1. Chapter 8 Racial-Ethnic Relations
Pgs

2. Do Now Read Page 225

3. The Problems in Sociological Perspective
Prejudice and discrimination exist around the world
Prejudice is an attitude, a pre-judging of some sort
Usually negative but can be positive
Discrimination is an action that treats someone or some group unfairly
People who are discriminated against because they belong to a particular group are called a minority group.
Does not necessarily mean numerical minority
Those who discriminate are the dominant group
Has more power, privileges, and higher social status
Minorities come into existence when people who have different customs, languages, values, or physical characteristics come under control of the same political system.
Discrimination is based on differences.

4. Characteristics of Minority Groups
Membership comes through birth
It is an ascribed status.
The dominant group holds the minority’s physical or cultural traits in low esteem. (prejudice)
The dominant group treats members to the minority group unequally. (discrimination)
Minority members tend to marry within their group (endogamy)
Minority members tend to feel a common identity because of their physical or cultural traits, and the disadvantages that these traits bring.

5. Goals of Minority Groups
Assimilation: wanting to be treated as individuals, not as members of a separate group, the minority group adopts the culture of the dominant group and is absorbed into the larger society
Pluralism: the minority group wants to live peacefully with the dominant group, yet maintain the differences that set it apart and are important to its identity
Secession: wanting cultural and political independence, the minority group seeks to separate itself and form a separate union
Militancy: convinced of its own superiority the minority wants to reverse the status and dominate society
Native Americans

6. Policies of Dominant Groups
Assimilation: an attempt to eliminate the minority by absorbing it into the mainstream culture
Forced assimilation – the dominant group bans the minority’s religion, language, and other distinctive customs
Permissible assimilation – permits the minority to adopt the dominant customs at its own pace
Pluralism: when a dominant group permits or encourages cultural differences
Segregation: an attempt by the dominant group to keep a minority subservient and exploitable

7. Policies of Dominant Groups
Internal colonialism: a dominant group exploiting a minority group’s labor
Population transfer
Direct population transfer – the dominant group forces the minority to leave
Indirect population transfer – the dominant group makes life so miserable for a minority that its members “choose” to leave
Genocide: policy of extermination motivated by hatred, fear, or greed
South African Apartheid History and Laws
"Miracle Rising" - South African Apartheid
Rwandan Genocide

8. Race and Ethnicity
Race – the inherited physical characteristics that identify a group of people
people in history have used race to distinguish the superior from the inferior
Eugenics – attempts to improve the human “race” through selective breeding
Approved by many professionals in the 1930s
Today biologists have found that human characteristics flow endlessly into one another
There is no pure race
The term used is racial-ethnic group which refers to people who identify with one another on the basis of their ancestry and cultural heritage

9. Immigrants and the Melting Pot
The many racial-ethnic groups that make up the United States have distinct histories, customs, and identities.
See pg. 231 – Figure 8.2
Throughout U.S. history, immigrants have confronted Anglo-conformity
They were expected to speak the English language and adopt other Anglo-Saxon ways of life
Melting pot – “melt” European immigrants into a new cultural and biological blend
Most European immigrants lost their specific ethnic identities and merged into mainstream culture
Some who want to get “melted” have found that their appearance evokes stereotypes that make such melting difficult
Stereotypes – generalizations about what people are like
The Changing State of U.S. Immigration

10. What is the Problem?
Social problems arise when people get upset because prejudice and discrimination deprive minorities of the rights to which citizenship entitles them and the equality guaranteed by the constitution.
Effects of Discrimination
People who are discriminated against can internalize the views of the dominant group
Minority can begin to believe they are less capable, less worth, and less human
Economic Consequences
Family income of African Americas, Latinos, and Native Americans run about 40% less than that of white families
African America babies are more and twice as likely to die than are white babies

11. Institutional Discrimination
Individual discrimination – one person treating another badly on the basis of race-ethnicity
Institutional discrimination – discrimination built into the social system that oppresses whole groups
ex. Whites denied African American the right to vote
Ex. South African Apartheid

12. Theoretical Perspectives Symbolic Interactionism: Labels
No one is born prejudiced
We learn values, beliefs, and ways to perceive the world from the families and racial-ethnic groups we are born into
The labels that we apply to racial-ethnic groups create selective perception
As we generalize members of groups based on labels and stereotypes we only see certain things
Labels may help people commit acts that otherwise would challenge their moral sense
Ex: by labeling Native Americans as “savages” the U.S. cavalry and settlers perceive them as less then humans
This made it easier to kill off whole tribes

13. Theoretical Perspectives Functionalism: Costs and benefits
The discrimination woven into U.S. history benefited the dominant group and it continues to do so
Racial-ethnic stratification, the unequal distribution of a society’s resources based on race- ethnicity, helps get society’s dirty work done
Dirty work – physically dirty or dangerous, temporary, dead-end and underpaid, undignified and menial jobs
When minorities are prevented from higher- paying, prestigious jobs, they take dirty jobs
Ethnocentrism – a type of prejudice; “my group’s ways are right, and your group’s ways are wrong”
Helps dominant group justify its higher social position and greater share of the resources

14. Theoretical Perspectives Conflict theory: The Labor Market
The dominant group pits racial-ethnic groups against one another in order to exploit workers and increase profit.
People Like Us - PBS

15. What problems do minatory groups in the U.S. today face?
You will spit up into 4 groups of 4 or 5.
Each group will be assigned a minority group: Latinos, African Americans, Asian Americans, or Native Americans.
Over the next few days, using your textbook and outside research, you will put together a brief PowerPoint answering the above question about your particular group.
We are working with pages in the textbook.
You will be presenting your PowerPoint to the class and all students will be responsible for knowing about each minority group for the next test.
Your PowerPoint/presentation will be a project grade for the 4th quarter.