1. BEYOND THE UNITED STATES: THE COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE
CHAPTER 16

2. The comparative Perspective
Phenomenon of subordination based on race, nationality, or religion not unique to US; occurs throughout the world
Mexico
Women and Mayans given second-class status
Canada
Faces racial, linguistic, and tribal issues
Brazil
Recognizing long history of racial inequality
Israel
Struggle of territory and autonomy between Jews and Palestinians
Republic of South Africa
Legacy of apartheid dominates present and future

3. Ethnonational Conflict
World Systems Theory
Considers the global economic system as divided between nations that control wealth and those that provide natural resources and labor
Ethnonational Conflict
Refers to conflicts between ethnic, racial, religious, and linguistic groups within nations
Sociological perspective on relations between dominant and subordinate groups treats race and ethnicity as social categories
Can be understood only in the context of shared meanings attached by societies and their members

4. Mexico A nation of 108 million people
The Mexican Indian people and the Color Gradient
Color Gradient
The placement of people on a continuum from light to dark skin color rather than in distinct racial groupings by skin color
Another example of the social construction of race in which social class in linked to the social reality (or at least the appearance) of social purity

5. The Status of Women
Gender stratification is an issue US shares with almost all other countries
1975, Mexico City site of first UN conference on the status of women
Focused on the situation of women in developing countries
Mexican women
Often viewed as the “ideal workers”
Have begun to address economic, political, and health issues
Mexico beginning to realize issues social inequity extends beyond poverty

6. Canada
Multiculturalism adopted as a state policy for more than two decades
The First Nation
Aboriginal minorities largely consists of four groups
1. Status Indians members of 604 tribes officially recognized by the government.
2. Inuit living in Northern Canada
3. Métis of mixed ancestry
4. Non-status Indians

7. 1982 Canadian Federal Constitution
Recognized and affirmed existing aboriginal and treaty rights of Canadian Native American, Inuit, and Métis people
Defeat of the Charlottetown Agreement of 1992
Embraced number of issues including greater recognition of Aboriginal people
Social and economical fate of Aboriginal People
Only 40% graduate from high school compared to 70% of nation as a whole
Unemployment twice as high and average income one-third lower

8. The Québécois French speaking people of the province of Quebec
Quebec accounts for 1/4th of nation’s population and wealth
Meech Lake Accords (1987)
Failed constitutional amendments that would recognize Quebec as a distinct society
50.5% prefer to remain with Canada rather than become a separate nation
Inter ethnic and linguistic conflict between the Anglophones and Francophones.

9. Immigration and Race
Proportionate to its population, Canada receives consistently the most immigrants of any nation
Over 18% of population foreign born
Visible Minorities
Persons other than Aboriginal or First Nation people who are non-White in racial background
Accounts for 13.4% of the population
Canadian immigration policy has alternated between being open and restrictive
Growth in Asian, Black, and West Indian immigrants

10. Brazil: Not A Racial Paradise
Brazil and US familiar in number of ways
Colonized by Europeans who overwhelmed natives
Imported Black Africans as slaves
Treatment of indigenous people
Legacy of Slavery
Depended on slave trade more than US
Easier to recognize African culture among Brazil Blacks than African Americans
Contributions of African people kept alive in schools
Surviving African culture overwhelmed by dominant European traditions, like US

11. In Brazil, race not seen as measure of inferiority like US
Manumission
Freeing of slaves
For every 1,000 slaves, 100 freed annually compared to 4 per year in US
Most significant difference between slavery in Southern US and Brazil
Needed as crafts workers, shopkeepers, and boatmen, not just agricultural workers like in the US
In Brazil, race not seen as measure of inferiority like US
In Brazil, you were inferior if you were a slave
In US, you were inferior if you were Black

12. The “Racial Democracy” Illusion
Historian Carl Degler (1971)
Mulatto Escape Hatch
The key to differences in Brazilian and American race relations
Mulatto or moreno (brown) recognized as group separate from either brancos (Whites) or pretos (Blacks)
In US, mulattos classed with Blacks
Escape hatch is an illusion
Economically, fare marginally better than Black Brazilians or Afro-Brazilians
Blacks with highest level of education and occupation experience most discrimination in terms of jobs, mobility, and income

13. 1/4th of all marriages between people of different color groupings
Marriage between opposite ends of color gradient are uncommon
Absence of direct racial confrontation and mixed marriages led to conclusion of Brazil as “racial paradise”
Lack of racial tension does not mean prejudice does not exist
Light skin color enhances status but impact is exaggerated
People of mixed ancestry earn 12% more than Blacks but Whites earn another 26% more than moreno

14. Brazilian Dilemma
Gradual recognition racial prejudice and discrimination exist
20th century, changed from nation prided on freedom from racial intolerance to country legally attacking discrimination
Alfonso Arinos Law (1951)
Prohibiting racial discrimination in public place
No use overturning subtle forms of discrimination
Women of color fare poorly in Brazil
Geledes/SOS Racism
Black rights group
Challenge in organizing is that Afro-Brazilians fail to recognize discrimination

15. Israel and the Palestinians
Diaspora
Exile of Jews from Palestine over 2,000 years ago
British colonialism during World War I and the Middle East
British endorsement of a Jewish national homeland in Palestine
Spirit of Zionism
Yearning to establish a Jewish state in the biblical homeland
To Arabs, meant subjugation and elimination of Palestinians

16. Arab-Israeli Conflicts
No sooner had Israel recognized, Arab nations announced intention to restore control to Palestine
Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon
By force if necessary
Six-Day War (1967)
Syria’s response to Israel’s military actions to take surrounding territory
Yom Kippur War (October 1973)
Launched against Israel by Egypt and Syria
Lead to huge oil price increases as retaliation
President Carter’s mediation and Egypt’s recognition of Israel’s right to exist

17. The Intifada Began in December 1987
Uprising against Israel by Palestinians in occupied territories through attacks, boycott, strikes, resistance, and noncooperation
Grassroots movement of students, workers, unions, professionals, and business leaders
Used television to transform world opinion, especially US
Palestinians came to be viewed as people struggling for self-determination rather than terrorists
Diaspora of Jews led to displacement of Palestinian Arabs

18. The Search for Solutions Amid Violence
Oslo Accords (1993)
Agreements between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat for creation of first self-governing Palestinian territory in Gaza Strip and West Bank
Issues of lasting peace
Future of Jewish settlements in Palestinian territories
Future of Arabs with Israeli citizenship
Creation of independent Palestinian national state
Israel-Palestinian Authority relations with government under control of Hamas, sworn to Israel’s destruction
Future of Palestinian refugees elsewher

19. Republic of South Africa
Different from rest of Africa because original African people of area no longer present
Largest group are Black Africans
Coloured (Cape Coloureds) and Asians make up remaining non-Whites
Small White community
English
Afrikaners
Descended from Dutch and other European settlers

20. The Legacy of Colonialism
Settlement of South Africa by Europeans began in 1652
Dutch East Indian Company colony in Cape Town
Dutch slave owners and trek inwards
Acquisition of parts of South Africa by Britain in 1814
British and Indian immigration
British and Boer wars
British freed Blacks and gave them almost all political and civil rights
Pass Laws
Curfews placed on Bantus (Blacks) limiting geographic movement and enforced through 1986

21. Apartheid Means separation or apartness in Afrikans
British colonial rule ended with independence in 1948
Afrikaners assumed control of government
White supremacy became formalized into law
Apartheid was 20th century effort to reestablish master-slave relationship
Blacks could not vote
Could not move through country freely
Unable to hold jobs without government approval
To work at approved jobs, forced to live in temporary quarters far from real homes
Access to health care, education, and social services severely limited

22. 1990, South African Prime Minister F. W. DeKlerk
Legalized 60 banned Black organizations
Freed Nelson Mandela, Leader of African National Congress after 27 years of imprisonment
National Peace Accord
Signed by DeKlerk and Black leaders pledging establishment of multiparity democracy to end violence
1992 referendum allowing Whites to vote on ending apartheid
68.6% in favor of continued dismantling of legal apartheid and creation of new constitution
DeKlerk and Mandela jointly awarded Nobel Peace Prize in 1993

23. The Era of Reconciliation and Moving On
April 1994, Mandela’s ANC received 62% of vote giving him 5 year term as president
Truth and Reconciliation Commission
People allowed to come forward and confess horrors committed under apartheid
If judged remorseful (most were), not subject to prosecution; if failed to confess, were prosecuted
Controversial issues facing ANC led government are familiar to US citizens
Desperate poverty
Affirmative Action and reverse apartheid
Medical care (AIDS, 10% of population; less than 3% receiving medication
Crime
School integration

24. Most difficult is land reform
Black South Africans forced from their land between 1960 and 1990
1994
Government took steps to transfer 30% of agriculture land to Black South Africans
Plans to restore original inhabitants to their land where feasible (“just and equitable compensation”)
Issue more critical in view of South Africa hosting 2010 Football (Soccer) World Cup

25. QUESTIONS

26. Identify who the native people are and what their role has been in each of the societies discussed in this chapter.

27. On what levels can one speak of an identity issue facing Canada as a nation?

28. What role has secession played in Canada and Israel?

29. How have civil uprisings affected intergroup tensions in Mexico and Israel?

30. To what extent are the problems facing South Africa today a part of apartheid’s legacy?

31. In what ways are South Africa’s policy of apartheid similar to the Jim Crow laws of the American South?

32. Social construction of race emphasizes how we create arbitrary definitions of skin color that then have social consequences. Drawing on the societies discussed, select one nation and identify how social definitions work in other ways to define group boundaries.