1. Ethnicity and Race

2. Chapter Outline ETHNIC GROUPS & ETHNICITY
Status Shifting
ETHNIC TOLERANCE & ACCOMMODATION
Assimilation
The Plural Society
Multiculturalism and Ethnic Identity
ETHIC GROUPS, NATIONS, & NATIONALITIES
Nationalities and Imagined Communities
RACE & ETHNICITY
THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION
OF RACE
Hypodescent: Race in the United States
Race in the Census
Not Us: Race in Japan
Phenotype and Fluidity: Race in Brazil
ROOTS OF ETHNIC CONFLICT
Prejudice and Discrimination
Chips in the Mosaic
Aftermath of Oppression

3. ETHNIC GROUPS & ETHNICITY
Racial/Ethic Identification in US 2007
CLAMED IDENTITY
NUMBER
(MILLIONS)
PERCENTAGE
White (non-Hispanic)
199.7
66.1
Hispanic
45.4
15.5
Black
38.8
12.9
Asian
13.4
4.5
American Indian
2.9
1.0
Pacific Islander .5 .2
Total population
301.1
99.8
Ethnicity is bases on cultural similarities and differences in a society or nation.
Status Shifting
Ascribed status - social status based on little or no choice
Achieved status – social status based on choices or accomplishments
Some status aren’t mutually exclusive, but contextual. EX. People can be both black and Hispanic or mother and a senator
ETHNIC GROUPS & ETHNICITY

4. RACE & ETHNICITY NATIONAL ORIGIN PERCENTAGE Mexican American 64.4
American Hispanic, Latinos 2007
NATIONAL ORIGIN
PERCENTAGE
Mexican American
64.4
Puerto Rican
9.1
Cuban
3.5
Central and South American
13.3
Other Hispanic/ Latino origin
9.8
Total
100.0
Race is a cultural category rather than a biological reality. Ethnic groups, including “races,” derive from contrasts perceived and perpetuated in particular societies rather than from scientific classifications based on common genes.
It id not possible to define human races biologically. Only cultural constructions of race are possible- even though the average person conceptualizes ‘race” in biological terms
RACE & ETHNICITY

5. THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF RACE
Hypodescent: Race in the United States
In American culture, one acquires his/her racial identity at birth, as an ascribed status, but race isn’t based on biology or on simple ancestry. American rules for assigning racial status can be more arbitrary. In some state, anyone known to have any black ancestor, no matter how remote, is classified as black. This is a rule of decent, but of a sort that is rare outside of contemporary US.
THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF RACE

6. THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF RACE
Race in the Census
Racial categories in census (1990) includes: White, Black or Negro, Indian (American), Eskimo, Aleut or Pacific Islander and Other. A separate question is asked about Spanish- Hispanic heritage.
Choice of “some other race” in US Census more than doubled from (6.8 million) to (over 15 million) suggesting imprecision in and dissatisfaction with the existing categories.
THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF RACE

7. THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF RACE
Not Us: Race in Japan
North Americans view Japan is a nation that is homogeneous in race, ethnicity, language, and culture.
Japan is hardly the uniform entity
10% of Japan’s national population are minorities of various sorts
Aninu
Okinawans
Burakumin
Children of mixed marriages
THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF RACE

8. THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF RACE
Phenotype and fluidity: Race in Brazil
Along with the rest of Latin American, Brazil has less exclusionary categories, which permit individuals to change their racial classification.
Brazilians use over 500 racial labels
Racial Classification pays attention to phenotypes
Phenotypes – expressed physical characteristics of an organism
THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF RACE

9. ETHIC GROUPS, NATIONS, & NATIONALITIES
Nationalities and Imagined Communities
Nationalities – Ethnic groups that have once had, or want their own country
Even when they become nation states, they remain “imagined communities because most of their members, through feeling comradeship, will never meet. They can only imagine they are the same unit.
ETHIC GROUPS, NATIONS, & NATIONALITIES

10. ETHNIC TOLERANCE & ACCOMMODATION
Assimilation – absorption of minorities within a dominant culture
Minority culture is so incorporated into dominant culture that it no longer exists as a separate cultural unit
The Plural Society
Societies with economically interdependent ethic groups
Ethic groups can persist despite generations of interethnic contact
ETHNIC TOLERANCE & ACCOMMODATION

11. ETHNIC TOLERANCE & ACCOMMODATION
Multiculturalism & Ethnic Identity
A multicultural society socializes individuals not only into dominant (national) culture but also into an ethnic culture.
ETHNIC TOLERANCE & ACCOMMODATION

12. ROOTS OF ETHNIC CONFLICT
Prejudice and discrimination
People are prejudiced when they hold stereotypes about groups and apply to them to individuals.
ROOTS OF ETHNIC CONFLICT

13. ROOTS OF ETHNIC CONFLICT
Chips In the Mosaic
Discrimination –
Policies and practices that harm a group of its members
Although the multicultural model is increasing prominent in North American ethnic competition and conflict also are evident. There is conflict between newer arrivals, for instance, Central American and Koreans, and longer established ethnic groups such as African Americans
ROOTS OF ETHNIC CONFLICT

14. ROOTS OF ETHNIC CONFLICT
Aftermath of Oppression
Genocide – Deliberate elimination of a group through mass murder
A dominant group may try to destroy , the cultures of certain ethnic groups or force them to adapt the dominant culture
Ethnocide – Destruction of certain ethnic groups
ROOTS OF ETHNIC CONFLICT