1. Chapter 9

2. Outline
 Social Construction of Race
 Defining Race and Ethnicity
 Minority groups and Racism
 Prejudice and Discrimination
 Theoretical Approaches
 Life Chances
 Conflict and Cooperation in Race Relations

3. Social Construction of Race
 Race and ethnicity are socially constructed categories
 Meanings are created over time
 Race is also a means of stratification
 19th century shema-3 races
 Negroid, Mongoloid, Caucasoid
 Modern scientists-there are no “pure” races

4. Race and Ethnicity
 Race-social category, based on real or perceived biological
differences between groups of people
 Ethnicity-social category based on common language,
religion, nationality, history, or another cultural factor
 How do we show our racial/ethnic group membership?
 Symbolic ethnicity-enactments of ethnic identity that
occur only on special occasions
 Ex.: St. Patrick’s Day
 Situational ethnicity-ethnic identity can either be
displayed or concealed depending on its usefulness in a
given situation
 In U.S., if you are non-white you don’t get a chance for
symbolic/situational ethnicity – your ethnicity usually shows

5. Minority groups and Racism
 Minority group-members of a social group that’s
systematically denied same access to power and
resources available to the dominant groups of a society
 Not necessarily fewer in number
 Minority status is not about numbers!! It’s about social
inequalities!
 May serve as a master status
 Racism-ideology about the superiority of one racial or
ethnic group used to justify inequality
 Often rooted in assumption that differences between
groups are genetic

6. Prejudice and Discrimination
 Prejudice-“Pre-judgment”-inflexible attitude about a
group of people rooted in generalizations or
stereotypes
 Applied to all members of the group, unlikely to change
unless evidence against it (usually negative)
 Discrimination-unequal treatment of individuals
based on their membership in a social group, usually
motivated by prejudice

7. Prejudice and Discrimination
 Individual Discrimination-discrimination carried
out by one person against another
 Institutional Discrimination-discrimination carried
out systematically by institutions (political, economic,
educational) that affects all members of a group who
come into contact with it
 1944-G.I. Bill- advantages were institutionally blocked
for blacks
 Loans granted to those only buying in all-white
neighborhoods

8. Why does race still play such a
critical role in society?
 Functionalist-Groups have a tendency toward
ethnocentrism and social bonds toward their own
group-can lead them to view other groups unfavorably
 Conflict-Struggle for scarce resources drives society.
Split along racial lines. One group is routinely paid less
than others
 Ideas like Manifest Destiny helped to justify the taking
of lands from Indians (heathens) and justified killing
them

9. Interactionism
 Passing-presenting yourself as a member of a
different racial/ethnic group than you were born into
 Light-skinned blacks try to avoid consequences of being
black in a racist society
 Occurred via marrying other whites, having no children, using
make-up to lighten skin
 “Doing white” still occurs
 Bleaching, make-up

10. Race, Ethnicity and Life Chances
 Health-Disparities in life expectancy rates of men and
women of different races
 Education-High dropout rates are associated with
those from economically disadvantaged and non-
English speaking backgrounds
 Among high school dropouts:
 11.8%-Whites
 14.2%-Blacks
 28.4%-Hispanics

11. Work and Life Chances
 Work and Income-People of color carry burden of
most difficult jobs
 Many minorities in semi-skilled or unskilled
occupations-fill bottom tier of job market
 Minorities also compete with each other for those jobs
 Class and race often intersect, influencing life chances
 In 2001, below poverty level:
 7.9% of whites
 23.1% of blacks
 24.9% of Hispanics

12. Criminal Justice and Life Chances
 U.S. population is 69%
white, 13% black, 13%
Hispanic, but 40% of
prisoners are African-
American, 34% are
white, 21% are Hispanic
 Half of all hate crimes
related to racial
discrimination; 2/3
targeted towards blacks

13. Race Relations: Conflict
 Genocide-deliberate and systematic extermination of a
racial, ethnic, national or cultural group “Ethnic cleansing”
 Ex.: Holocaust: 6 million Jews, millions of other
undesirables (Gypsies, people with disabilities, political
enemies, gays, etc…)
 Population Transfer-forcible removal of people from
the territory they have occupied
 Native Americans forced to move onto Indian
reservations in early 19th century
 1838-9:“Trail of Tears”-17,000 Cherokees moved 800 mi.
 4,000 people died on the way

14. Race Relations: Conflict
 Internal Colonialism-the exploitation of a minority
group within the dominant group’s own borders
 Takes form of economic exploitation
 Includes physical segregation
 Segregation-formal and legal separation of groups by
race
 Ex.: Blacks in the American South up to the 1960s
 Separate neighborhoods, sections of buses, restaurants, etc…
 Separate and unequal

15. Race Relations: Cooperation
 Assimilation-the minority group is absorbed into the
mainstream or dominant group
 America as “melting pot”
 Society becomes more homogenous-immigrants lose
sense of “foreign-ness”
 Racial assimilation-minority groups absorbed into
dominant group through intermarriage
 Cultural assimilation-minority groups adopting the
dominant group’s culture
 May be forced-results in loss of previous cultural identity

16. Race Relations: Cooperation
 Pluralism-(multiculturalism)-encourages racial and
ethnic variation within a society
 Tolerates and celebrates racial/ethnic identities
 America as “salad bowl”
 Switzerland-French, German, Italian
 1848-constitution makes sure power is shared among all
groups
 How can the U.S. gain a more multicultural national
identity?