1. Inequalities of Race and Ethnicity

2. Minority, Race, and Ethnicity
Minority: group of people with physical or cultural traits different from those of the dominant group in society
Five Key Features
Has distinctive physical or cultural characteristics that can be used to separate it from the majority
Dominated by the majority
Minority traits are often believed by the majority to be inferior
Members of the minority have a common sense of identity with strong group loyalty
Majority determines who belongs to the minority group through ascribed status

3. Defining Race
Race: people sharing certain inherited physical characteristics that are considered important within a society
Examples: skin color, hair color, hair texture, facial features, head form, eye color, height
Is there a scientific basis for race?
No such thing as a “pure” race
Most consider racial classifications arbitrary and misleading
Sociologists see social attitudes and characteristics related to race more important than physical differences
Are some physical characteristics superior?
Only when they provide advantages for living in particular environments
No scientific evidence that connects any racial characteristic with innate superiority or inferiority

4. Defining Ethnicity Ethnicity: cultural and national identity
Ethnic minority: subculture identified by its language, religion, values, beliefs, norms and customs
Physical characteristics define racial minorities; Cultural differences define ethnic minorities
Part of the larger culture, but also separate from the larger culture, either by choice or the majority’s doing
Why are ethnic minorities seen as inferior?
Ethnocentrism
Majority loyalty leads to beliefs of superiority
Judgments often expressed as prejudice and discrimination

5. Racial and Ethnic Relations
Minority groups are either accepted or rejected
Assimilation: blending of minority groups into the dominant society
Anglo-conformity: immigrants are accepted as long as they conform to accepted standards; give up or suppress own values
Melting pot: all ethnic and racial minorities blend together
Mixed salad: traditions and cultures exist side by side
Cultural pluralism: desire of a group to maintain some sense of identity separate from the dominant group
Latinos: bilingual education, forms, church services, tv channels
Accommodation: minority learns to deal with the dominant culture when necessary but remains independent in language and culture
Amish in Pennsylvania

6. Prejudice and Discrimination
Prejudice: widely held negative attitudes toward a group and its individual members
Based on strong emotions and difficult to change
Racism: extreme form of prejudice that assumes superiority of one group over others
Discrimination is morally justified because of their superiority
Discrimination: treating people differently based on ethnicity, race, religion, or culture
Avoidance, denial, attacking
Hate Crime: criminal act motivated by prejudice
2012 – 5,796 hate crimes reported
Stereotype: a distorted, exaggerated, or oversimplified image applied to a category of people
Sometimes used to justify unethical behavior against a group

7. Institutional Discrimination
Institutionalized Discrimination: unfair practices that grow out of common behaviors and attitudes that are a part of the structure of society
Grows out of traditional, accepted behaviors

8. Is institutional discrimination really an issue in the United States?
Yes!
In 2003, two sociologists performed a study in which they sent 5,000 fake resumes to 1,300 employers. Half the resumes contained “stereotypically black names” and the other half contained “stereotypically white names”.
The results:
For white names, callbacks averaged 1/10
For black names, callbacks averaged 1/15
A white name was equivalent to 8 years more work experience
Conclusion:
Racial discrimination is still a major feature of the labor market

9. Residential Segregation
Physical separation of cultural groups based on residence and housing
Sorts population groups into various neighborhoods and shapes the living environment at the neighborhood level
Ensures that members of the different groups will interact less over time, which makes members of those groups less likely to be sympathetic towards members of other groups.
Makes it easier for members of all groups to stereotype other groups, and thus allows for the creation of a stronger distinction between the us and a them.

10. Chicago

11. Memphis

12. Washington D.C.

13. Portland

14. Los Angeles: The city's Hispanic population lives predominantly in the city's poorer areas

15. Newark

16. Salt Lake City

17. New York City

18. Philadelphia

19. Detroit

20. Ft. Lauderdale

21. Buffalo

22. Patterns of Conflict
Genocide: systematic effort to destroy a population
Holocaust, Rape of Nanking, Serbia’s ethnic cleansing, Rwanda
Population Transfer: minority is forced either to move to a remote location or leave the territory entirely
Native Americans
Subjugation: minority is denied equal access to the benefits of society; most common
De jure segregation: by law; racial segregation of schools
De facto segregation: everyday practice; neighborhoods and jobs

23. Theoretical Perspectives
Functionalists
Focus on dysfunctions
Costs of racial inequality are extremely high
Can foster positive self-concepts for those who feel superior
Conflict Theorists
Majority uses prejudice and discrimination as weapons
Increases control over property, goods, etc…
Different minorities see each other as competition
Symbolic Interactionists
We learn to be prejudiced from our family, peers, media
Language can reflect prejudices
Self-fulfilling Prophecy: expectation that leads to behavior that causes the expectation to become reality

24. How Does RS Happen? Redlining
Redlining: the practice of discrimination in mortgage lending
Banks mark certain neighborhoods red on appraisal maps
Thereby making it next to impossible to get a mortgage for a home

25. How Does RS Happen? Steering, White Flight, Gentrification
Steering: agents do not show certain properties on the market to qualified minority home seekers
steer them to neighborhoods that have a similar racial make-up as the home seeker
Keep white neighborhoods white
White Flight: white families move out of the neighborhood
a threshold is reached where a neighborhood becomes approximately twenty-percent or more African-American, white flight takes place
Gentrification: urban renewal; higher income newcomers displacing lower income residents from up-and-coming urban neighborhoods