Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reservedStrangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved

Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved SOCIAL DISTANCE Do you think people in the U.S. today tend to have some or a lot of acquaintances from other ethnic groups? What about close friends? What about spouses? Do you think people conscientiously chose their acquaintances or friends according to their ethnic group? FB class experiment…. Why do you think this is?

Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved THE STRANGER AS A SOCIAL PHENOMENON Social Distance The degree of closeness or remoteness individuals prefer when interacting with members of other groups

Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved MINORITY GROUPS The term minority group Does not refer to a group’s numerical representation Refers to a group’s relative power and status in society

Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved MINORITY-GROUP CHARACTERISTICS Receives unequal treatment as a group Identifiable by distinguishing physical or cultural traits that are held in low esteem Feels a sense of peoplehood Membership is an ascribed status Group members practice endogamy

Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved RACIAL AND ETHNIC GROUPS Race A categorization in which a large number of people sharing visible physical characteristics regard themselves or are regarded by others as a single group on that basis Ethnic Group A group of people who share a common religion, nationality, culture, and/or language

Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved ETHNOCENTRISM Ethnocentrism A view of things in which one’s own group is the center of everything, and all others are scaled and rated with reference to it What do you think is the source of Ethnocentrism in people from all over the world? Often an ethnocentric attitude is not deliberate but rather an outgrowth of growing up and living within a familiar environment

Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved

Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved EUROCENTRISM AND AFROCENTRISM Eurocentrism A variation on ethnocentrism in which the content, emphasis, or both in history, literature, and other humanities is not exclusively concern Western culture Afrocentrism A viewpoint emphasizing African culture and its influence on Western civilization and the behavior of American Blacks

Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved THE DILLINGHAM FLAW The Dillingham Flaw Using an inaccurate comparison based on simplistic categorizations and antiquated judgments Seriously undermines the scientific worth of supposedly objective evaluations

Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved PERSONAL TROUBLES AND PUBLIC ISSUES C. Wright Mills explained that an intricate relationship exists between individual lives and the larger historical context Public issues are matters concerning the public that transcend the local environments of the individual Personal troubles are matters concerning individual relations with others

Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved FUNCTIONAL THEORY A stable, cooperative social system in which everything has a function and provides the basis for harmony Societal elements function together to maintain order, stability, and equilibrium Social problems, or dysfunctions, result from temporary disorganization or maladjustment

Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved FUNCTIONAL THEORY Rapid social change is the most frequent cause of loss of societal equilibrium Necessary adjustments will restore the social system to a state of equilibrium Critics argue that functionalism focuses on order and stability and ignores the inequalities of gender, race, and class that generate conflict

Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved CONFLICT THEORY Society is continually engaged in a series of disagreements, tensions, and clashes Conflict is inevitable because new elites form, even after the previously oppressed group “wins” Disequilibrium and change are the norm because of societal inequalities

Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved CONFLICT THEORY If we know who benefits from exploitation, we understand why discrimination persists False consciousness is a technique by which a ruling elite maintains power and control of resources Group cohesiveness and struggle against oppression are necessary to affect social change

Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved CONFLICT THEORY Critics argue that conflict theory focuses too much on inequality and overlooks the achieved unity and mutual dependence found in society

Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved INTERACTIONIST THEORY This theory focuses on the microsocial world of personal interaction patterns in everyday life Shared symbols and definitions provide the basis for interpreting life experience A social construction of reality becomes internalized, making it seem to those who adopt it as if it were objective fact

Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved INTERACTIONIST THEORY Shared expectations and understandings, or the absence of these, explain intergroup relations Better communication and intercultural awareness improve majority-minority interaction patterns

Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved INTERACTIONIST THEORY Critics argue that the interactionist’s focus on the everyday neglects culture and the structural influence of class, race, and gender

Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES