Sociology Exam 3

Racism

An ideology or set of beliefs that claims one racial or ethnic group is superior to another; racism can also operate through social interactions and institutions

Prejudice

An inflexible, usually negative attitude toward a group based on generalized stereotypes

Discrimination

Actions or behaviors that result in unequal treatment because of a person's membership in a social group

Implicit bias

Unrecognized or unconscious prejudices and stereotypes that shape interactions with others

Individual racism

Racially prejudiced beliefs, attitudes, or ideologies held by individuals

Interpersonal racism

Racism enacted in interactions between people, whether intentional or unintentional

Individual discrimination

When a person treats someone unfairly because of their race or ethnicity

Institutional racism

Organizational policies, practices, and procedures that produce racially unequal outcomes, regardless of intent

Institutional discrimination

Policies or practices that may not appear discriminatory on their face but affect racial groups unequally

Structural racism

The overall system of racial inequality created by the interaction of multiple institutions over time

Levels of racism

Micro refers to individuals and interactions; meso refers to organizations and institutions; macro refers to society-wide patterns over time

Examples of individual racism

Prejudice, stereotypes, and explicit racial ideologies

Examples of interpersonal racism

Racial slurs, harassment, racial profiling, and differential treatment based on perceived race

Examples of institutional racism

School funding based on property taxes, hiring through informal networks, and sentencing policies with unequal racial effects

Examples of structural racism

The racial wealth gap, residential segregation, health disparities, and mass incarceration patterns

Key features of structural racism

Cumulative impact, historical development, and effects that extend beyond any single institution

Ecosystem metaphor for structural racism

Institutions reinforce one another like parts of an ecosystem

Pipeline metaphor for structural racism

Disadvantages accumulate at successive stages, like moving through a pipeline

Architecture metaphor for structural racism

Individual institutions can be compared to rooms, while the wider system is the building

Differences between types of racism

Individual racism involves beliefs. interpersonal racism involves interactions. institutional racism involves organizational rules and practices. structural racism involves cumulative outcomes across institutions and time

Why individual and interpersonal racism are insufficient

Visible personal beliefs and interactions do not fully explain institutional policies or cumulative structural patterns

Why institutional racism can be difficult to see

It can be embedded in ordinary organizational policies and procedures and produce unequal outcomes regardless of intent

Why changing one institution may not eliminate racial inequality

Structural racism results from interacting institutions and accumulated historical effects

Microaggressions

Small-scale racial slights, insults, and misperceptions that occur in everyday interactions

White nationalism

The belief that a nation should be organized around white identity as reflected in religion, politics, economics, and culture

Privilege

Unearned advantages received by members of dominant social groups

Color-blind racism

The belief that racial prejudice and discrimination no longer exist and that differences between racial groups result only from nonracial factors

Race consciousness

Awareness of the importance of race in everyday life and interactions with social institutions

Cultural appropriation

When members of a dominant group adopt or take cultural elements from a marginalized group and use them for their own advantage

Reverse racism

A claim that white people can experience race-based discrimination and the same kinds of disadvantages regularly experienced by minority groups

Antiracist allies

People who work toward ending racial injustice

Critical race theory

An approach that examines how racism permeates social institutions and must be recognized and addressed, including through attention to intersectionality

Racial passing

Living as though one belongs to a different racial category

Double consciousness

A divided identity experience described in relation to Black people in the United States

Weathering

The process by which exposure to racism erodes health

Genocide

The deliberate and systematic extermination of a racial, ethnic, national, or cultural group

Population transfer

The forced removal of a group of people from the territory they have occupied

Race

A socially constructed category based on perceived physical or biological differences between groups

Ethnicity

A social category associated with shared ancestry or cultural heritage

Difference between race and ethnicity

Race is generally associated with perceived physical characteristics, while ethnicity is associated with shared ancestry, cultural heritage, and traditions; both are socially constructed

Social construction of race and ethnicity

Categories are shaped by social, political, cultural, geographic, and historical processes rather than being fixed natural divisions

Minority group

A group whose members are recognized as belonging to a social category and experience unequal treatment because of that status

Central question of ethnicity and identity

Who are you, and who gets to decide

Four ways identity can be classified

"I say" means self-identification; "we say" means family or community recognition; "they see" means social perception; "the form says" means institutional classification

Agreement between identity classifications

Self-identification, community recognition, social perception, and institutional classification can overlap but do not have to agree

Racialization

The process of classifying people into racial or related categories, sometimes before knowing them

Everyday social classification

People use visible and audible cues to categorize others, often quickly and imperfectly

Examples of racializing comments

"What are you?", "Where are you from?", "You don't look Puerto Rican," and "I thought you were Italian"

Identity and racialization

Identities can be claimed by individuals and assigned by others

Factors used to judge ethnic belonging

Ancestry, surname, language, religion, food, traditions, birthplace, and self-identification

Boundary work

The process through which groups create, negotiate, and police the boundaries of belonging

Authenticity and ethnic belonging

Individuals and communities negotiate belonging; there is no single universally required ingredient

Symbolic ethnicity

The expression of ethnic identity through selected symbols and occasions, even when everyday participation in the culture declines

Examples of symbolic ethnicity

Food, holidays, family stories, festivals, and ancestry

Meaning of symbolic ethnicity

Symbolic ethnicity is a descriptive concept, not a judgment about the value of someone's identity

Situational ethnicity

Deliberately emphasizing one's ethnicity in some situations and downplaying it in others

Contested identity

A situation in which a person's own identity may differ from how others recognize or classify them

Racial ambiguity

Social classification is an interactional process, not simply a DNA test

Consequences of an inaccurately assigned identity

People may treat someone according to an assigned category, and those consequences occur regardless of the category's accuracy

Assigned race or ethnicity

Other people categorizing someone through social perception

Ethnic belonging

Community, culture, shared meanings, and relationships

Negotiating identity boundaries

Debating or negotiating who belongs and what counts as authentic membership

U.S. Census change in 2000

Respondents could identify with more than one race

2024 federal race and ethnicity standards

They combined race and ethnicity into one question, established seven co-equal categories including Hispanic or Latino and a new Middle Eastern or North African category, and allowed respondents to select multiple categories

Implementation deadline for new federal race and ethnicity standards

The federal deadline for Census Bureau implementation across its programs is March 2029

Sofia case study

Sofia is 20 and was born in Rochester; her mother was born in Puerto Rico, her father's grandparents immigrated from Italy, she understands some Spanish but does not speak it comfortably, and she has an Italian surname; people variously assume she is white or Latina, her Puerto Rican cousins tease her about not speaking Spanish, her Italian grandmother considers her unequivocally Italian, and her demographic answers vary depending on the form

Assimilation

The process through which a minority group is absorbed into a dominant group (minority having children with dominant group)

Cultural assimilation

The process through which members of a group learn and adopt the cultural practices of the dominant group

Pluralism

An approach that permits racial and ethnic variation and encourages diversity as a positive feature of society

Sex

Biological characteristics

Gender

Social expectations and meanings associated with masculinity, femininity, and gender categories

Difference between sex and gender

Sex refers to biological characteristics, while gender refers to social expectations and meanings

Gender role socialization

The process of learning what a society considers feminine and masculine

Family gender socialization

Examining who performed which household tasks and caregiving responsibilities

Questions revealing occupational gender assumptions

What image first comes to mind for an occupation, and where did that assumption come from

Why an earnings difference does not explain itself

An observed difference does not establish the reasons behind that difference

Persistence of gender expectations

Tradition, institutions, and reinforcement can maintain expectations

Factors changing gender expectations

Economic conditions, technology, education, and social movements

Gender as socially shaped

Gender expectations can change over time rather than being fixed and unchanging

Essentialist approach to gender

The view that gender is immutable, biological, and organized into an unambiguous two-category system

Constructionist approach to gender

The view that gender is socially shaped by culture and history

Queer theory

An approach that emphasizes differences and challenges strict categories

Hegemonic masculinity

A particular masculine ideal presented as superior to other forms of masculinity and femininity

Toxic masculinity

A term highlighting dysfunctional aspects of dominant masculine ideals and the risks of trying to achieve them

Instrumental role

A task-oriented role often associated with authority and practical responsibilities

Expressive role

A role focused on emotional support and nurturing

Second shift

Unpaid work that people must do at home after their paid work

Feminization of poverty

The pattern in which women are more likely than men to live in poverty

Rape culture

An environment in which sexual violence against women is normalized through cultural norms and values

First wave of the women's movement in the United States

The movement beginning in the mid-nineteenth century and continuing until women gained the right to vote in 1920

Second wave of the women's movement

The movement of the 1960s and 1970s associated with equal access to education and employment

Third wave of the women's movement

A movement emphasizing diversity and inclusivity

Men's liberation

A movement that gained attention in the 1970s and argued that men should be freed from restrictive gender roles

Men's rights movement

A movement that argues feminism has caused men to experience discrimination and oppression

Pro-feminist men's movement

A movement based on the belief that men should support feminism in the interest of fairness for women

Religion

An institutionalized system of shared beliefs and rituals that connects the sacred and profane

Sociological study of religion

The study of how religion functions in society rather than whether religious beliefs are true

Sacred

Things considered holy, divine, supernatural, or set apart from ordinary life

Profane

Ordinary, everyday objects, activities, and experiences

Religious beliefs and symbols

They provide shared explanations and make the world meaningful