Ch 14 Race & Ethnicity – Flashcards

Sociology constructed category of people who share biologically transmitted traits that members of a society consider important

to rank people in a hierarchy Give some people more $, power, and prestige than other

Mongoloids Caucasoids Negroids

Socially constructed categories based on cultural traits a society defines as important reflects ancestry, language, and religion

Any category of people distinguished by physical or cultural difference that a society sets apart and subordinates.

A rigid and unfair generalization about a category of people

The social distance scale

1.) Stereotype An exaggerated description applied to every person in some category 2.) Racism Assets that one race is innately superior to another

1.) Scapegoat 2.) Authoritarian Personality 3.) Culture 4.) Conflict

Claims that prejudice results from frustration among people who are disadvantaged

Claims that prejudice is a personality trait of certain individuals -especially those with little education and those raised by cold and demanding parents.

Claims that prejudice is rooted in culture We learn to feel greater social distance form some categories of people

Claims that prejudice is a tool used by powerful people to divide and control the population.

Unequal treatment of various categories of people

Prejudice refers to ATTITUDES Discrimination refers to ACTIONS

Biases built into the operation of society's institutions (including: schools, hospitals, police, workplace)

Racial and ethnic categories have roughly equal social standing (although distinct) U.S. IS -> all people have equal social standing under the law NOT -> do not have equal social standing

A process by which minorities gradually adopt the patterns of the dominant culture Change in: dress, language, religion, values, friends -Strategy to escape prejudice & discrimination and achieve upward social mobility

The physical & social separation of categories of people -some voluntary (Amish) others involuntary (neighbrhood)

Segregation by Law

Settings that contain only people of one category

Having little social contact with people beyond the local community

Earliest humans of America Experiences: Genocide, Segregation, Forced Assimilation

Most original European settlers of the U.S. Today: High social position

Legally equal, but still at disadvantage Experience: 2 centuries of Slavery 1865 Emancipation -> Jim Crow laws & segregation by law 1950s & 1960s -> Civil Rights movement

Chinese & Japanese -> Above-average income & school Experience: Racial & Ethnic hostility 1/3 immigrant of U.S. = Asian decent

Largest U.S. minority Mexican = poorest -> Southwestern area Cuban = most affluent -> Miami

Culturally diverse population Within all social classes Experience: discrimination as Terrorists -> Hate Crimes

non-WASPs Ancestors who emigrated from Europe (19th & 20th centuries)

Biological reproduction by partners of different racial categories

Systematic killing of one category of people by another