Sociology 134 Exam 1

Social Construction

An idea or way of viewing people based not on biological differences but on social perceptions.

Race

A social construction to describe a group of people who share physical and cultural traits as well as common ancestry.

Racism

(1) he belief belief that races are populations of people whose physical differences are linked to significant cultural and social differences and that these innate hierarchical differences can be measured and judged.

(2) The practice of of subordinating races believed to be inferior.

ethnicity

A group identity based on notions of similar and shared history

colonialism

The practice of acquiring political control over another country

slave codes

Laws enacted in the 1660's that clearly spelled out the differences between African slaves and European indentured servants.

Indian Removal Act of 1830

Act that enabled the administration of U.S. president Andrew Jackson to use military power to displace at least 70

Trail of Tears

The forced displacement of the Cherokee of Georgia

scientific racism

The use of science or pseudoscience to justify racial inequality or to promulgate racial prejudice or discrimination.

craniometry

The measurement of skulls

intelligence testing

The attempt to measure intellectual ability using scientific measures.

eugenics

The practice of controlled breeding to increase the occurence of desirable characteristics in a population.

Sociological theory of racism

Sociological explanation for how racial inequality is created and reproduced.

prejudice

The belief that people belong to distinct races and that these racial groups have innate hierarchical differences that can be measured and judged.

discrimination

The practice of treating people differently based upon there race.

assimilation

The incorporation of ethnic minority groups into the mainstream.

individual racism

When one person discriminates against another based upon race or ethnicity.

racial micro aggression

Daily commonplace insults and racial slights that cumulatively affect the psychological well-being of people of color.

institutional racism

policies, laws, and institutions that reproduce racial inequalities.

systemic racism

a divers assortment of racist practices

structural racism

Inter-institutional interactions across time and space that reproduce racial inequality.

racial ideology

A set of principles and ideas that

(1) divides people into racial groups and

(2) serves the interests of one group.

new racism

An ideology in which it is not acceptable to make overtly racist statements

Jim Crow laws

A system of laws that passed in the late 1800's denying non-whites equality.

biological racism

The idea that whites are genetically superior to non-whites.

cultural racism

A way of thinking that attributes disadvantaged racial groups' lack of prosperity to their behavior and culture

abstract liberalism

The first of Bonilla-Silva's "frames" of color blind racism. Involves using liberal ideas such as equality of opportunity or freedom of choice to explain or justify racial inequality.

naturalization

The process whereby people become citizens of a country they do not have a birthright citizenship.

rhetorical strategies

Way of expressing ideas to justify racial prejudice and discriminatory actions.

racial formation

"the sociohistorical process by which racial categories are created, inhibited, transformed, and destroyed.

racial project

a way of giving meaning to racial categories through cultural representation and social structures.

intersectionality

The idea that we must look at race and gender oppression simultaneously.

white privelege

The advantage associated with being categorized as white

wage of whiteness

psychological benefits that white workers received by aligning with the dominant group

Nativism

The presumed superiority of native born citizens

Naturalization Act of 1790

The first piece of U.S. legislation relating to the foreign-born

Chinese Exclusion Act

Legislation that denied Chinese laborers entry to the United States.

Immigration Act of 1924/Johnson-Reed Act

Legislation that greatly reduced U.S. immigration from southern and eastern Europe by introducing quotas

Oriental Exclusion Act

Legislation that expanded the Chinese Exclusion Act and prohibited most immigration from Asia to the United States.

legal permanent resident

A foreign national who is granted the right to remain in the United States and who will be eligible for naturalization after a period of three to five years.

bracero program

A U.S. government program that brought in temporary workers from Mexico between 1942 and 1964.

Operation Wetback

Massive roundups of Mexicans by the U.S. border patrol from 1950-1954.

McCarran Internal Security Act

A 1950 U.S. law designed to combat communism. It required members of the Communist party in the United States to register with the federal government

1952 Immigration and Nationality Act (McCarran-Walter Act)

meant to exclude certain immigrants from immigrating to America

1965 Immigration and Nationality Act (Hart-Cellar Act)

changed the way quotas were allocated by ending the National Origins Formula that had been in place in the United States since the Emergency Quota Act of 1921.

Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) of 1996

Legislation that, among other provisions, eliminated judicial review of some deportation orders and required mandatory detention for many non-citizens.

Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA)

Legislation under which legal permanent residents face mandatory deportation if they are convicted of "aggravated felonies."

Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA)

Legislation that denied government services and benefits to legally present migrants.

Enlightened racism

The idea that the United States is a land of opportunity and that African Americans could do better if they only tried harder.

Mammy

stereotypical image of a black maid.

Sapphire

caricature of a angry black woman.

Jezebel

A name with biblical origins that has come to signify a stereo-typically oversexed or hyper-sexual black women.

Dragon Lady

A stereotype of an Asian women as a sinister

Butterfly

A stereotype of an Asian women who is a demure

Biracial buddy

A character type of a westernized Asian man who uses ancient Japanese or Chinese knowledge to help whites.

controlling image

Raced, gender, and classed depictions in the media that shape people's ideas of what African Americans are and are not.

Racial demographics

63% white, 12.2% African American, 4.7 % Asian, .7% Native American.

+/-Genetic essentialism

The ongoing search for genetic underpinnings of racial differences used by some to perpetuate racist views.

Manifest Destiny

An idea that stated the the whites expansion across the land was ordained by God.

Lumping and Splitting

How we perceive the world around us and understand it.

The five categories of the census

White, Asian, Hispanic, African American, American Indian

Hypodescent

The one drop ideology. The idea that offspring will take on the social standing of the socially inferior parent.

Looking Glass Self Theory

The idea that what people perpetuate I am to me I will begin to align with that as well.

Macro-level economic theory of migration

Populations will shift spatially in response to wage differentials between regions.

Immigrant terms

1st generation: born outside the U.S. immigrated as an adult

1.5 generation: arrived to the U.S. as children or teenagers

2nd generation: born in the U.S. to a 1st gen parent

3rd generation: born in the U.S. to a 2nd gen parent

Classic assimilation theory

A natural, inevitable, and irreversible process by which ethnic groups come to share a common culture and gain equal access to society's opportunity structure .

Segmented assimilation theory

Portesand Zhou (1993): the process and outcome of assimilation depends on the receiving social context—especially the racial make-up

Upward mobility

Acculturation to the white middle class (AKA. Classic assimilation theory)

Downward mobility

Poverty through acculturation to the underclass.

Selective acculturation

Immigrants maintain ethnic solidarity and also advance economically.

Network/Chain theory of migration

Migrants are more likely to go to a place where they know someone.

Segmented labor market theory

Migrants are gonna go to where money is better.

DACA

An American immigration policy passed by President Obama as a executive action that allows certain undocumented immigrants to the United States who entered the country before their 16th birthday and before June 2007 to receive a renewable two-year work permit and exemption from deportation. DACA confers non-immigrant legal status but does not provide a path to citizenship.

Pan-ethnic group

A group of people with many national origins but shared structural or cultural traits