1. Vincent Parrillo Strangers to These Shores
Chapter Four
Dominant-Minority Relations

2. Minority-Group Responses
Dominant and Minority Groups respond in a variety of way depending on:
Prevailing cultural patterns
Racial differences
Ethnic differences
Sociohistorical (time) period

3. Minority-Group Responses
Depends on:
Minority’s perception of its power resources
Determines the responses they make
Responses include
Avoidance, … Deviance, … Defiance, … Acceptance, … Negative self-image

4. Avoidance
A way of dealing with discrimination, …a way to leave one’s problems behind
Cluster into small sub-communities, … a miniature version of a familiar world
A safe place to live with others like them
Accused of being clannish
Accused of not wanting to assimilate into American culture

5. Avoidance Cont. Asian groups followed this example
Clustered together in “China Towns”
Limited residential choices
Limited occupational choices
Not competitive with white Americans
Other minorities who practiced avoidance
Blacks (African Americans), … Irish, … Chinese, … Japanese, .. Mexican Americans, … consider Los Angeles, …

6. Deviance
A discriminated group may find it difficult to identify with the core’s norms, values and culture.
Shaw and McKay’s Social Disorganization Theory
Immigration & settlement in Chicago
Study of the city’s immigrants by generation
As immigrants assimilate they deviate less

7. Deviance Cont.
American criminal justice system has been subjective in handling violations by immigrants
Disparities in fair and equal treatment of the poor compared to the upper classes
Police likely to assume the poor and minorities are guilty
Under-representation on juries, ..minorities
Disparities in affording legal services and sentencing

8. Defiance
A minority group may openly challenge to eliminate discriminatory practices if:
They are sufficiently cohesive
Aware of its economic or political power
Gain in structural assimilation
Re. Milton Gordon’s, Seven Stages of Assimilation
Defiance, by minority, may be violent or not
Riots of 1863, 1963, and 1992

9. Acceptance Minority’s may accept their situation, … accommodation
May be resentful, but accept their social position
Native Americans
Blacks (African Americans)
Mexicans (Chicanos)
Japanese, … Relocation camps
Jews

10. Consequences of Minority Group Status
Negative Self-image
A common consequence of prejudice and discrimination
Difficult to remain optimistic and determined in the face of constant negative experiences, … interactions
A function of social structure, … time, and:
Race, … Religion, … Ethnicity, … Gender, …
Cooley’s “Looking Glass Self”

11. The Vicious Circle (Cycle)
Gunnar Myrdal, … Cumulative Causation
Prejudice and discrimination perpetuate each other
The “Cycle:” A discriminatory action in job acquisition, … advancement, …
Discrimination
Leads to a minority’s reaction, ..condition, poverty
Reinforces prejudice of minority inferiority

12. Vicious Circle Cont.
Leads to justification of prejudice and more discrimination
Completes the circle and leads to continued poverty and further discrimination
If minorities are made welcome, they in turn will react in a positive manner
If made unwelcome they will react in a negative manner

13. Minority Group Marginality
Robert E. Park: “Marginal Minorities”
A minority attempting to enter the mainstream culture
Not gaining full acceptance by the core
No longer a full member of ethnic culture
Causes the individual an great deal of strain
Confined to live between to cultures and not a true member of either

14. Marginality Cont.
Children of immigrants find themselves caught between two worlds
A second and third generation phenomenon
Marginality is an example of cultural conflict caused by a clash of cultural (ethnic) values

15. Middleman Minorities Hubert Blalock: “Middleman Minorities”
The dominant core places middleman minorities in an intermediate position between the lower and higher classes
They forge a mediating commerce link between minorities and dominant core group
Serve as a buffer groups between the two
Experience hostility from both the lower and upper classes
Example: Koreans in Los Angeles

16. Dominant Group Responses
Legislative Controls
Laws to regulate and restrict immigration in favor of NW Europeans
Restrictions on educational opportunities
Restrictions of voting rights, to maintain political control (Blacks mainly)
Other countries: South Africa (Apartheid), Australia (Restricted Asian Immigration)

17. Segregation
Spatial segregation: Physical separation of a minority from the rest of society, … a policy of containment
Areas of separation:
Residential, … education, … public facilities, . Occupations
May be “institutionalized”
May be overt of covert, de jure or defacto

18. Segregation Cont.
Social segregation: Involves confining participation in social, service, political, and other types of activities
Dominant group excludes the outgroup from meaningful primary-group interaction
May be voluntary or involuntary, … mostly involuntary
Frequent interaction may lessen prejudice, but interaction is often severely controlled

19. Expulsion To eject a minority group from a territory or country
England, … Gypsies in the 16th century
Spain, … The Moors in early 17th century
British, … Acadians from Nova Scotia in the mid 18th century
Americans, … Cherokee from Georgia in 1838, “The Trail of Tears”

20. Xenophobia
Def. The undue fear of, or contempt of strangers or foreigners
Often reflected in print, speeches, sermons, legislation, and violent actions
Examples in the United States
The Wild Irishman
The French radicals
Immigrants in general (except NW Europe)
Related to Ethnocentrism

21. Ethnocentrism
One’s group is seen as the center of everything, others are defined negatively
Encourages the creation of negative stereotypes, …in turn invites prejudice
Results in discrimination
Escalates to ongoing institutional discrimination
Becomes a normal social behavior, … a part of the normative culture

22. Annihilation
The killing of all men, women, and children of a particular group
Goes back to ancient times
Examples in more recent times
The British, … the Tasmanians
The Portuguese in Brazil, … infected natives with smallpox
Germans, … The Jewish holocaust
Others: … ?

23. Hate Groups and Hate Crimes
In the past, U.S., … the Know-Nothings
Mid-19th century and beyond, …Ku Klux Klan
The rise of hate groups usually occurs in times of economic stress
Florida contains the largest number of hate group (48), … California (35)
Hate crimes: Criminal offense against a person, .. “bias against,”…race, …religion, … sexual orientation, … ethnic group

24. Exploitation
Usually members of a dominant group exploit a subordinate (minority) group
Power-differential Theory: S. Lieberson
Intergroup relations depend on the relative power of the migrant and indigenous group
Each group strives to maintain its own culture and institutions
The “Dominant” group will control the interaction and the subordinate group

25. Internal Colonialism Theory
Robert Blauner: Integrated elements of caste, racism, ethnicity, culture, and economic exploitation into a single theory
Theorized that the treatment of Native Americans, Blacks, and Mexicans resembled a colonial like relationship much like the European colonies of non-Western peoples
Not as a colony, but “internal colonialism”

26. Internal Colonialism Cont.
These groups were ghettoized into colonial like communities
Reservations, … Ghettos, … Barrios
Their culture is transformed
Their colony is controlled by external forces
Politically, … economically, … socially
They are relegated to subordinate status
Interactions reinforce exploitation

27. Split-Labor Market Theory
Edna Bonacich: Ethnic antagonism results from a combination of economic exploitation and economic competition
A wage differential for competing groups
Ethnic antagonism is based not on ethnicity or race but on the conflict between higher-paid and lower-paid labor
See Figure 4.3 for a summary

28. Limitation to These Theories
Power Differential Theory
Only offers one variable to explain conflicts between dominant and subordinate groups
Internal-Colonialism Theory
Applies to only three groups at best
It doesn't explain relations with other groups
Split-Labor Market Theory
Doesn’t address other sources of conflict, discrimination, and prejudice, … only wages

29. Key terms Annihilation Avoidance Cumulative causation Defiance
Exploitation
Expulsion
Internal-Colonialism
Marginality
Middleman Minorities
Negative Self-image
Paternalism
Power-differential
Social segregation
Spatial segregation
Split-labor-market
Vicious circle
Xenophobia