Part ONE: What is Race?

1. Part ONE: What is Race?

2. A Warm Up…

3. And now?…

4. Historically… • Biological Definition (19th century): • Caucasian, “white” • Negroid, “black” • Mongoloid, “yellow” • ***Please see attached for 19th century descriptions • Race in America (2010 Census).doc

5. The Debate… • Is race a biological fact? • The United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (1950): “For all practical social purposes ‘race’ is not so much a biological phenomenon as a social myth.” • Human Genome Project argues that there is no race gene or DNA test that can predict your race…but some evidence suggests that you can identify the geographic location of your ancestry.”

6. The Debate… • Is race a biological fact? • “There is no doubt that there exists genetic variation that corresponds to the general geographic origins of what we call race, but the amount of variation is nowhere nearly as great as most people believe.” (Conley 2011) • The Social Construction of Race Explained

7. Sociologically… • DEFINITION: a category of people who share inherited physical characteristics and whom others see as being a distinct group • Sociologists are concerned with how people react to these physical characteristics & how these reactions affect individuals in society

8. Part TWO: What is Ethnicity?

9. What is Ethnicity? • DEFINITION: set of cultural characteristics that distinguishes one group from another group • Ethnic Group: People who share a common cultural background and a common sense of identity • “Ethnic markers” • Physical characteristics, territoriality, history, language, religion, customs, beliefs, norms, traditions, culture, etc.

10. What is Ethnicity? • Everyone has a race and an ethnicity • Thick v. Thin Ethnicity • Degree to which your day-to-day decisions are affected by your ethnic identity • Achieved v. Ascribed

11. Part THREE: Separate & Unequal

12. Maintenance of Inequality • Inequality is maintained & enhanced by the establishment of of majority and minority groups • Majority Group: • Culturally, politically & economically dominant

13. Maintenance of Inequality • Minority Group: • Category of people who share physical characteristics or cultural practices that result in the group being denied equal treatment

14. Maintenance of Inequality • 5 Characteristics of a Minority Group: • Distinguishing physical and/or cultural traits • Group members are victims of unequal treatment at hands of the dominant group • Membership in group is an ascribed status • Group members share a strong bond and a sense of group loyalty • Members tend to practice endogamy

15. Part FOUR: Prejudice & Discrimination

16. Prejudice & Discrimination • Negative interactions between members of majority and minority groups may result in: • Stereotype: an oversimplified, exaggerated, or unfavorable belief/generalization about a group of people • Prejudice: an evaluation, or an attitude, in regards to a social group and its members

17. Prejudice & Discrimination • Discrimination: negative behaviortowards a group of people; denial of equal treatment based on group membership • Racism: the belief that one’s own race or ethnic group is naturally superior to other races or ethnic groups

18. Prejudice & Discrimination • Do prejudice and discrimination always go together? • Merton’s Patterns of Prejudice & Discrimination

19. Prejudice & Discrimination • Overt vs. Subtle Racism • Microaggressions: • Subtle verbal and non-verbal insults directed at non-whites, often done automatically or unconsciously We will address institutional discrimination at the end of this part of our unit

20. Sources of Prejudice & Discrimination • Social: • Social Environment – socialization/norms • Psychological: • Personality – authoritarians, conformists, angry, likely to blame others • Scapegoating - blaming others when cause or resolution to problems is unknown or out of one’s reach • Economic: • Competition for scarce resources – jobs!

21. Part FIVE: Patterns of Minority Group Treatment

22. Patterns of Treatment • Cultural Pluralism: • Allows each group within society to keep its unique cultural identity • Ex: Switzerland – 3 official languages (FR, GR, ITAL)

23. Patterns of Treatment • Assimilation: • Culturally distinct groups blended into a single group with common culture • Voluntary or forced • EX: “Melting Pot”; Anglo-conformity

24. Patterns of Treatment • Legal Protection: • Minority rights protected by law • EX: Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act of 1965, Affirmative Action

25. Patterns of Treatment • Segregation: • Minority group physically separated from the dominant group • De jure (by law) or De Facto (societal norms) • EX: Jim Crow Laws

26. Patterns of Treatment • Subjugation: • Dominant group controls every aspect of minority group life through force • Slavery is the most extreme form of subjugation • EX: Slavery; Apartheid

27. Patterns of Treatment • Population Transfer: • Dominant group moves minority group to new locations within or outside the country • EX: Native American reservations; Japanese internment camps; Jewish ghettos/concentration camps

28. Patterns of Treatment • Extermination: • Dominant group attempts to destroy minority group • Also called genocide/ethnic cleansing • EX: Holocaust

29. Part SIX: Ethnic Groups/Minority Groups in the U.S.

30. The White Population • White Anglo Saxon Protestant (WASPs): • WHO? • English • WHEN? • Beginning in the 16th century

31. The White Population • During the 16th & 17th centuries, the English emerged as the majority group • Those arriving afterwards were required to assimilate

32. The White Population • Resulted in: • Myth of the “American Melting Pot” • “Anglo-conformity”

33. The White Population • White Ethnic Americans (non-WASPs): • WHO? • Germans, Irish, Italian & Jewish • WHEN? • Beginning early 19th century

34. The White Population • Major hostility from WASPs • (1880-1930); height of discrimination • Clashes between “white ethnics” & black population due to competition over scarce & valued resources • ***The Jewish community has a social mobility rate that is twice that of any other minority

36. The Black Population • POPULATION BASICS: • 12.6% of U.S. population • Largest racial minority • MIGRATION: • Initially involuntary (unique circumstances) • Migrated to northern industrial centers during both world wars

37. The Black Population • POLITICAL GAINS: • Outlawing of segregation • Passage of the Civil Rights Act • Passage of Affirmative Action • Overall, African Americans are still politically underrepresented

38. The Black Population • EDUCATION: • HS graduation rates still unequal to that of the white population (esp. black males) • Differences still exist throughout undergraduate & graduate level degree programs

39. The Black Population • ECONOMIC: • Remains a MAJOR problem; median income continues to lag behind the national average • Successes & gains in the middle class are often offset and overshadowed by the lower class

40. The Black Population • WHY? • Large (disproportionate) number of female headed households • Workplace discrimination further widens the income gap

42. The Hispanic Population (16.3%) • BASICS & PROBLEMS: • Low levels of education & high rates of poverty; socioeconomic status is currently falling • Attributed to recent immigration & problems with the English language • Becoming increasingly segregated

43. The Hispanic Population • MEXICAN AMERICANS: • Approximately 31 million; 63% of the American Hispanic population • Poverty rate is twice the national average

44. The Hispanic Population • CUBAN AMERICANS: • Approximately 1.7 million; 3.5% of the American Hispanic population • Most immigration occurred after 1959 • Highly educated, have a higher median family income & less impoverishment than other Hispanic groups

45. The Hispanic Population • PUERTO RICANS: • Approximately 4.6 million; 9.2% of the American Hispanic population • Became U.S. citizens in 1917 • Maintenance of a strong ethnic identity

47. The Asian Population • The “Ideal” Minority • BASICS: • 5.6% of American population • ETHNIC MAKEUP: • Chinese, Korean, Filipino, Indian, Vietnamese, Japanese

48. The Asian Population • FACTS: • Fastest growing minority in the U.S. • Account for ½ of all current immigration into this country

50. The Native American Population • Term refers to the many distinct people who migrated from Asia to the Americas thousands of years ago; original inhabitants of the Americas • Native Americans still remain predominantly unaccultured and unassimilated