1. Chapter 10: The Social Meaning of Race and Ethnicity Race: The division of people based on certain physical characteristics or a socially constructed category composed of people who share biologically transmitted traits that members of a society consider important (hair style, clothing, age, body type, skin color). Ethnicity: Grouping people who share a common cultural, linguistic, or ancestral heritage (Arab, German, Italian, Jewish, Hispanic, Cuban or Puerto Rican). Race involves highlighting biological traits (looks). Ethnicity involves highlighting cultural traits (thoughts).

2. United Census Bureau’s Six Definitions of Race 1. White 2. Black or African American 3. American Indian 4. Alaska Native 5. Asian 6. Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander or ---Some Other Race “Today, the law allows parents to declare the race of a child (or not) as they wish” (Macionis 302).

3. Majority and Minority Groups Majority group: The group that has the largest population in society and holds significant power and privilege. Minority: The groups that have a smaller population and less power than the majority group or people who are singled out for unequal treatment. “Minority populations are on the rise in the United States. By 2050, the Hispanic or Asian population is expected to double, and the white population will decrease by 19%” (Carl 176).

4. Racism Racism is discrimination based on a person’s race. Genocide is the attempt to destroy or exterminate a people based on their race or ethnicity. “Extreme racism is not a thing of the past. It has a long history and still continues today. The history of the United States is stained by horrible acts of racism, including the Trail of Tears, Japanese internment camps during WWII, slavery, lynchings, segregation, and Jim Crow laws” (Carl 177).

5. Hate Groups Hate Groups are organizations that promote hostility or violence towards others based on race and other factors. – The Poverty Law Center tracts hate groups in the United states. They include White Supremacist, neo-Nazis, and other groups that advocate hate against immigrants, gays, and other minority. In 2008, there were 888 organized hate groups in the United States, a 48% increase since the year 2000 (Carl 177).

6. Patterns of Interaction Conquest and Annexation is when one group uses its superior military to dominate another. – “ During the 16 th and 17 th century, Europe used their superior technology and military strength to colonize Africa and America” (Carl 178). Annexation is the incorporation of one territory into another. – Parts of Mexico (New Mexico and Arizona) were purchased from Mexico in 1853, and the people living there were forced to become citizens of the new society (Carl 178). Superordination is predictable patterns of interaction. – Migrant: In the 16 th century, Spain used military strength to dominate Central and South America and to elevate their own culture. – Indigenous: In the United States today, immigrants are expected to learn English and subordinate their old ways to a new culture. “The American Civil Liberties Union argues that such laws restricts or cut funding for multilingual programs that some U.S. residents can’t do without such as heath services, voting assistance, and driver’s licensing tests” (Carl 179).

7. Minorities Minorities are groups that have a smaller populations and less power than majority groups. – Pluralistic: A group that wants to maintain their own culture, but seeks to integrate with the dominate culture as well. – Assimilationist: A group that wants to get ride of their old ways and integrate into the dominate culture. – Secessionist: A group that does not seek assimilation or cultural unification. For example, the Amish of Pennsylvania. – Militant: A group that seeks to overthrow the existing system that they see as unjust. For example, Fidel Castro of Cuba in 1958, and Mohandas Gandhi in 1947 who lead a peaceful revolution that ended British rule in India (Carl 180).

8. Acceptance-Multiculturalism and Assimilation Ethnic Enclaves are neighborhoods where people form similar cultures live together and assert cultural distinction from the dominant group. For example, Chinatown or Spanish Harlem. “Ethic enclaves assist the new immigrant in making an easier transition into the new culture and educating themselves, but education often requires moving out of the enclave and into mainstream culture” (Carl 180).

9. Prejudice Prejudice: Negative attitudes about an entire category of people. Stereotypes: Are simplified perceptions that people have of an entire group that are usually based a false assumptions or an exaggerated description applied to every person in some category. “Prejudice can be positive or negative, but positive prejudices can be just as damaging. If we aren’t careful, we might allow our prejudices to overtake our common sense” (Carl 181).

10.  Both the majority group and the minorities hold stereotypical beliefs. Racial difference in mental abilities result from environmental rather than biology (Macionis 308). A recent study using the Bogardus social distance scale found that College students… 1. Showed a trend toward greater social acceptance. 2. Students see less difference between various minorities. 3. The terrorists attacks of September 11, 2001, may have reduced social acceptance of Arabs and Muslims.

11. Discrimination Discrimination: The unfair treatment of people based on a prejudice. Prejudice and discrimination often occur together, but discrimination doesn’t always have to be blatant. It can be subtle. Also, we can become prejudice to the group to which we belong once we internalize the values of the dominate group (Carl 181). “Prejudice is an attitude while discrimination is an action based on an attitude” (Macionis 310).

12. Robert Merton’s Patterns of Prejudice and Discrimination Active bigot: prejudice person who discriminates. Timid bigot: prejudice person who does not discriminate. Fair-weather liberal: nonprejudiced person who discriminates. All-weather liberal: nonprejudiced person who does not discriminate.

13. Institutional Discrimination in the United States “While personal biases often cause individuals to view others negatively, those attitudes can carry over into the structures of society and often go unnoticed by others who don’t even hold those views. When this happens, social institutions end up supporting racial and ethnic inequality” (Carl 181). Institutional Discrimination maintains the advantage for the dominate group, while providing the appearance of fairness to others. – Jim Crow laws: “Separate but equal” was separate but not equal. – Education: is still not equal. “Not all education in the United States is the same” (Kozol 182).

14. Causes For Prejudice and Discrimination Scapegoat Theory: prejudice springs from frustration among people who are themselves disadvantaged. A scapegoat: a person with little power whom people unfairly blame for their own troubles. “Research shows that people who are less educated and of lower intelligence are more likely to be prejudice” (Carl 182). Authoritarian Personality Theory: extreme prejudice is a personality trait in certain individuals. These personalities are common among those with little education and broken homes.

15. Causes For Prejudice and Discrimination Cultural Theory: extreme prejudice may be embedded in culture (Carl 181). Bogardus believed that everyone in the United States expresses some bigotry because we live in a culture of prejudice. Conflict Theory: powerful people use prejudice to justify oppressing others. Steele contends that minorities themselves cultivate a climate of race consciousness in order to win greater power (Carl 181).

16. Causes For Prejudice and Discrimination Segregation: Forced separation because of factors such as race, gender, or ethnicity.  “White Flight” refers to white people moving out of a neighborhood when people of color move in. -Legal segregation has declined during recent decades, but an unofficial segregation continues today. “Even to this day, issues of fair lending practices influence who can and cannot get a loan for a home” (Carl 182).

17. Racial Stratification in the United States Income: In the U.S. minorities are overrepresented in poverty statistics. – Cycle of poverty: A generational barrier that prevents poor people from breaking into the middle and upper classes. “Although we live in a society that claims to be equal, there are still injustices that occur because of race” (Carl 183). Education: One of the most determining factor of income! Without quality education, it’s difficult to get a well- paying job and advance in the workplace (Carl 184).

18. Race and Ethnicity in the United States (Native Americans) When the Europeans arrived in the fifteen century, the Native Americans numbered in the millions. By 1900, they numbered 250,000. Christopher Columbus first called them “Indians” because he thought he landed in India. Not until 1924 were Native Americans entitled to citizenship.

19. Race and Ethnicity in the United States (White Anglo-Saxon Protestants) WASPs were not the first to inhabit the United States, but they came to dominate this nation. Historically, WASP immigrants were highly skilled and motivated to achieved the Protestant work ethic. WASPs were never one single group. English remains the dominate language today, and Protestantism is the majority religion.

20. Race and Ethnicity in the United States (African Americans) Most accounts mark the beginning of black history in the United States as 1619. A Dutch trading ship brought twenty Africans to Jamestown, Virginia. Slavery was the foundation of the southern colonies’ plantation system. In 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment outlawed slavery. In the 1950s and 60s, the civil rights movement grew.

21. Race and Ethnicity in the United States (Asian Americans) Enormous cultural diversity characterizes this category of people. In 2000, the total number of Asian Americans exceeded 10 million. The largest category of Asian Americans is people of Chinese ancestry. More than 1/3 of Asian Americans live in California.

22. Race and Ethnicity in the United States (Hispanic Americans) In 2000, Hispanic Americans numbered more than 35 million. Few people in this category describe themselves as “Hispanic” or “Latino.” Hispanics are really a cluster of distinct populations, each of which identifies with a particular ancestral nation. Most of the Hispanic population lives in the Southwest.

23. Race and Ethnicity: Looking Ahead.  The United States has been and will remain a land of immigrants. Immigration has generated striking cultural diversity. Many new arrivals face much of the same prejudice as those who came before them. Color-Blind Racism: The idea that racism still exist in more subtle ways remains a part of U.S. society to this day – (many people of color remain in disadvantaged positions, they are poorer, lower educational outcomes, live shorter lives, attended underfunded schools, experience problems with assimilation, and generally believe that the police and other social institutions work to increase their disadvantage)" (Carl 185).