1. Chapter 1 Race and Ethnicity
Define race and ethnicity
Social construction of race and ethnicity
Race and Ethnicity Today
Copyright © 2017 Danielle McDonald. All rights reserved.

2. Copyright © 2017 Danielle McDonald. All rights reserved.
Defining Race
Physical description of person or group of people
Skin color is identifiable and therefore ascribed by others
Biological definition
Human Genome Project
Copyright © 2017 Danielle McDonald. All rights reserved.

3. The Social Construction of Race in the US
Result of cultural and political meanings defined through social interactions across multiple social settings
Race is socially constructed by country/region
Time Wise on Social Construction of Race
Copyright © 2017 Danielle McDonald. All rights reserved.

4. The Social Construction of Race in the US
Race is not real. It was created to divide and conquer the slave labor population.
How race is applied has very real consequences:
The Great Chain of Being used to justify slavery
Today, War on Drugs and crack cocaine used to justify harsh treatment of African Americans.
Copyright © 2017 Danielle McDonald. All rights reserved.

5. Copyright © 2017 Danielle McDonald. All rights reserved.
Race Today: Privilege
Privilege – when you have a leg up on someone else due to an advantage that is not earned, such as skin color, gender, or nationality
Privilege can be difficult to notice when you are the one benefitting from it
How does your race, gender, sex, class, ethnicity, religion, etc. impact you and the opportunities you have?
Copyright © 2017 Danielle McDonald. All rights reserved.

6. Race Today: Institutional Racism
Institutional Racism - when policies and procedures of an institution, public or private, treat people differently or provide different services based upon race.
African American parents having the Talk with their young children about how to interact with police officers to appear less threatening.
Blacks being the target of stop and frisk policies even though the overwhelming majority stopped have not committed any crimes.
Copyright © 2017 Danielle McDonald. All rights reserved.

7. Copyright © 2017 Danielle McDonald. All rights reserved.
Defining Ethnicity
Group’s cultural traditions, geographical ties, common language
Hispanic/Latino or Non Hispanic Latino
Most countries categorize by ethnicity
Copyright © 2017 Danielle McDonald. All rights reserved.

8. Social Construction of Ethnicity in the US
Mexican American War and Manifest Destiny
The Census and the struggle to define Mexican Americans by race and ethnicity.
Segregation and poll taxes
Copyright © 2017 Danielle McDonald. All rights reserved.

9. Social Construction of Ethnicity in the US
Hernandez v. Texas 1954
Mexican Americans had never served on the jury
Class Apart argument
Changed 14th amendment to also include ethnicity
Copyright © 2017 Danielle McDonald. All rights reserved.

10. Ethnicity Today: Immigration
76% of the undocumented = Hispanic and 59% = Mexican descent
Myths and Realities:
Only citizens and legal permanent residents ( after 5 years) are eligible to receive federal benefits such as welfare.
Immigrants and undocumented commit far less crime than American born citizens.
Undocumented = 5.4% of labor force and mostly work low skilled jobs
Copyright © 2017 Danielle McDonald. All rights reserved.

11. Copyright © 2017 Danielle McDonald. All rights reserved.
The full set of 145 slides is available upon adoption of the book. If you are a professor using this book for a class, contact Beth at to receive your copy of the presentations.
Copyright © 2017 Danielle McDonald. All rights reserved.