Chapter 9: Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration

Minority group

is a category of people who have unequal access to positions of power, prestige, and wealth and are targets of prejudice and discrimination

Minority status is

not based on numerical representation in society but rather on social status.

Because of differences in physical appearance and culture,

humans are often classified into categories based on race and ethnicity.

Race (general term)

Has been used to describe people of a particular nationality, religion, skin, color, and even the entire species

Race (biological term)

classification of people based on hereditary physical characteristics such as skin color, hair texture, and the size and shape of their eyes, lips, and nose

Scientific racism (biological racism/eugenics))

refers to the body of theories that dominated racial thinking in the social and biological sciences in the 19th and carly 20th centuries.

Mid 20th century,

racism lost support in the scientific community

The social construction of race means that

“The actual meaning of race lies not in people's physical characteristics, but in the historical treatment of different groups and the significance that society gives to what is believed to differentiate so-called racial groups"

System of racial classification vary across

Societies and change over time

Incorporating both biological and social meanings of race

we define race as a category of people who are perceived to share distinct physical characteristics that are deemed socially significant.

Ethnicity

which refers to a shared cultural heritage, nationality, or lineage, is also socially constructed.

Ethnicity can be distinguished on the basis of

• language,

• forms of family structures and roles of family members,

• religious beliefs and practices,

• dietary customs,

• forms of artistic expressions such as music and dance,

• Inational origin or origin of one's parents.

Genocide

refers to the deliberate, systematic annihilation of an entire nation or people

Expulsion

Occurs when a dominant group forces an oppressed group to leave the country or to live in designated areas of the country.

Segregation

• refers to the physical separation of two groups in residence, workplace, and social functions.

Acculturation

refers to adopting the culture of a group different from the one in which a person was originally raised.

Pluralism

refers to a state in which racial and ethnic groups maintain their distinctness but respect each other and have equal access to social sources.

Assimilation

is the process by which formerly distinct and separate groups merge and become integrated as one.

Primary assimilation occurs with

Integration into personal associations

Secondary assimilation occurs

With integration into public areas

Coercive pluralism

occurs when racial and ethnic minority groups are excluded from the dominant culture and thereby from social and political power.

1790

The US census divided the population into four groups:

• free white men

• Free white women

• Enslaved individuals

• Other people

1960s

The census bureau recognized only two categories

• white

• Nonwhite

1990s

The census recognized four racial classifications

• white

• Black

• American Indian, Aleut, or Eskimo

• Asian or Pacific Islander

2000s

the census expanded to include Native Hawaiians and allowed individuals the option of identifying themselves as being more than one race.

2023 non-Hispanic white individuals __________ by 2060, that number is expected to shrink to less than 45%

Comprised 59% of the population

During this same period, the proportion of the population that identifies as Hispanic is expected to

Increase from 19 to 27 percent of the total population

One of the most common confusions about Hispanic origin is the question of whether

“Hispanic” is a race or an ethnicity

• according to the federal government, Hispanic origin is an ethnicity

The restrictive understanding of racial identity is in part tied to

The history of anti-miscegenation laws ( ex. Loving v Virginia)

Anxiety about race in the US

38% of Americans said they worry "a great deal" about race relations in the United States—up from 13 percent in 2010

One contributing factor to this increased anxiety about race relations

may be linked to the high-profile police shootings of unarmed black men and women and the tense protests that followed after the deaths.

For the first 100 years of U.S. history, all immigrants were allowed to enter and become permanent residents. Then...

• The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

• The Immigration Act of 1917

• Immigration legislation passed in the 1920s

• Passage of the Hart-Cellar Act in 1965

The foreign-born percentage of the U.S. population increased from

6.2 percent in 1980 to 13.9 percent in 2022

The United States has two guest worker programs that allow employers to hire unskilled labor for temporary or seasonal work.

• The H-2A program for seasonal agricultural work.

• The H-2B program for nonagricultural work.

H2 visas generally do not permit guest workers to

Bring their families to the US

August 2020 the SPLC filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of 2,000 guest workers employed in Louisiana by Lowry Farms, Inc. alleging

unsafe working and living conditions

Sanctuary cities

refer to jurisdictions that have implemented rules to limit local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration authorities, in order to prevent the detention or deportation of undocumented residents

Border crossers risk

Encounters with members of nativist extremist groups

2021 there were 7.8 mil undocumented immigrants in the US labor force

This comprising nearly 5% of the US workforce

Policy regarding undocumented immigration

• 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act

• During the Trump administration, 400 policy changes on immigration were implemented through executive order rather than legislative action.

• During the Biden administration, most of these changes were altered or removed, also through executive order rather than legislative

Although Americans are sharply divided on many issues surrounding immigration policy,

There is a strong support for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program

Requirements for citizenship include

• Five years of continuous residence as a lawful permanent U.S. resident

• Able to read, write, speak, and understand basic English

• Being "a person of good moral character"

• A willingness to support and defend the U.S. Constitution

• Passing an examination on English and U.S. government and history

Naturalized citizens

More than half of the 45.3 million foreign-born U.S. residents in 2021 were naturalized citizens, immigrants who applied and met the requirements for U.S.

Myths about immigration and immigrants

• Myth I: Immigrants increase unemployment and lower wages among native workers.

• Myth 2: Immigrants drain the public welfare system and our public schools.

• Myth 3: Immigrants do not want to learn English.

• Myth 4: Undocumented immigrants have children in the United States as a means of gaining legal status.

• Myth 5: Immigrants have high rates of criminal behavior.

Structural functionalist perspective

Considers how aspects of social life are functional or dysfunctional— that is, how they contribute to or interfere with social stability.

Racial and ethnic inequality is functionality in the sense that

Keeping minority groups in a disadvantage position ensures that there are workers who will do menial jobs for low pay

Most sociologists emphasize the ways in which racial and ethnic inequality are dysfunctional

A society that practices discrimination fails to develop and utilize the resources of minority members

Conflict perspective

The "racial threat" hypothesis views White racism as a response to perceived or actual threats by minorities to White people's economic well-being or cultural dominance.

Conflict theorists also suggest that racial antagonisms exist because

They serve the interests of the wealthy and powerful

By fostering negative attitude toward minorities and maintaining racial and ethical tensions among workers

There is less chance that workers will join forces to advance their own interests at the expense of the capitalists

Symbolic interactionist perspective

focuses on the social construction of race and ethnicity and how meanings, labels, and definitions affect racial and ethnic groups and intergroup interaction.

Labeling perspective

Directs us to consider how negative stereotypes affect minorities

Stereotypes

Exaggerations or generalizations about the characteristics and behavior of a particular group

Prejudice

Preconceived opinion or bias that could be negative or positive

Racism

generally defined as the belief that race accounts for differences in human character and ability and that a particular race is superior to others.

Institutional racism

refers to the systematic distribution of power, resources, and opportunity in ways that benefit the White community and disadvantage minorities.

Implicit prejudice

a prevalent form of racial bias over which a person has little or no conscious awareness or control (Sinclair et al.
2014).

Aversive racism

represents a subtle, often unintentional form of prejudice exhibited by many well-intentioned White Americans who possess strong egalitarian values and who often view themselves as unprejudiced.

Color blind racism

based on the belief that paying attention to race is, itself, racism and that therefore people should ignore race.

Psychological theories of prejudice focus on

Forces within individuals that give rise to prejudice

• frustration-aggression theory

• Authoritarian personality theory

Frustration aggression theory (scapegoating theory)

Suggest that prejudice is a form of hostility that results from frustration

Authoritarian-personality theory

Suggest that prejudice arises in people with a certain personality type

Learning to be prejudiced: the role of the media

Rather than focus on individuals, sociologists focus on social forces that contribute to prejudice—socialization and the media.

Prejudice is taught and learned through socialization,

Although it need not be taught directly and intentionally

Example of non direct/intentional teaching and learning of prejudice

White parents who teach their children not to be prejudiced yet live in an all-White neighborhood, attend an all-White church, and have only White friends, may be indirectly teaching negative racial attitudes to their children.

Example of direct/intentional teaching and learning of prejudice

when parents use racial slurs in the presence of their children or forbid their children from playing with children from a certain racial or ethnic background.