Racial and Ethnic Inequality
Minority, Racial, and Ethnic Groups
Prejudice and Discrimination
Patterns of Prejudice and
Discrimination
Studying Race and Ethnicity
Patterns of Intergroup Relations
Impact of Global Immigration
Race and Ethnicity in the United States
Social Policy and Race and Ethnicity
Minority, Racial, and
Ethnic Groups
Racial Group
Group set apart from others because of obvious
physical differences
• Ethnic Group
– Group set apart from others
primarily because of its national
origin or distinctive cultural patterns
Minority, Racial, and
Ethnic Groups
Minority Groups
– Properties of minority Groups whose
groups include: members have
• Unequal treatment significantly less
control or power than
• Distinguishing cultural members of the
characteristics dominant or majority
• Involuntary membership group
• Solidarity
• In-group marriage
Minority, Racial, and
Ethnic Groups
Race
– Racial Group: minorities set apart
from others by obvious physical
differences
– Biological Significance of Race
• There are no “pure races”
• Migration, exploration, and invasion led
to intermingling of races
Minority, Racial, and
Ethnic Groups
Table 11-1. Racial and Ethnic
Groups in the United States, 2000
Minority, Racial, and
Ethnic Groups
Figure 11-1. Racial and Ethnic
Groups in the United States,
1500—2100 (projected)
Sources: Author’s estimate; Bureau of the Census 1975; Grieco and Cassidy 2001; Therrien
1987
Minority, Racial, and
Ethnic Groups
Social construction of Race
– A dominant or majority group has
power to define itself legally and to
define a society’s values
• Stereotypes: unreliable
generalizations about all members of a
group that do not recognize individual
differences within the group
Minority, Racial, and
Ethnic Groups
Ethnicity
– Ethnic group set apart
from others based on
national origin or
distinctive cultural
patterns
– Distinction between
racial groups and
ethnic groups socially
significant
Prejudice and Discrimination
Prejudice
– Negative attitude toward an entire
category of people
– Ethnocentrism: tendency to assume
one’s culture and way of life are superior
to others
– Racism: belief that one race is supreme
and others are innately inferior
– Hate crime: criminal offense committed
because of the offender’s bias against a
race, religion, ethnic group, national
origin, or sexual orientation
Prejudice and Discrimination
Figure 11-2. Categorization of Reported Hate Crimes, 2003
Source: Department of Justice 2004
Prejudice and Discrimination
Figure 11-3. Active Hate Groups in the United States, 2004
Source: Southern Poverty Law Center 2005
Patterns of Prejudice and
Discrimination
Discriminatory Behavior
– Discrimination: denial of
opportunities and equal rights to
individuals and groups based on
some type of arbitrary bias
• Discrimination persists even for
Glass educated and qualified
Ceiling: invisible minority
barrier blocking promotion of
members
qualified individuals in work environment because of
gender, race, or ethnicity
Patterns of Prejudice and
Discrimination
The Privileges of the Dominant
– White people in U.S. take
membership in the dominant racial
group for granted
• Institutional Discrimination
– Denial of opportunities and equal
rights thatAction:
Affirmative results from
Positive operations
efforts to recruit of
aminority
society members or women for jobs,
promotions, and educational opportunities
Prejudice and Discrimination
Figure 11-4. U.S. Median Income by Race, Ethnicity, and
Gender, 2003
Sources: DeNavas-Walt et al. 2004; for Native
Americans, author’s estimate based on Bureau of the
Census 2004f
Studying Race and Ethnicity
Functionalist Perspective
– Nash’s 3 functions that racially
prejudiced beliefs have for the
dominant group include:
• Moral Justification for maintaining an
unequal society
• Discouraging subordinate groups from
questioning their status
• Encouraging support for the existing
order
Studying Race and Ethnicity
Functionalist Perspective
Rose identified dysfunctions associated with
racism
• Society that • Society must invest
practices time and money to
discrimination fails defend barriers to
to use resources of full participation
all individuals • Racial prejudice
• Discrimination undercuts goodwill
aggravates social and diplomatic
problems relations between
nations
Studying Race and Ethnicity
The Conflict Response
– Exploitation Theory: racism keeps
minorities in low-paying jobs and
supplies the dominant group with
cheap labor
• The Interactionist Approach
– Contact Hypothesis: interracial
contact between people of equal
status in cooperative circumstances
will cause them to become less
prejudiced and to abandon old
stereotypes
Prejudice and Discrimination
Table 11-2. Sociological Perspectives on Race
Patterns of Intergroup
Relations
• Amalgamation
Genocide: Deliberate, systematic killing of
entire people or nation
Expulsion: Forced removal of people from
region or country
Assimilation
Process by which person forsakes his or her
own cultural tradition to become part of a
different culture
Patterns of Intergroup
Relations
• Segregation
Refers to physical separation of two groups
of people in terms of residence
Apartheid: Republic of South Africa severely
restricted the movement of Blacks and non-
Whites
Pluralism
Based on mutual respect among various
groups in a society for one another’s
cultures
