Exam 2 Sociology

Race

• a socially constructed category rooted in the belief that there are fundamental differences among humans, associated with phenotype and ancestry

  • the way you look

  • physical appearance

  • skin color

• racial distinctions are more ways of describing differences; they are also important factors in the reproduction of patterns of power and inequality 

• why social construction

  • not about biological factors but we assign meaning to it 

    • don’t assign meaning to different eye colors

• many people think about biology

  • skull shape → how smart you are

  • belief that African Americans have a higher pain tolerance so they are given less anthestic

  • genetic difference

  • why?

    • many people think that it is innate

  • we are using biology to validate this

    • black people are doing worse than white people on SAT, then from a biological race standpoint, black people are not as smart as white people

      • sociology: not given resources that white people are getting

  • create by social programs

• it is NOT biologically based

• does this refer to skin color?

  • no but it how we categorize people

    • treat people differently because of these categories

      • put meaning on skin color

• if this is a social construction then racial inequalities is socially created! not biologically based 

  • this is a biological myth

  • this is an idea ascribed to biology

ethnicity

• culture value and norms that distinguish the members of a given group from others

  • more about culture and norms than appearance

• a group whose member share a distinct awareness of common cultural identity, separating them from other groups

• are associated with variations in power and material wealth. while these differences are also racial, such divisions are sometimes especially pronounced

race/ethnic groups

• people who share a common identity and whose members think of themselves (or who others thinks) as distinct from others by virtue of ancestry, culture, and sometimes physical characteristics

  • think composite

• ways of grouping people

  • finding a community

  • culture

  • physical characteristics

  • how others see you

The Bell Curve Book

• claimed that economic and social difference between race/ethnic groups in US is at least partly due to genetics

  • based on IQ test

    • methods to evaluate them was not correct → often elevated white people

scientific american

• supreme court case about higher education

  • affirmative action

    • works in a different places

    • underrepresented groups are going to be treated differently than white, overrepresented people

    • help redress discrimination

• until 3 years ago → people thought race was based on biology

prejudice

• the holding of preconceived ideas about an individual or group, ideas that are resistant to change even in the face of new information

  • may be either positive or negative

  • one group is better than the other

• belief

• include stereotypes and scapegoats

• people who are __ against others may not engage in other one practices against them

stereotyping

• thinking in terms of fixed and inflexible categories

  • negative ideas

scapegoats

• individuals or groups blamed for wrongs that were not of their doing.

• normally directed against groups that are relatively powerless

• example

  • poor economy

    • immigrants stole all the jobs and that why I can’t get a job

  • media

    • one african american gets caught with crime → then all black people are criminals

discrimination

• behavior that denies to the members of a particular group resources or rewards that can be obtained by others

• may act in a this fashion towards a group even though they are not the other one against that group

• example

  • dont hire people because of their skin color

racism

• the attribution of characteristics of superiority or inferiority to a population sharing certain physically inherited characteristics (already preconceived notions).

• form of a specific prejudice, focusing on physical variations among people

• __ attitudes became entrenched during the people of Western colonial expansion, but seem also to rest on mechanisms of prejudice and discrimination found in human societies today

• one group is better than the other

• social constructed not biological based

  • Brazil

    • dark-skinned and poor = black

    • dark-skinned and rich = white

overt racism

• balnat, direct racism

• can be expressed out frankly by bigoted individuals through individual attitudes, perceptions, and beliefs

• sustained by the ideological racist statements of political leaders

• this saw a resurgence during the campaign and 2016-202 term of President Donald Trump

• i dont think this group because … of this, they are bad

racial microaggressions

• slights, indignities, or acts of disrespect that are hurtful to people of color even though they are often perpetrated by well-meaning whites

  • dont mean to be

• think: would you ask that of anybody else?

• sometimes it is done even when people are not trying to be rude

• examples

  • asking asian americans where they were born or telling them that they “speak good English”

    • assumption you dont speak good english because of your race