chapter12race.doc

Chapter 12 – Race & EthnicityLearning Objectives · Explain how the concept of race is both a reality and a myth. · Distinguish between race and ethnicity and the concept of what it means to be a member of an ethnic group. · Understand the concept of multicultural identity and its importance to many Americans. · Describe the characteristics of minority groups and dominant groups. · Know what is meant by ethnic identity and the four factors that heighten or reduce it. · Differentiate between prejudice and discrimination. · Distinguish between individual discrimination and institutional discrimination. · Understand how prejudice is learned and how dominant group norms are internalized by members of a group. · Understand the psychological and sociological theories of prejudice, how they are similar and different. · Provide examples of both individual and institutional group discrimination. · List the six patterns of intergroup relations that develop between minority and dominant groups, and provide examples for each. · Compare and contrast the experiences of White Europeans, Latinos, African Americans, Asian Americans, and Native Americans in the United States. · Talk about the major issues and debates dominating race-ethnic relations in the United States.Chapter Summary With more than six billion people on the planet, the world offers a fascinating array of human characteristics. Race refers to the inherited physical characteristics that distinguish one group from another. These distinguishing characteristics include a variety of complexions, colors, and shapes. Although there have been significant strides in the understanding of race and racial equality, two myths of race are still common. One is the perception that some races are superior to others and the other is that "pure" races exist. The idea of race remains a very real and powerful force in American society, shaping basic relationships between people and peoples in the United States.The question of how many races inhabit the planet is a debatable topic among anthropologists and sociologists. The number of race classifications has ranged from two to two thousand. Ashley Montagu has classified humans in forty "racial" groups.While race refers to biological characteristics that distinguish one group of people from another, ethnicity refers to cultural characteristics that distinguish one group of people from another. Derived from the Greek word "ethnos", meaning "people" or "nation", ethnicity may center on nation of origin, distinctive foods, dress, language, music, religion, or family names and relationships. It is common for people to confuse the terms race and ethnic group. Jews, for example, are considered by many as being a race, but in reality, they are more accurately classified as an ethnic group. People often construct their racial and ethnic identity through a process referred to as ethnic work. Ethnic work refers to activities to discover, enhance, or maintain ethnic and racial identification. This includes clothing, food, language, celebrated holidays, and religion.Along with race and ethnicity, the concept of minority group is often misunderstood. Sociologically, a minority group consists of a group of people who are singled out for unequal treatment and who regard themselves as objects of collective discrimination. Four factors reduce or heighten people's ethnic identification with a group: its relative size, power, broad physical characteristics, and the degree to which it is subjected to discrimination. Although often used interchangeably, prejudice and discrimination are not the same. Prejudice refers to an attitude, or prejudging, usually in a negative way. Discrimination is an act of unfair treatment directed against an individual or group. Discrimination comes in two forms: individual discrimination, consisting of the negative treatment of one person by another on the basis of that person's perceived characteristics and institutional discrimination, consisting of discriminatory practices that are embedded in and spread through society's social institutions.Psychological theories of prejudice include scapegoating (unfairly blaming another individual or group for one's own frustrations and troubles) and authoritarian personalities (people with particular personality traits that may make them more inclined to be prejudiced).Sociological theories of prejudice focus on the social environments that encourage or discourage prejudice. Functionalists examine the benefits and costs of discrimination, conflict theorists look at the way groups in power exploit racial and ethnic divisions; and symbolic interactionsists explore how racial and ethnic stereotypes become self-fulfilling prophecies.Sociologists have identified six global patterns of intergroup relations between dominant and minority groups. These are, from the most oppressive to the most desirable, genocide, population transfer, internal。