Ethnicity and Race

1. Ethnicity and Race

2. Ethnic groups and ethnicity • Ethnic groups • Members share certain beliefs, values, customs, and norms because of their common background • Ethnicity – identification with, and feeling part of, an ethnic group and exclusion from certain other groups because of this affiliation

3. Ethnic groups and ethnicity • Status – the various positions that people in society • Shifting identities • Adapting to situations

4. Race • Race – an ethnic group assumed to have a biological basis • Racism – discrimination against a “racial” group • Like ethnicity, race is a cultural category rather than a biological reality

5. Social Race • (C. Wagley) – groups assumed to have a biological basis but actually defined in a culturally arbitrary, rather than scientific, manner • Cultural construction of “race” in the United States

6. The Social Construction of Race • Race - Typically refers to appearances such as skin color, hair type, skin hue, eye color, stature, body size, nose, eyes, and head shape

7. Race & Science • The widely held belief that that there are biological differences between racial groups is simply incorrect

8. Origins of Racial Groups • Agreement among reputable historians and archaeologists is that the color of primitive humans was Black.

9. Biracial and Multiracial Identities • Racial purity is myth • Monoracial – both parents from same racial group • Biracial – both parents from different racial group • Multiracial – having parents with multiple racial heritages

10. Ethnic groups, nations, and nationalities • Nations/nation-states • Autonomous, centrally organized political entities • Most are not ethnically homogeneous • Nationalities – ethnic groups that once had, or wish to have or regain, autonomous political status (their own country)

11. Demography • Increasing number of persons who are biracial and multiracial • 2.6% or 7.3 million people in U.S. report more than one race • Nearly two thirds of all people who reported more than one race lived in just 10 states • The cities of Los Angeles and New York had the largest two or more races populations

12. Ethnic tolerance and accommodation - Assimilation • A minority group adopts the patterns and norms of a dominant host culture to such an extent that it no longer exists as a separate cultural unit

13. Ethnic tolerance and accommodation - Plural society • Interethnic contact does not inevitably lead to assimilation • Plural society • Ethnic boundaries

14. One-Drop Rule • One-drop rule emerged in the South during Slavery • Anyone with 1/16th Black ancestry was denied a White identity • One-drop rule is still alive, but is not as pervasive as it used to be • Hypodescent – process wherein biracial people were assigned to the social status with less social status

15. Multiculturalism and ethnic identity • Multiculturalism – the view of cultural diversity in a country as something good and desirable

16. Roots of ethnic conflict • Prejudice • Stereotypes • Discrimination • De facto discrimination – practiced but not legally sanctioned • De jure discrimination – part of law

17. Aftermaths of oppression • Genocide • Ethnocide • Forced assimilation • Ethnic expulsion • Colonialism • Cultural colonialism