1. Race and Ethnicity
Chapter 9

2. Chapter Outline Race and Ethnicity Prejudice Discrimination
Sociological Perspectives on Race and Ethnic Relations
Racial and Ethnic Groups in the United States
Global Racial and Ethnic Inequality in the Future

3. What Is Race? Some people view race as:
Skin color: the Caucasian “race”,
Religion: the Jewish “race”
Nationality: the British “race”
Entire human species: the human “race”

4. Race and Biology
A race is a category of people who have been singled out as inferior or superior, on the basis of real or alleged physical characteristics such as skin color, hair texture, eye shape, or other attributes.
Race has little meaning biologically due to interbreeding in the human population.
Today race is sociologically based, not biologically

5. Polling Question
Think about Whites in the U.S. compared to ethnic and racial minority groups. To what extent do you agree with the following statement: Whites as a group are very distinct from ethnic and racial minority groups.
Strongly agree
Agree somewhat
Unsure
Disagree somewhat
Strongly disagree

6. Characteristics of Ethnic Groups
Unique cultural traits.
A sense of community.
A feeling of ethnocentrism.
Ascribed membership from birth.
Tendency to occupy a geographic area.
Ethnic group is a collection of people distinguished, by others or by themselves, primarily on the basis of cultural or nationality characteristics
Unique cultural traits – language, clothing, holidays, or religious practices
Occupy a geographic area by choice and/or for self-protection

7. How Much Do You Know About Race, Ethnicity, and Sports?
True or False?
African Americans who competed in boxing matches in the late 1800s often had to agree to lose before they could obtain a match.

8. How Much Do You Know About Race, Ethnicity, and Sports?
True.
Promoters, who often set up boxing matches that pitted fighters by race, assumed that white fans were more likely to buy tickets if the white fighters frequently won.

9. How Much Do You Know About Race, Ethnicity, and Sports?
True or False?
Until recently, the positions of quarterback and kicker in the National Football League have been held almost exclusively by white players.

10. How Much Do You Know About Race, Ethnicity, and Sports?
True.
As late as the 1990s, whites accounted for about 90 percent of the quarterbacks and kickers on NFL teams. However, this changed early in the twenty-first century, and today there are some African Americans playing virtually every position on all professional football teams.

11. Dominant and Subordinate Groups
A dominant group is one that is advantaged and has superior resources and rights in a society.
A subordinate group is one whose members are disadvantaged and subjected to unequal treatment by the dominant group and who regard themselves as objects of collective discrimination.
In the US WASP are considered the dominant subgroup

12. Prejudice
A negative attitude based on generalizations about members of selected racial, ethnic, or other groups.
Ethnocentrism refers to the tendency to regard one’s own culture and group as the standard.
Stereotypes are overgeneralizations about the appearance, behavior, or other characteristics of members of particular categories.
Comes from latin words prae – before, and judicium – judgment “pre-judgment”

13. Racism
A set of attitudes, beliefs, and practices used to justify the superior treatment of one racial or ethnic group and the inferior treatment of another racial or ethnic group.
Recent studies have shown that the underlying reasoning behind racism differs according to factors such as gender, age, class, and geography.
Can be overt or subtle
Overt – more blatant and can take the form of public statements about the “inferiority” of members of a racial or ethnic group
Subtle – hidden from sight and more difficult to prove, such as descriptions of African American athletes which suggest that they have “natural” abilities and are better suited for team positions requiring speed and agility, where whites are described as having the intelligence, dependability, and leadership

14. Theories of Prejudice Frustration–aggression hypothesis
People who are frustrated in their efforts to achieve a highly desired goal will respond with a pattern of aggression toward others.
Authoritarian Personality
Characterized by excessive conformity, submissiveness to authority, intolerance, insecurity, a high level of superstition, and rigid, stereotypic thinking.
Frustration-aggression hypothesis – the object of aggression is the scapegoat, which are often used as substitutes for the actual source of frustration
members of subordinate racial and ethnic groups are often times scapegoats
Highly prejudiced people tend to have an authoritarian personality

15. Discrimination
Discrimination involves actions or practices of dominant-group members that have a harmful impact on members of a subordinate group
Actions vary in severity
Genocide – deliberate, systematic killing of an entire people or nation

16. Merton’s Typology of Prejudice and Discrimination
Prejudiced
Attitude?
Discriminatory
behavior?
Unprejudiced
nondiscriminator No
discriminator
Yes
Nondiscriminator
Discriminator
Robert Merton shows that some people may be prejudiced but not discriminate against others.
Unprejudiced nondiscrimator – ex. Two players on a pro sports team are best friends, even though they are of different races
Unprejudiced discriminator – engage in discriminatory behavior because of peer-group pressure or economic, political, or social interests. For example, some coaches might feel no prejudice toward African American players but believe that white fans will accept only a certain percentage of people of color on the team
Prejudiced nondiscriminators hold personal prejudices but do not discriminate due to peer pressure, legal demands, or a desire for profits – example of a coach with prejudiced beliefs may hire an African American player to enhance the team’s ability to win
Prejudiced discriminator – baseball umpire who is personally prejudiced against African Americans may intentionally call a play incorrectly based on that prejudice

17. Four Major Types of Discrimination
Isolate discrimination - A prejudiced judge giving harsher sentences to African American defendants.
Small-group discrimination - Small group of white students defacing a professor’s office with racist epithets.
Isolate discrimination – harmful action intentionally taken by a dominant-group member against a member of a subordinate group – police brutality cases
small-group discrimination – harmful action intentionally taken by a limited number of dominant-group members against members of subordinate groups

18. Four Major Types of Discrimination
Direct institutionalized discrimination - Intentional exclusion of people of color from public accommodations.
Indirect institutionalized discrimination - Special education classes may have contributed to racial stereotyping.
Direct institutionalized discrimination – organizationally prescribed or community-prescribed action that intentionally has a differential and negative impact on members

19. Contact Hypothesis
Contact between divergent groups should be positive as long as group members:
Have equal status.
Pursue the same goals.
Cooperate with one another to achieve goals.
Receive positive feedback while interacting.
Symbolic interactionist perspective
Say that intergroup contact can either intensify or reduce racial and ethnic stereotyping and prejudice

20. Functionalist Perspectives on Race and Ethnic Relations
Assimilation A process by which members of sub-ordinate racial and ethnic groups become absorbed into the dominant culture.
Ethnic Pluralism The coexistence of a variety of distinct racial and ethnic groups within one society.
Occurs at several levels – including the cultural, structural, biological, and psychological stages
Cultural assimilation, or acculturation, occurs when members of an ethnic group adopt dominant group traits, such as language, dress, values, religion, and food preferences
Structural assimilation, or integration – occurs when members of subordinate racial or ethnic groups gain acceptance in everyday social interaction with members of the dominant group
Biological assimilation, or amalgamation – occurs when members of one group marry those of other social or ethnic groups
Psychological assimilation involves a change in racial or ethnic self-identification on the part of an individual
Equalitarian pluralism, or accommodation, is a situation in which ethnic groups coexist in equality with one another
Inequalitarian pluralism, or segregation, exists when specific ethnic groups are set apart from the dominant group and have unequal access to power and privilege

21. Conflict Perspectives on Race and Ethnic Relations
The Caste Perspective views racial and ethnic inequality as a permanent feature of U.S. society.
Class perspectives emphasize the role of the capitalist class in racial exploitation.
Caste system was strengthened by anti-miscegenation laws – prohibiting relations or marriages of different races, most states had some type of these laws, which were not declared unconstitutional until 1967
Class perspectives – slavery came about because of profit motive, not racism. African Americans were the best workers they could find for the cheapest amount

22. Conflict Perspectives on Race and Ethnic Relations
Internal Colonialism occurs when members of a racial or ethnic group are forcibly placed under the control of the dominant group.
Split Labor Market - The division of the economy into a primary sector composed of higher paid workers in more secure jobs, and a secondary sector of lower-paid workers in jobs with little security.
Internal colonialism – process of Europeans coming to America and taking over Native American lands
Split Labor Market – white workers in the upper tier may use racial discrimination against nonwhites to protect their positions

23. Critical Race Theory Premises:
The belief that racism is such an ingrained feature of U.S. society that it appears to be ordinary and natural to many people.
The belief that interest convergence is a crucial factor in bringing about social change.

24. Perspectives on Race and Ethnic Relations
Focus
Theory
Symbolic
Interactionist
Microlevel contacts between individuals
Contact hypothesis
Functionalist
Macrolevel intergroup processes
Assimilation
Ethnic
Pluralism

25. Perspectives on Race and Ethnic Relations
Focus
Theory
Conflict
Power/economic differentials between dominant and subordinate groups.
Caste perspective
Class perspective
Internal colonialism
Split labor market
Gendered racism
Racial formation
Critical Race Theory
Racism as a feature of society that affects everyone.
Law may remedy
overt discrimination
but have little effect
on subtle racism.

26. Racial and Ethnic Groups in the United States
Native Americans
White Anglo‑Saxon Protestants
African Americans
White Ethnic Americans
Asian Americans
Latinos/as
Middle Eastern Americans

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

28. Native Americans
Most disadvantaged group in the U.S. in terms of income, employment, housing, and nutrition.
As a group they have experienced:
Genocide
Forced Migration
Forced Assimilation

29. African Americans
Slavery was rationalized by stereotyping African Americans as inferior and childlike.
Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1965 sought to eliminate discrimination in education, housing, employment and health care.

30. Polling Question
Descendents of slavery in the U.S. should be given economic restitution by the U.S. government for the consequences of slavery.
Strongly agree
Agree somewhat
Unsure
Disagree somewhat
Strongly disagree

31. Asian Americans Fastest growing ethnic minority in the U.S.
Includes Japanese, Korean, Filipino and Indochinese Americans.

32. Latinos/as (Hispanic Americans)
Includes Mexican American's, Puerto Ricans and Cuban Americans.
Many Mexican American families have lived in the U.S. for 4 or 5 generations and have made significant contributions.
In 1917, Puerto Ricans acquired U.S. citizenship and the right to move freely to and from the mainland.

33. Middle Eastern Americans
Includes immigrants from Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, and Jordan.
The Lebanese, Syrians, and Iranians primarily come from middle class backgrounds.
Most Iranian immigrants initially hoped to return to Iran; however, many have become U.S. citizens.

34. Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the U.S.
In 1980 white Americans made up 80% of the population.
In 2000, white Americans made up 70% of the population.
By 2056, the roots of the average U.S. resident will be in Africa, Asia, Hispanic countries, the Pacific Islands, or Arabia—not white Europe.

35. Odds of Being a Pro Athlete by Race/Ethnicity and Sport
White
African American
Latino/a
Football
1 in 62,500
1 in 47,600
1 in 2,500,000
Baseball
1 in 83,300
1 in 333,300
1 in 500,000
Basketball
1 in 357,100
1 in 153,800
1 in 33,300,000