prophesy is the incorporation
  of stereotyped behavior into an individuals view
  of themselves

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Explanations of Prejudice Micro-Level Analysis

• Frustration-aggression theory is a theory which
  states that acts of prejudice and discrimination
  are motivated by anger and frustration
  individuals feel when they cannot achieve their
  work or goals

• Scapegoating is a form of aggressive action
  motivated by frustration against minority groups
  because an individual is unable to vent
  frustration toward the real target or cause

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Racism

• Racism is any attitude, belief, or institutional
  arrangement that favors one racial group over
  another this favoritism may result in
  intentional or unintentional consequences for
  minority groups
• Ideological racism
• Symbolic racism
• Institutional racism

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Discrimination Meso-Level Analysis

• Discrimination is actions taken against members
  of a minority group
• Individual discrimination is action taken against
  minority group members which can take the form of
  exclusion, avoidance, or violence
• Institutional discrimination intentional and
  unintentional actions engrained in the normal or
  routine part of the way an organization operates
  that have consequences that restrict minority
  group members
• Side-effect discrimination
• Past-in-present discrimination
• Discrimination and prejudice are often found
  working together and reinforce one another

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Dominant and Minority Group Contact Macro-Level
Analysis

• The form of dominant and minority group relations
  in a nation depend on several factors
• Who has more power
• The quest of the dominant group for scare
  resources, including land, labor, and commodities
  
• The cultural norms of each group ethnocentrism
• The social histories of the group
• The times and circumstances

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Types of Group Relations
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Theoretical Explanations of Dominant-Minority
Group Relations Conflict Theory

• Privileged people perpetuate prejudice and
  discrimination against minority group members to
  keep privileges and resources
• Three critical factors contribute to hostility
  over resources
• If two groups of people are identifiably
  different then we versus they thinking may
  develop
• If the groups come into conflict over scarce
  resources that both groups want for themselves,
  hostilities are very likely to arise
• If one group has much more power than the other,
  intense dislike between the two groups and
  misrepresentation of each group by the other is
  virtually inescapable

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Theoretical Explanations of Dominant-Minority
Group Relations Conflict Theory

• Split Labor Market theory -- characterizes the
  labor market as having two levels
• Primary labor market, held by native workers
• Secondary labor market, reserved for inmigrants

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Theoretical Explanations of Dominant-Minority
Group Relations Structural Functional Theory

• A cheap pool of labors who are in and out of work
  serves several functions for society
• A cheap pool of labor provides a labor force to
  do dirty work
• They make occupations which service the poor
  possible
• They buy goods others do not want
• They set examples for others of what not to be
• They allow others to feel good about giving to
  charity

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Theoretical Explanations of Dominant-Minority
Group Relations Structural Functional Theory

• Prejudice, racism, and discrimination are
  dysfunctional for society in many ways
• They result in a loss of human resources
• They cost society due to poverty and crime
• They maintain hostilities between groups
• And they fuel disrespect for those in power

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Theoretical Explanations of Dominant-Minority
Group Relations Cultural Explanations

• Prejudice and discrimination are passed on from
  generation to generation through cultural
  transmission through socialization, institutional
  structures, and media stereotypes
• Stereotypes limit the opportunities available to
  minority group members

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The Effects of Prejudice, Racism, and
Discrimination

• Individual Effects
• Unequal life chances, health, and access to
  property
• Victims can also have low self-esteem from
  devalued status in society
• Organizations and communities
• Lose the talents of individuals they exclude
• Government subsidies cost millions but made
  necessary by lack of opportunities for minority
  individuals
• Cultural costs
• Attempts to justify racism by stereotyping and
  labeling

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Minority Reactions to Prejudice, Discrimination,
and Racism

• Five common reactions to dealing with a minority
  group status
• Assimilation
• Acceptance
• Avoidance
• Aggression
• Change-oriented Collective Action

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Policies to Reduce Prejudice, Racism, and
Discrimination

• Micro-Level Policies
• Individual or Small Group Therapy
• Meso-Level Policies
• Organized group contact
• Macro-Level Policies
• Lobbying, educational information dissemination,
  canvassing
• Government agencies
• Civil Rights Commission, Fair Employment
  Practices Commission, Equal Employment
  Opportunity Commission
• Legislation
• Nonviolent Resistance
• Protest marches, rallies, watchdog monitoring,
  and boycotts

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Policies to Reduce Prejudice, Racism, and
Discrimination
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Policies to Reduce Prejudice, Racism, and
Discrimination

• Affirmative Action is a social policy created to
  change the unequal distribution of resources
• Strict affirmative action is a policy that
  involves affirmative or positive steps to make
  sure that unintended discrimination does not
  occur
• Quota systems are policies that require employers
  to hire a certain percentage of minorities
• Preference policies are policies based on the
  belief that sometime people must be treated
  differently in order to treat them fairly and to
  create equality

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Global Movements for Human Rights Macro-Level
Policies

• Global issues and ethnic conflicts in the social
  world are interrelated
• The United Nations passed a Declaration of
  Universal Human Rights after the Holocaust to
  ensure that every global citizen is awarded
  particular human rights
• National governments and privately funded
  advocacy groups work for international human
  rights

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