Chapter 9 Race and Ethnicity “!

Discussion: Race/ethnicity Multi-racial identity Language/superlatives Short Film: “MultiFacial” Discussion: Race/ethnicity Multi-racial identity Language/superlatives Looking-glass self Dramaturgical analysis Stereotypes

Race is a socially constructed reality No biological or genetic validity category of people who have been singled out as inferior on the basis of . . . subjectively selected attributes

Ethnicity - sharing of common characteristics Ethnic group A collection of people distinguished, by others or by themselves, primarily on the basis of cultural or nationality characteristics (1) unique cultural traits (4) ascribed membership from birth (2) sense of community (5) territoriality (3) feeling of ethnocentrism

Human Racial Classification Religion and Cultural Differences Culture Skin hues, hair texture, eye shape Physiognomy/ Biology Family and Ancestral ties Lineage “White” superiority time

Power Relationships Majority Group and Minority Group Dominant group advantaged has superior resources and rights Subordinate group disadvantaged subjected to unequal treatment objects of collective discrimination

Beliefs Attitudes  Practices Prejudice negative attitude based on faulty generalizations about members of selected racial, ethnic, or other groups Stereotypes overgeneralizations appearance behavior other characteristics Racism Beliefs Attitudes  Practices justification of superior and inferior treatment

Theories of Prejudice Frustration-aggression hypothesis aggression towards others when goals are not met “scapegoat”  substitutes for actual source of the frustration Social learning observing/imitating others (parents and/or peers) Authoritarian personality excessive conformity submission to authority intolerance, insecurity rigid stereotypical thinking

Which theories of prejudice might apply to this photo?

Merton’s Typology of Prejudice and Discrimination Prejudiced attitude? Discriminatory behavior? Unprejudiced discriminator Prejudiced nondiscriminator No Yes

Functionalist Perspectives: Assimilation - absorption Cultural (acculturation) Structural (integration) Biological (amalgamation) Psychological Ethnic Pluralism - coexistence Equalitarian (accommodation) Inequalitarian (segregation) de jure “by law” de facto “by custom” Melting pot or salad bowl?

Racism no longer exists! Sincere fictions personal beliefs that reflect larger societal mythologies “How is it possible to have this tremendous level of racial inequality in a country where most people (whites) claim that race is no longer a relevant social factor and that "racists" are a species on the brink of extinction? More significantly, how do whites explain the contradiction between their professed color-blindness and America's color-coded inequality?” excerpted from “The Strange Enigma of Racism in Contemporary America” by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva

Questions? Comments?