Anthropology Race terms

Race

A flawed system of classification without biological basis that uses physical characteristics to divide humankind into supposedly distinct groupings.

Racism

Thoughts, actions, and institutional policies that create or replicate unequal access to resources and opportunities based on imagined differences between groups

Intersectionality

An analytic framework for assessing how intersecting factors such as race, gender, and class interact to affect life chances and patterns of stratification.

Microaggression

Common verbal or behavioral slights that communicate hostile or negative messages about a persons (perceived or real) race, gender, religion, etc.

Miscegenation

A demeaning historical term for interracial marriage

White supremacy

The belief that white people (whatever that means) are distinct from and superior than other races

nationalism

The desire of an ethnic community to make or maintain their own nation-state

Jim Crow

Laws created after the US Civil War to legally create and enforce segregation, particularly in the American south.

Hypodescent

Assigning people of mixed racial heritage to that of the inferior race

Nativism

The favoring of long term inhabitants (usually deemed white) over new immigrants

Racialization

The process of categorizing, differentiating, and attributing a particular racial character onto a person or group of people.

Individual racism

Personal prejudiced beliefs and discriminatory actions taken on the basis of race

Institutional racism

Patterns by which racial inequality is structured through cultural institutions, policies, and systems.

Racial ideology

A set of common ideas about race that allows discriminatory practices of individuals and systems to seem reasonable, rational, and normal

eugenics

A racist or ableist ideology that aims to “improve” the human race by continuation of “favorable” traits and elimination of “unfavorable” ones

scientific racism

Use of pseudo-science (such as intelligence tests and measurements) to justify racism by separating people into classes of inferior and superior biological races.

Ethnicity

A shared cultural heritage or ancestry (including language and traditions) that creates a sense of belonging within a cultural group

Identity Entrepreneurs

Political, social, or religious actors that use the lens of ethnicity to advance specific ideologies or projects. They create a sense of belonging or an “us vs. them” narrative

Melting pot/assimilation

A process where individuals or minority groups are absorbed into the dominant culture by adopting certain behaviors and values while suppressing their original cultural or ethnic identity.

Multiculturalism

A process where diverse groups of people enculturate into the dominant culture while still retaining their ethnic identity and traditions