Class, Race/Ethnicity and Gender – Flashcards

an enduring pattern in society based on the ranking of categories of people into social positions which determines one's access to society's rewards and resources. Stratification is based on class, "race", gender and other social characteristics. The result is that the rewards & resources of society, such as wealth, power, and prestige, are unequally distributed according to social status.

the idea that 1.) human beings don't experience reality objectively or naturally, but through their filter of our cultural beliefs, concepts, myths, & values; and 2.) that these cultural beliefs, concepts, myths & values are taught to us through interactions w/ social institutions & construct our perceptions of "reality". The social construction of reality is political in that the dominant beliefs & values in society are determined by power relations (i.e. determined by who has the power to institutionalize definitions, concepts, myths and values that serve their interests.

a relationship of domination and subordination in which the dominating group benefits from the systematic degradation, exploitation, and injustice directed at a subordinated group. Oppression occurs when members of certain groups are systematically constrained from fully exercising rights to life, liberty, resources, and an equal opportunity to develop capacities and potentials.

situations in which one's options are reduced to very few, all of which expose one to some penalty or negative outcome. Often a part of oppressed people's experience.

the way things are (e.g. keeping the status quo is maintaining the present inequality and the factors that support it.)

an economic system in which the means of production (i.e. natural resources, tools, machines, factories, buildings) & the way products are distributed are privately owned (by individuals or corporations) and operated for profit. It's based on a relationship b/w owners (capitalists) and workers where owners exploit the workers to maximize profit resulting in a class system of rich and poor

(in Marxist theory), work done that is beyond what the worker is paid for (what is necessary for the workers' survival) and the subsequent profits that capitalists earn from the exploitation of workers. It's the degree of exploitation in a capitalist society, b/c it represents the extent to which those who profit from labor are not those who produced it.

a group of people who occupy the same relative economic rank in the social stratification system; people of the same class share similar amounts of income, education, and wealth (or lack thereof)

all goods and resources having economic value; the economic assets of a person, including money, stocks and property (home, land, cars, natural resources)

the amount of money one regularly receives for work or investments

a change by an individual or group from one social/economic class to another. Movement may be upward-rise to a higher class-or downward-fall into a lower class

a system in which positions in society are filled solely on the basis of people's talents, abilities, and desires ( and not on non-merit factors, such as ethnicity, gender an family connections.) (However, merit is socially constructed and is defined by the ruling class/ elite to legitimize a system in which social status is actually determined by factors such as class, race, and gender.)

a system of beliefs and behaviors that promotes and legitimates the domination and privilege of the wealthy over and at the expense of the poor. It includes derogatory stereotypes of the poor that attempt to justify their low economic status.

the scientifically discredited idea that human beings can be divided into a small number of biologically/genetically separate groups based on arbitrary visible physical differences ( e.g., Caucasoid, Negroid and Mongoloid "races", white , black, yellow, brown and red "aces"). Race is a social and political construction. Although race is not a valid biological construct, the "racial" worldview has been and continues to be used by those in power as a tool to justify economic, social and political inequality and to divide, limit, and control those w/ less power in society. Thus, the social construction of race has real economic, social and political consequences.

a generally distinctive social and cultural heritage shared by a group of people. An ethic group is a group of people generally connected by shared history, languages, beliefs, values, institutions, practices, customs and traditions.

a system of beliefs and behaviors that 1) constructs the notion that humankind can be divided into a small number of bio-genetically distinct groups, 2) places these so-called "races" into a hierarchy of superiority and inferiority, and then 3) promotes the domination and privilege of the supposedly superior "race" over the allegedly inferior "races". (The dominant form of racism historically institutionalized in the US is white supremacy: a system of meaning that promotes the domination of the so-called "White race" over people categorized as "non-white")

prejudice, stereotypes and/or discrimination against Jewish people.

those unearned advantages, benefits, and positive social expectations that attach to those in the racial category defined as White.

a socially constructed concept of race which works politically to promote the domination, authority, & the perceived superiority of those who are racialized as "white" (e.g., people of european descent), in opposition to other racialized groups, e.g. "blacks, browns and yellows", who are constructed as deficient or inferior. It also suggests that "white" people are naturally rational, authoritative, and deserving of this superior status. Our reading refers to how European Americans who were marginalized as low waged earners, were given comfort, even if only psychological, in the fact that they were given privilege, to divide the white low wage earner from the other groups to prevent them from joining together in rebellion against the elite. Even poor otherwise marginalized European Americans could revel in the fact that they could be taken as white in opposition to non-white groups which can be seen as the psychological wage. The study of whiteness is the study of how & w/ what consequences people were imagined to be white

biological designation of a person as male or female, based on primary and secondary sex characteristics, such as chromosomal makeup, penis or vagina, ovaries or testicles, etc.

societal expectations, experiences and meanings associated w/ each sex in a particular culture and society. (masculinity and femininity)

a theory that attempts to understand the unique experiences related to different combinations of multiple social constructed categories. All people are a combination of various socially constructed categories (e.g., ethnicity, race, class, gender and sexual orientation). Power, status, and experiences are different depending on which social categories intersect (e.g., poor woman of color, disabled white lesbian, wealthy heterosexual Latino male)

a system of beliefs and behaviors that promotes the domination and superiority of one sex over the other. Includes belief in gender stereotypes and behavior based on gender stereotypes. Most sexism promotes the domination of women by men. Glass Ceiling-an unofficial, invisible barrier that prevents women and people of color (and other minorities) from advancing beyond a certain level (ceiling) in the workplace.

the right to vote in political elections

the movement to end sexism and sexist oppression

classification of people according to the sex or sexes of the people to whom they are emotionally, romantically, and sexually attracted.

a system of beliefs and behaviors that promotes the domination of heterosexuals over homosexuals, based on the notion that heterosexuality is the best and only normal or legitimate form of intimate sexual relationship.

fear of, contempt, or hatred for gays and lesbians, or people perceived to be gay or lesbian. Able-ism: a system of beliefs and behaviors that degrades the value of disabled people, and/or that degrades the opportunities and the potential of people with disabilities. Ableism typically promotes and legitimates the domination of the "abled" over, and at the expense of, the "disabled"

any behavior or pattern of behavior (including policies) that systematically tends to limit or deny opportunities to one social group while it perpetuates privilege to members of another social group.

a special advantage, immunity, right, or benefit granted or enjoyed by an individual or group (may be earned or conferred by birth or luck). Within a stratified system, privilege is often unearned advantage or dominance conferred on the basis of one's race, sex, or class status (e.g., white privilege)

to think about and evaluate the information presented to you from traditional and non-traditional authority figures or hierarchical systems ( education, media, religion, family, peers ) and to become aware of the objective realities.