Soc Ch 8 Part 2

Dominant Group

-Groups that have institutionalized power and privilege in society

Minority Group

-Definable groups that are socially disadvantaged and face unequal treatment.

-“minority” refers to power, not to number

-A group can be the statistical majority yet still be a minority group because of lesser power

Assimilation

-Minority group is absorbed into the culture of the dominant group.

-Sometimes assimilation is voluntary, such as following immigration. Other times, it is coercive, such as with colonization.

Assimilation and Immigration

-Immigration often associated with voluntary assimilation, where over the course of generations, people increasingly adopt the norms, values, and practices of the dominant culture; they stop speaking the language of their ancestors and give up cultural traditions.

-Long assumed that assimilation was a linear process characterized by upward mobility for each successive generation. Linear model is based on immigration patterns from the past.

For these groups, physical characteristics are an obstacle to full assimilation; to some extent, they will always be perceived as a distinct Other (racialized).

-Assimilation is more likely to be segmented than linear; some groups are assimilated to a greater extent than others.

Assimilation and Colonization

-Expansion of territory through the acquisition of Indigenous populations’ lands, as well as exploitation of those Peoples. It is associated with involuntary, coercive assimilation by colonial powers.

-. As those economic alliances weakened, the conversion policy was emphasized. A series of policies followed, intended to convert every facet of Indigenous cultures

-The reserve system, established in 1830, compelled communities to abandon their traditional activities, such as nomadic hunting and gathering.

-With subsequent policies, the goal became full assimilation and the eradication of every aspect of those cultures (known as ethnocide)

Residential Schools

-Boarding schools funded by Canadian government used to assimilate Indigenous children, operated by various Christian denominations.

-Key to assimilation was changing how Indigenous children were socialized.

-By 1884, boarding schools were mandated for all First Nations children under 16, and agents from the Department of Indian Affairs had the power to fine, detain, or arrest parents who tried to keep their children at home

-A total of 130 schools existed over a period of more than 100 years. Around 150,000 Indigenous children attended residential schools.

- Instruction was not only academic (e.g., arithmetic) but also religious and cultural.

-Psychological, physical, and sexual abuses were common

-All aspects of the students’ traditional cultures were forbidden.

Pluralism

-Ethnic diversity/cultural differences valued and maintained in society

-Canada - Multiculturalism, which is supported by most Canadians as a principle and as a policy through Multiculturalism Act.

Multiculturalism In Canada

-During the incipient stage (pre-1971), Canada’s political, social, and economic institutions were based on a British model. Large-scale immigration following the Second World War, along with the activism of Indigenous Peoples for greater independence, led to a shift away from assimilation.

-Multiculturalism became an official policy in Canada in 1971, and thus began the formative period of development (1971–1981):

• “to assist cultural groups to retain and foster their identity;

• to assist cultural groups to overcome barriers to their full participation in Canadian society …;

• to promote creative exchanges among all Canadian cultural groups; and to assist immigrants in acquiring at least one of the official languages”

-In 1982, the third phase of multiculturalism (known as institutionalization) began, where multiculturalism was legislated. With the Canadian Multiculturalism Act of 1988, Canada became the first country to pass a national multiculturalism law.

Segregation

-Minority groups are separated from the dominant group

-Anti-miscegenation laws: Prohibited interracial marriage

Population Transfer

-Forcibly expels members of certain minority groups from a country or limits them to a location.

-Reserve system for Indigenous and Acadians being expelled

-During both world wars, members of ethnic groups defined as “enemy aliens” had their property seized and were relocated to internment camps.

1: Ukranians 2: Japanese

Prejudice

-Attitude that is unrelated to reality and generalized to all members of a certain group.

-Has 3 components:

Cognitive: How we think

Affective: How we feel

Behavioural: How we act

Racism

-Specific form of prejudice based on aspects of physical appearance such as skin colour.

Cognitive Component

-What we think, with stereotypes as the foundation.

-Stereotypes are assumptions that members of a specific group are more similar than they actually are; they reflect our image of the typical example of a member of a certain group

-may overgeneralize about the members of a social group

-Once we hold a specific stereotype, we are more likely to notice and remember information that is consistent with it

Affective Component

-How we feel. Emotions we attach to the stereotype.

-Sometimes we aren’t even aware of the emotions we may be feeling.

-Ethnocentrism can also contribute to the many forms of individual, institutional, and systemic discrimination.

-Emotional component that makes prejudice so resistant to change.

-Much easier to correct someone’s inaccurate cognitive beliefs (e.g., by presenting that person with accurate information that dispels their beliefs) than it is to change emotions (of which the person may not even be aware.

Behavioural Component

-How we act

-Prejudice put into action is discrimination—treating someone unfairly because of their group membership

-Discrimination can occur anywhere from the individual level to the institutional level

Individual Discrimination

-Can include avoiding contact with members of certain groups, making offensive jokes, using derogatory names, hurling insults and verbal abuse, using physical violence.

Hate Crimes

-Criminal offences that are motivated by hate toward an identifiable group.

-Onclude public incitement of hatred, willful promotion of hatred, advocating genocide, and mischief in relation to religious property; other crimes (e.g., assault) are classified as hate crimes if they have been motivated by hatred against an identifiable group.

-A victim’s decision to report an incident to the police is based on many factors, including the perceived seriousness of the incident, language or cultural barriers, the perceived sensitivity of the police, the presence of specialized hate crimes units, and the accessibility of victim services

-Most police-reported hate crimes are based on race/ethnicity (44 percent), followed by religion (36 percent) and sexual orientation

Relationship between Prejudice and Discrimination

-Active Bigots (Prejudiced Discriminators): Yes prejudicial thoughts and yes discriminatory actions

-Timid Bigots (Prejudiced Non-Discriminators): Yes prejudicial thoughts and no discriminatory actions

-Fair-weather liberals (Non-prejudiced Discriminators): No prejudicial thoughts and yes discriminatory actions

-All weather liberals (Non-prejudiced Non-Discriminators): No prejudicial thoughts and no discriminatory actions

Institutional or Systemic Discrimination

-Institutional or systemic discrimination is embedded in policies and practices within organizations

-May be intentional or unintentional

-Systemic discrimination can occur at the government level as well, as reflected in policies and laws that result in forcible assimilation, segregation, and population transfer

-Immigration policy itself can be discriminatory, with special immigration policies directed at certain groups for much of Canadian history

-Chinese Head Tax and Exclusion Act

Theories of Prejudice and Racicalization

-Social psychological theories

-Interactionist theories

-Conflict theories

-Critical race theory

Social Psychological Theories

•Some people have authoritarian personalities, which are associated with higher levels of prejudice

•When frustrated, we direct attention at scapegoats

e.g., someone may blame their own unemployment on immigration

•Competition over scarce resources creates prejudice

e.g., during economic recessions, large-scale anti-immigrant sentiment increases

Interactionist Theories

-Significant others, the generalized other, and the looking-glass self
contribute to our understandings of ethnicity and group relationships

-Attribute prejudice to the processes by which we come to understand different ethnic groups and judge them accordingly.

-Through direct interactions (e.g., with significant others) or indirect ones (e.g., with media), our understandings of certain groups may be based on stereotypes.

-Framing of ethnicity in media

Framing Ethnicity in Media

-Invisibility Frame: Members of racialized groups are largely absent.

-Stereotyping Frame: Racialized groups are presented in ways that support stereotypes.

-Socially Problematic Frame: Racialized groups are portrayed as a threat to society.

-Adornment Frame: Suggests overidealization

-White-washed frame: Experiences of racialized groups are portrayed as the same as those of non-racialized groups.

Conflict Theories

-Marxist conflict theories emphasize inequalities in the structure of societies under capitalism. Here, the powerful have a vested interest in maintaining prejudice in society.

-Economically oppressed will then be too distracted by fighting with one another over scarce resources to join together to fight against their oppressors (larger structure of power in society).

-Dual/split labour market theory:

Dual/split labour market theory

-Also focuses on the economic sphere.

-Members of the dominant group develop prejudices against minority groups in order to protect their position in the labour market.

-Primary labour market consists of higher paid, more secure jobs with upward mobility.

-Secondary labour market comprises jobs that are poorly paid and insecure and that provide little opportunity for advancement.

-Members of minority groups have been overrepresented in the secondary labour market

Critical Race Theory (W.E.B Du Bois)

-Most comprehensive theory of prejudice and racialization

-Racism is not the product of individual prejudice

-References the economic, cultural, ideological, political, and psychological spheres.

-White privilege is embedded in the entirety of the social fabric, in every social institution. White privilege refers to the advantages and benefits in society which are based solely upon being White—or passing for White (When a racicalized person’s skin colour is light enough to be viewed as White by others.)

-Critical race theory contends that racism serves the interests of the (White) dominant class but also the interests of (White) working-class people

-Critical race theory also emphasizes the unique voices of members of racialized groups because of their histories of oppression—voices that are in the best position to contribute to scholarly and activist discourses of racism.

Cornel West Analysis of Racism

(a) an analysis of the metaphors and concepts that have been used in dominant European discourses (and resistance to them);

(b) a micro-institutional analysis of the mechanisms that sustain those discourses in the lives of non-Europeans (and resistance to them);

(c) a macro-structural analysis of economic and political oppression (and resistance)

Critical Race Theory (Video)

-Racism is systemic, going beyond individual bias

-Difficult concept to understand

-Debate about whether to teach it or not