Racial and Ethnic Minorities

1
Chapter 10

• Racial and Ethnic Minorities

2
Chapter Outline

• The Concept of Race
• The Concept of Ethnic Group
• Patterns of Racial and Ethnic Relations
• Racial and Ethnic Immigration to the United States

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The Concept of Race

• Race refers to a category of people who are
  similar because of physical characteristics.
• Races have been defined along genetic, legal, and
  social lines, each presenting its own set of
  problems.

4
Genetic Definitions of Race

• Differences in traits, such as hair and nose
  type, have proved of no value in making
  classifications of human beings.
• Similarities appear to be far greater than any
  physical differences including skin color.

5
Legal Definitions

• There has been little consistency among the legal
  definitions of race.
• The state of Missouri made one-eighth or more
  Negro blood the criterion for nonwhite status.
• As recently as 1982, a dispute arose over
  Louisianas law requiring anyone of more than
  1/32 African descent to be classified as black.

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Question

• The term race refers to a category of people who
  are defined as similar because they
• have a unique and distinctive genetic makeup.
• share a number of physical characteristics.
• exhibit similar behaviors.
• express comparable attitudes.

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Answer B

• The term race refers to a category of people who
  are defined as similar because they share a
  number of physical characteristics.

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Social Definitions

• In the 2000 census people were able to declare as
  members of any one or more of five categories
• American Indian/Alaskan Native
• Asian
• African-American
• Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander
• White

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Question

• To what extent do you agree with this statement
  Whites as a group are very distinct and
  different from ethnic and racial minority
  groups.
• Strongly agree
• Agree somewhat
• Unsure
• Disagree somewhat
• Strongly disagree

10
Facts about Racial Intermarriage
There are over 3 million racial intermarriages a year in the United States.
Racial intermarriages represent 5.4 of all married couples. This is up from 1 in 1970
The most common types of intermarriages are between white men and Asian or multiple-race women.
Intermarriage between minority racial groups is much less likely.
The least common type of intermarriage is between white and blacks.
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Facts about Racial Intermarriage
People who intermarry are younger and better educated than average couples.
Three million children are growing up in interracial families. This is up from 900,000 in 1970.
Black men are much more likely to intermarry than black women. Ten percent of black men have a nonblack spouse.
More than 10 of the married couples in Hawaii, California, Oklahoma, Alaska, and Nevada were interracial.
12
Question

• I would like to marry someone of a different
  racial or ethnic group.
• Strongly agree
• Agree somewhat
• Unsure
• Disagree somewhat
• Strongly disagree

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The Concept of Ethnic Group

• An ethnic group has a distinct cultural tradition
  that its own members identify with and that may
  not be recognized by others.
• They adhere to customs, maintain similarity in
  family patterns, religion, and cultural values.
• They often possess distinct folkways and mores
  customs of dress, art, and ornamentation moral
  and value systems and patterns of recreation.
• The group is usually devoted to a monarch,
  religion, language, or territory.

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The Concept of Minority

• Louis Wirths definition of a minority
• A group of people who, because of physical or
  cultural characteristics, are singled out from
  others in society for differential and unequal
  treatment, and who therefore regard themselves as
  objects of collective discrimination.

15
Question

• Which of the following would qualify as a
  minority group in U.S. society according to the
  sociological definition of the term?
• homosexuals
• the elderly
• people with disabilities
• all of these choices are correct

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Answer D

• Homosexuals, the elderly and people with
  disabilities would qualify as a minority group in
  U.S. society according to the sociological
  definition of the term.

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Prejudice

• An irrationally based negative, or occasionally
  positive, attitude toward certain groups and
  their members.

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Discrimination

• Differential treatment, usually unequal and
  injurious, accorded to individuals who are
  assumed to belong to a particular category or
  group.

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Institutionalized Prejudice and Discrimination

• Complex societal arrangements that restrict the
  life chances and choices of a specifically
  defined group, in comparison with those of the
  dominant group.

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The Interaction of Prejudice and Discrimination
21
Question

• The problems of racial prejudice and
  discrimination in U.S. society are over stated.
• Strongly agree
• Agree somewhat
• Unsure
• Disagree somewhat
• Strongly disagree

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Social Functions of Prejudice

• A prejudice helps draw together those who hold
  it.
• When two or more groups are competing for access
  to scarce resources it is easier to write off
  competitors as unworthy.
• Prejudice allows us to project onto others those
  parts of ourselves that we do not like and
  therefore try to avoid facing.

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Mertons Classifications of Prejudice and
Discrimination

• Unprejudiced Nondiscriminators
• Not prejudiced against other groups and do not
  practice discrimination.
• Unprejudiced discriminators
• Free from racial prejudice, but will keep silent
  when bigots speak out.

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Mertons Classifications of Prejudice and
Discrimination

• Prejudiced Nondiscriminators
• Hesitate to express their prejudices when in the
  presence of those who are tolerant.
• Prejudiced discriminators
• Do not believe in equality, and do not hesitate
  to give free expression to their intolerance.

25
Question

• Stan is the manager of an apartment building. He
  has a strong prejudice against anyone who is
  Asian. However, he has rented to several people
  who have an Asian heritage rather than risk
  violating fair housing laws. According to
  Merton's typology, Stan would be a(n)
• unprejudiced nondiscriminator.
• unprejudiced discriminator.
• prejudiced nondiscriminator.
• prejudiced discriminator.

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Answer C

• Stan would be a prejudiced nondiscriminator.

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Patterns of Racial and Ethnic Relations

1. Assimilation - groups with different cultures
   come to have a common culture.
2. Pluralism - development and coexistence of
   separate racial and ethnic group identities
   within a society.
3. Subjugation subordination of one group and the
   assumption of of authority, power, and domination
   by the other.

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Patterns of Racial and Ethnic Relations

1. Segregation - a form of subjugation, refers to
   the act, process, or state of being set apart.
2. Expulsion - forcing a group to leave the
   territory in which it resides.
3. Annihilation - deliberate extermination of a
   racial or ethnic group.

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Pluralism

• The coexistence of separate racial and ethnic
  group identities within a society.
• Horace Kallen, born in Germany, was responsible
  for the development of the theory of cultural
  pluralism.

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Question

• The process through which different cultures
  merge to have one common culture is
• pluralism.
• assimilation.
• subjugation.
• expulsion.

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Answer B

• The process through which different cultures
  merge to have one common culture is assimilation.

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Immigration Today

• In 2000
• 53.3 of the foreign-born population were from
  Latin America, 25 from Asia and 13.7 from
  Europe.
• Latin America and Asia accounted for 78.2 of the
  foreign-born population, up from 28.3 percent in
  1970.

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Where Do Immigrants Come From?
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Racial and Ethnic Makeup of U.S. Population, 2000
and 2050
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Cities With Large Hispanic Populations, 2000
Place and State Hispanic of Total Population
El Paso, TX 76.6
San Antonio, TX 58.7
Los Angeles, CA 46.5
Houston, TX 37.4
Dallas, TX 35.6
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Cities With Large Hispanic Populations, 2000
Place and State Hispanic of Total Population
Phoenix, AZ 34.1
San Jose, CA 30.2
New York, NY 27.0
Chicago, IL 26
San Diego, CA 25.4
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Quick Quiz
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• 1. A group of people who are singled out for
  differential treatment is called
• a minority group.
• a race.
• an ethnic group.
• a subordinate group.

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Answer A

• A group of people who are singled out for
  differential treatment is called a minority group.

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• 2. An irrationally based negative, or
  occasionally positive, attitude toward certain
  groups and their members is
• discrimination.
• prejudice.
• dysfunctional attitudes.
• bigotry.

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Answer B

• An irrationally based negative, or occasionally
  positive, attitude toward certain groups and
  their members is prejudice.

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• 3. Discrimination is best described as
• differential treatment that is usually unequal
  and injurious.
• a rational negative attitude towards a minority
  group.
• societal arrangements that restrict life chances
  of the dominant group.
• societal arrangements that restrict life chances
  of the minority group.

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Answer A

• Discrimination is best described as differential
  treatment that is usually unequal and injurious.

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• 4. Which of the following is a negative function
  of prejudice?
• Prejudice draws together those who hold it.
• Prejudice allows us to project onto others the
  parts of ourselves we do not like.
• Prejudice limits our vision of the world around
  us.
• All of the choices are correct.

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Answer C

• A negative function of prejudice is that it
  limits our vision of the world around us.

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• 5. A group that has a distinct cultural tradition
  with which its own members identify and which may
  or may not be recognized by others is known as
  a(n)
• subculture.
• race.
• minority.
• ethnic group.

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Answer D

• A group that has a distinct cultural tradition
  with which its own members identify and which may
  or may not be recognized by others is known as an
  ethnic group.