Diversity In America: MajorityMinority Relations

1
Diversity In America Majority-Minority
Relations

• RACE,
• What Is IT?

2
Introduction

• 2050
• No single majority in U.S.
• demographic perspective
• strictly numbers
• Research Issue
• defining race

3
Definitions

• Textbook (Parrillo 2000571)
• a categorization in which a large number of
  people sharing visible physical characteristics
  regard themselves or are regarded by others as a
  single group on that basis.

4
Definitions cont

• a grouping of people generally considered to be
  physically distinct in some way from others and
  regarded by themselves or others to be a distinct
  group (Farley 2000528).

5
Definitions cont

• A multidimensional definition
• a social category based on the identification of
  (1) a physical marker transmitted through
  reproduction and (2)individual, group, and
  cultural attributes associated with that marker
  (Smelser, Wilson, and Mitchell 20013).

6
Examination of Definition

• One
• race is a form of ethnicity
• Two
• people not able to change their identity

7
Is Race the Cause of Many Social Issues?

• All causal statements involving race, when
  thoroughly analyzed and broken down, reveal a
  complex interaction of many causes, only some of
  which are explicitly racial in nature (Smelser,
  Wilson, and Mitchell 20013).

8
Effects of Social Structure and Culture on Racial
Group Outcomes

• Three factors
• (1)
• outcomes arising from individual attributes and
  individual choices

9
Effects of Social Structure and Culture on Racial
Group Outcomes cont

• (2)
• outcomes originating from direct social actions
  based on racial considerations
• institutional discrimination

10
Effects of Social Structure and Culture on Racial
Group Outcomes cont

• (3)
• outcomes resulting from social cultural changes
  NOT driven by racial considerations, but still
  have an impact on racial groups
• laws, policies, politics, institutional practices

11
Effects of Social Structure and Culture on Racial
Group Outcomes cont

• Important Point
• these factors do not work alone
• factors are interrelated
• supports instructors theme of course

12
Effects of Social Structure and Culture on Racial
Group Outcomes cont

• Indirect Structural Factors
• System of Stratification
• advantages or disadvantages not always
  intentional
• mediated through a groups positions of wealth,
  power, and prestige

13
Applying Manifest and Latent Functions

• Manifest Functions
• intended consequences
• Latent Functions
• unintended consequences

14
Cultural Factors

• Culture is passed from generation to generation
• an indirect factor
• stratification passed from generation to
  generation

15
Question to Ponder

• If our individual lens in viewing our social
  reality is out of focus because of the way we
  learned our social reality, who is the blame for
  prejudice and and discrimination in our society?

16
Question to Ponder

• If we blame the individual (micro level), is any
  blame elsewhere in society?

17
REFERENCES

• Farley, John E. 2000. Majority-Minority
  Relations. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ
  Prentice-Hall. Inc.
• National Research Council. 2001. America
  Becoming Racial Trends and Their Consequences.
  Volume 1. Neil J. Smelser, William Julius
  Wilson, and Faith Mitchell, Editors. Commission
  on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education.
  Washington, DC National Academy Press.
• Parrillo, Vincent N. 2000. Strangers to These
  Shores Race and Ethnic Relations in the United
  States. 6th ed. Needham Heights, MA Allyn and
  Bacon.
• Smelser, Neil J., William Julius Wilson, and
  Faith Mitchell. 2001. Introduction. Pp. 1-20
  in America Becoming Racial Trends and Their
  Consequences., vol 1, edited by Neil J. Smelser,
  William Julius Wilson, and Faith Mitchell.
  Washington, DC National Academy Press.