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Exam 2 (Essentials of Sociology)
Chapter 9- Race and Ethnicity
22
Sociology
Undergraduate 1
11/17/2009

Additional Sociology Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
What is Race?
Definition
Physical Characteristics popularly associated with a group of people
    Example: African American
Term
What is Ethnicity?
Definition
Cultural Characteristics Popularly Associated with a group of people
    Example- Irish
Term
Race: Myth 1
Definition

-All Races have Geniuses and Idiots, As with language no race is superior to another.

 

Example- Hitler’s idea that Aryans were a superior race and responsible for the cultural achievement of Europe. The Aryans he said were destined to establish a superior culture and usher in a new world order. This destiny required them to avoid “racial contamination” therefore it was necessary to isolate or destroy races that threatened the Aryan purity and culture.

Term
Race: Myth 2
Definition

-Idea that any Race is Pure
-Human characteristics flow endlessly together
-Humans show such a mixture of physical characteristics- in skin, color, hair texture, nose shape....
-Humans only vary from one another in only very slight ways.

Term
Race: Myth 3
Definition
Racial Categories are Universal and Scientific
Term
Race: Realities
Definition
Racial Categories are arbitrary and change over time.
    -There is no race gene                
Ex: Us Census Categories, One- Drop Rule
Term

Minority Groups

Defined by Louis Wirth

Definition

-People who are singled out for unequal treatment and who regard themselves as objects of collective discrimination.
-Minority group can be racial or ethnic
-Minority group not necessarily numerical minority
-There physical or cultural traits are held in low esteem by the dominant group, which treats them unfairly and they tend to marry within their own group.

Term
Majority Group
Definition
Dominant group with most....
Power
Privileges
Hight social status
- Possessing political power and unified by shared physical and cultural traits the dominant group uses its position to discriminate against those with different- and supposedly inferior- traits.
Term
Minority groups occur because of.....
Definition

-Expansion of Political boundaries only if it incorporates people with different customs, languages, values, and physical characteristics

 

-Migration

Term
Majority groups share characteristtics....
Definition
Membership is an ascribed status
Physical or Cultural traits held in low esteem by dominant group
Unequal treatment
Marry within own group
Feel strong group solidarity
Term
How people construct their racial- ethic identity:
Definition

-Ethic work: the way people construct their ethic identity.

  For people who have a strong ethnic identity this term refers to how they enchance and maintain their groups distinctions from clothing, food... language.


    For people who have a weak ethnic identity this term refers to their attempts to recover their ethnic heritage such as tracing family lines....

Term
What is Prejudice?
Definition
Prejudice in an Attitude: prejudging of some sort, usually in a negative way. There also is a positive prejudice which exaggerates the virtues of the group, like when some people think that some group is more capable than others.
Term
What is Discrimination?
Definition
Discrimination is an Action- based on characteristics: age, sex, height, weight, skin color, income, education, religion, disability
Term
When there is a perception of race it is known as...?
Definition
Racism
Term
Discrimination: Individual
Definition

The negative treatment of  one person by another.

 

EX- Kids throwing ham sandwich as somalians because they don’t eat pork

Term
Discrimination: Institutional
Definition
Sociologist believe that we should focus more on this rather than on individual because it shows how discrimination is woven into the fabric of society. School not serving other food except for pork
Term
Past + Present
Definition
In order to understand the present we need to have an understanding of the past.
Example:
    Past= Jim Crow Laws/ Racial Caste System
    Present: Recent Research
Term
Theories of Prejudice: Frustration and Scapegoats (1939)
Definition

- John Dollard

 

People are unable to strike out are the real source of their frustration and look for someone to blame. They unfairly attribute their troubles to a scapegoat often a racial ethic or religious minority and this person or group becomes a target on which they vent their frustrations.

Term
Theories of Prejudice: The Authoritarian Personality
Definition

Theodor Adorno


-Wondered if there is a type of person who is more likely to fall for the racist spewing of people like Hitler, Mussolini, and those in the KKK.
-He tested 2000 people ranging from college professors to prison inmates to measure their ethnocentrism, anti-semitism (biased against Jews), and support for strong authoritarian leaders. He found that people who scored well on one of the tests also scored well on the other two.
-He concluded that highly prejudiced people are insecure conformists and have deep respect for authority and are submissive to superiors.

Term
3 Sociological Perspectives: Functionalist
Definition

-In a boys’ summer camp, they assigned friends to different cabins and then had the cabin groups compete in sports. In just a few days there were strong in-groups forming. Even lifelong friends began to taunt one other with names like crybaby or sissy.


-Prejudice is functional as it brings people together- How it creates in-group solidarity


-Can create negative stereotypes (dysfunction) and destroys human relationships

Term
3 Sociological Perspectives: Conflict
Definition

Analyzes how groups are pitted against one another, but they focus on how this arrangement benefits those with power.


     Prejudice is beneficial to the dominant group as it keeps minority groups oppressed

Term
3 Sociological Perspectives: Symbolic Interactionist
Definition
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