SOC100 - Lecture 9 Racial Inequality

statistical discrimination

refers to how women as significantly more likely to leave their job due to maternity leave

* leads to discriminating against hiring women because

what are the 3 main causes of the gender pay gap?

* differences in occupational choice (prestige for men vs work family balance for women)
* societal expectations around raising children
* sexism and statistical discrimination

how is race referred to in society?

as a nationality, region, religion and/or skin color

race

a category of people who are perceived to share distinct physical characteristics that are deemed socially significant

* a social construct

ethnicity

a shared cultural heritage or nationality

* a social construct
* more viewed as an identity

what is the key difference between race and ethnicity?

race is more tied to physical characteristics and other’s perception but ethnicity is tied to what one identifies with

what is the key similarity between race and ethnicity?

they are both socially defined and constructure as well as derived from history

immigration

the movement of people into a country from another

push factors

aspects of a country that make someone want to leave

pull factors

aspects of another country that make someone want to go live there

racism

a belief that race is a fundamental determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race

prejudice

favourable or unfavourable preconceived feeling or opinion formed without knowledge, reason or thought that prevents objective consideration of an idea, individual, group or thing

scapegoating

the act of blaming a person or group for something bad that has happened or that someone else has done

assimilation

the process whereby individuals or groups of differing ethnic heritage are absorbed into the dominant culture of a society

pluralism

a mixing of different cultures in which each culture retains its own unique identity

echochambers

an environment in which a person encounters only beliefs or opinions that coincide with their own so their existing views are reinforced and alternative ideas are not considered

brain drain

the emigration of highly trained or intelligent people from a particular country

why has immigration become an issue in politics around the world?

because the increase immigration has been due to immigrants being accepted legally rather then illegally because of lower birth rates

why are birth rates lower?

* due to higher education taking longer to be financially stable enough to have children
* dual earning family and cost of raising children has increased
* access to contraceptives and women’s rights have increased

overt discrimination

clear and direct discrimination that is not hidden

subtle discrimination

unclear or indirect discrimination that is difficult to analyze or describe due to the perpetrators motivations being unclear

systemic discrimination

patterns of behaviour, policies or practices that reflect current or former prejudices that are embedded within the structures of a formal social organization, and which create or perpetuate disadvantage for marginalized persons

adaptive discrimination

discrimination that is based on the prejudice of others

* they know other people are prejudiced and fear the consequences from those with prejudice so they discriminate

cultural racism

the ways in which the culture of a society perpetuates the subordination of individuals based on their race

whitewashing

deliberately attempting to conceal unpleasant or incriminating facts

conscious discrimination

overt negative behaviour that can be expressed through physical and verbal harassment or through more subtle means such as exclusion

unconscious or implicit discrimination

bias that operates outside of the person’s awareness and can be in direct contradiction to a person’s espoused beliefs and values

microaggression

a comment or action that subtly and often unconsciously or unintentionally expresses a prejudiced attitude toward a member of a marginalized group

proportionality

the fact or quality of being in proper balance or relation as to size or quantity, degree or severity

starlight tours

police in Saskatchewan would arrest indigenous Canadians and drive them out to the outskirts of the city and leave them in sub zero temperatures to walk back

social desirability bias

tendency for respondents of surveys to underreport socially undesirable attitudes and behaviours and to over report more desirable statistics

sampling bias

survey not including specific groups of people for intentional or unintentional reasons

implicit bias

the perpetrator doesn’t even believe their motivations are racist

intergeneration trauma

trauma that gets passed down from those who directly experience a incident to subsequent generations

what are the tenets of critical race theory

* race is socially constructed and not biologically grounded used to oppress and exploit people of color
* racism is a normal, persistent and defining characteristic of social institutions including politics, the legal system the economy and other social structures

contact hypothesis

contact between groups can shape the prejudices and opinions of those involved

feedback loop

when outputs of a system are routed back as inputs as part of a chain of cause-and-effect that forms a circuit loop

self fulfilling prophecy

a person’s or group’s expectation for the behavior of another person or group serves to bring about the prophesized or expected behavior

* type of feedback loop

relative deprivation

anger and resentment stemming from the perception of having less economic, political and social resources and rights than other groups

what are the 4 main reasons we see disproportionate police contact and brutality against the Black community?

* overt and conscious discrimination
* subtle and systemic discrimination through statistical discrimination
* negative contact between police and black communities resulting in a feedback loop of mutual distrust
* socio economic disadvantage, intergeneration trauma, relative deprivation and lower sense of mastery leading to lower socio economic status

black codes

restrictions to the right to own property, to conduct business, and to move freely around the US

vagrant laws

those not employed are vagrants. Vagrants were imprisoned and prisoners could be enslaved