Chapter 10

Racial and Ethnic Minorities

With which racial/ethnic characterization do identify with the most? Choose only one.

A. Anglo (white, non-Hispanic)B. HispanicC. African American, blackD. Native American (American Indian)E. AsianF. Other

What Cues, or markers did you use to identify your self?

Are these physical, cultural, or based on ancestry?

The Concept of Race Race refers to a category of people who

are similar because of physical characteristics.

Races have been defined along genetic, legal, and social lines, each presenting its own set of problems.

Go to the American Anthropological Association’s statement on Race. http://www.aaanet.org/stmts/racepp.htm

Genetic Definitions of Race Differences in traits, such as hair and

nose type, have proved of no value in making classifications of human beings.

Similarities appear to be far greater than any physical differences including skin color.

Legal Definitions There has been little consistency among the

legal definitions of race. The state of Missouri made “one-eighth or

more Negro blood” the criterion for nonwhite status.

As recently as 1982, a dispute arose over Louisiana’s law requiring anyone of more than 1/32 African descent to be classified as black.

Social Definitions In the 2000 census people were able to

declare as members of any one or more of five categories: American Indian/Alaskan Native Asian African-American Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander White

Facts about Racial Intermarriage

There are over 3 million interracial marriages a year in the United States.

Interracial marriages represent 5.4% of all married couples. This is up from 1% in 1970

The most common types of intermarriages are between white men and Asian or multiple-race women.

Marriage between minority racial groups is much less likely.

The least common type of interracial marriage is between white and blacks.

Facts about Racial Intermarriage

People who intermarry are younger and bettereducated than average couples.

Three million children are growing up in interracialfamilies. This is up from 900,000 in 1970.

Black men are much more likely to intermarry than black women. Ten percent of black men have a nonblack spouse.

More than 10% of the married couples in Hawaii,California, Oklahoma, Alaska, and Nevada wereinterracial.

The Concept of Ethnic Group An ethnic group has a distinct cultural tradition

that its own members identify with and that may not be recognized by others.

They adhere to customs, maintain similarity in family patterns, religion, and cultural values.

They often possess distinct folkways and mores; customs of dress, art, and ornamentation; moral and value systems; and patterns of recreation.

The group is may be devoted to a monarch, religion, language, or territory.

The Concept of Minority Louis Wirth’s definition of a minority: A group of people who, because of

physical or cultural characteristics, are singled out from others in society for differential and unequal treatment, and who therefore regard themselves as objects of collective discrimination.

Question Which of the following would qualify as a

minority group in U.S. society according to the sociological definition of the term?

A. homosexuals

B. the elderly

C. people with disabilities

D. all of these choices are correct

Answer: D Homosexuals, the elderly and people

with disabilities would qualify as a minority group in U.S. society according to the sociological definition of the term.

Prejudice An irrationally based negative, or

occasionally positive, attitude toward certain groups and their members.

Discrimination Differential treatment, usually unequal

and injurious, accorded to individuals who are assumed to belong to a particular category or group.

Institutionalized Prejudice and Discrimination Complex societal arrangements that

restrict the life chances and choices of a specifically defined group, in comparison with those of the dominant group.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/15/business/aclu-to-sue-morgan-stanley-over-mortgage-loans.html?hp&_r=0

Question The problems of racial prejudice and

discrimination in U.S. society are over stated.

A. Strongly agreeB. Agree somewhatC. UnsureD. Disagree somewhatE. Strongly disagree

Social Functions of Prejudice A prejudice helps draw together those

who hold it. When two or more groups are competing

for access to scarce resources it is easier to write off competitors as unworthy.

Prejudice allows us to project onto others those parts of ourselves that we do not like and therefore try to avoid facing.

Patterns of Racial and Ethnic Relations

1. Assimilation - groups with different cultures come to have a common culture.

2. Pluralism - development and coexistence of separate racial and ethnic group identities within a society.

3. Subjugation – subordination of one group and the assumption of of authority, power, and domination by the other.

Patterns of Racial and Ethnic Relations

4. Segregation - a form of subjugation, refers to the act, process, or state of being set apart.

5. Expulsion - forcing a group to leave the territory in which it resides.

6. Annihilation - deliberate extermination of a racial or ethnic group.

Racial and Ethnic Makeup of U.S. Population, 2000 and 2050

Cities With Large Hispanic Populations, 2000

Place and State

% Hispanic of Total Population

El Paso, TX 76.6

San Antonio, TX

58.7

Los Angeles, CA

46.5

Houston, TX 37.4

Dallas, TX 35.6

Cities With Large Hispanic Populations, 2000

Place and State

% Hispanic of Total Population

Phoenix, AZ 34.1

San Jose, CA 30.2

New York, NY 27.0

Chicago, IL 26

San Diego, CA 25.4