Racial and Ethnic Inequality

Racial and Ethnic Inequality

Lecture Outline • I. The Significance of Race • II. The Social Construction of Race • III. Prejudice and Discrimination • IV. Racial Stratification • V. Solutions to Racial Inequality

I. The Significance of Race How do we define Race and Ethnicity?

Minority Groups • Racial group: refers to a category of people who are believed to share… • Ethnic group: group set apart from others primarily because of … • Minority group: subordinate group whose members have significantly less… • Race? What other groups are minority groups? What characteristics create minority groups?

Dominant and Minority Groups Other characteristics that may make a group subject to unequal treatment: gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, ability status skin color. Are dominant groups always larger than minority groups?

Why talk about Race? Is Racial Inequality a Social Problem? • One Argument: Race no longer matters • There is equal opportunity due to civil rights movement • We live in a color-blind society • Do we? Have we reached the promise land that MLK spoke of in 1963? Opposition (Sociological): Race structures society and is highly significant. While trends may be encouraging, and there are no longer legally enforced forms of racial domination, racial inequality is widespread and racism is much less overt. -Notion of color blind racism

Race is a Significant Social Reality • Race and ethnicity organize societies and play a large role in fueling violence around the globe. • To what degree is race significant in the United States?

II. Race-A Social Construction • Each society socially constructs the meaning of symbols • Social Construction of Race • What does this mean?

Race as a social construct • We know race is socially constructed because the meaning of race has been inconsistent. • The meaning of race has changed… • 1.___________ • 2.___________

Example: Race changing over time • The idea of “white” has evolved over time. • Thoughts?

Example: Race changing over time • Since 1790, the census has never measured race in the same way in the U.S. • “Mulatto” was in the 1800 census, but taken out a few decades later • “Mexican” was considered a race in 1930, but in the next census, they were counted as white • Asian Indians were considered white in 1970 • The term “negro” still appears on today’s census, in addition to “African American” • In the earliest census measurements, survey takers would assign your race to you.

Example: Race across cultures • How many races are in the United States? • Brazil?

The Social Construction of Race • Racial Formation: Basically, racial categories have been created, shaped, re-shaped, and destroyed throughout history depending on the social and historical context. • Race is NOT biologically/genetically real, but it is very real in the social sense. • Who has had the power to define groups and the meanings attached to them? How does this happen?

Biological Meaning and Race • A mistaken notion • Race is not a biological reality • The absence of pure races

A Brief History of Race Race became the tool through which Europeans could justify the domination, enslavement, and exploitation of racially “othered” groups. Which groups? Since race became a social construct, it has been used by those in power (dominant groups)to deny “others” (minority groups) access to valued resources. What types of resources?

III. Prejudice and Discrimination • What’s the difference?

Racial and Ethnic Inequality