Soc 001 exam 3 (final)

Race

A socially constructed category of people who share biologically transmitted traits that members of a society consider important

Ethnicity

A shared cultural heritage

Race is a __ trait while ethnicity is a _ trait.

biological, cultural

Race and ethnicity are both _____

Social constructs

Minority

Any category of people distinguished by physical or cultural difference that a society sets apart and subordinates

In what four states are minorities majority?

Texas, California, New Mexico, and Hawaii

What are two important characteristics that minorities have?

They share a distinctive identity and experience subordination

prejudice

A rigid and unfair generalization about an entire category of people

stereotype

A simplified description applied to every person in some category r

Racism

The belief that one racial category is innately superior or inferior to another

scapegoat theory

Holds that prejudice springs from frustration among people who are themselves disadvantaged

Scapegoat

A person or category of people typically with little power whom people unfairly blame for their own troubles

Why are minorities often used as scapegoats?

They have little power and thus are usually “safe targets”

authoritarian personality theory

Extreme prejudice being a personality trait of certain individuals; supported by research showing that people who show strong prejudice toward one minority are usually intolerant of all minorities

Culture theory

Although extreme prejudice may be found in some people, some prejudice is found in everyone

Conflict theory on race and ethnicity

Prejudice is used as a tool by powerful people to oppress others

Functionalist perspective on race and ethnicity

Racial and ethnic inequalities are functional for the dominant racial group

what do racist views provide, according to the functionalist perspective?

Moral justification for maintaining inequality, discourage members of minority groups for questioning their lowly status, encourage support for existing order by suggesting that increased equality would lower the dominant group’s standard of living

discrimination

Unequal treatment of various categories of people

What is the difference between prejudice and discrimination

Prejudice refers to attitudes, but discrimination is a matter of action

Institutional prejudice and discrimination

Bias built into the operation of society’s institutions, including schools, hospitals, the police, and the workplace

Thomas theorem

Situations that are defined as real become real in their consequences

three stages of the Thomas theorem

Prejudice and discrimination begin, social disadvantage, belief in minority’s innate inferiority

pluralism

A state in which people of all races and ethnicities are distinct but have equal social standing

To what extent is the US pluralistic?

All people have equal standing under the law, people of various cultures and races do not have equal social standing

assimilation

The process by which minorities gradually adopt patterns of the dominant culture

why do multiculturalists oppose making assimilation a goal?

It suggests that minorities are a problem and the ones who need to do all the changing

miscegenation

Biological reproduction by partners of different racial categories

segregation

The physical and social separation of categories of people

What is the difference between pluralism and segregation?

pluralism encourages distinctiveness without disadvantage, but segregation enforces separation that harms a minority

De jure

By law

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De facto

In actual fact

Hypersegregation

Having little contact of any kind with people living outside of one’s local community

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Genocide

The systematic killing of one category of people by another

what cultural legacy did White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASPs) leave on the United States?

English is the country’s dominant language and Protestantism is its majority religion

which is the largest category of Asian Americans living in the US

Chinese Americans

which is the largest category of Hispanic Americans living in the US

Mexican Americans

What is the largest racial or ethnic minority group in the US?

Hispanic Americans

examples of color-blind racisms’ racial stories from the reading, “Racism without Racists” Bonilla-Silva 

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“The past is the past”, “I didn’t own any slaves”, “If Jews, Italians, and Irish have made it, how come black people have not?”, “I did not get a job (or a promotion), or was not admitted to a college because of a minority”

Gender

The personal traits and social positions that members of a society attach to being female or male

Gender stratification

The unequal distribution of wealth, power, and privilege between men and women

To what extent can biology explain differences between men and women?

Biology can explain some differences, but most are socially created

Masculine

Having qualities or appearance traditionally associated with men

feminine

Having qualities or appearance traditionally associated with women

Israeli Kibbutz

Gender equality is one of its stated goals; men and women share in both work and decision making, share everyday jobs

what is the Israeli Kibbutz evidence of?

It is evidence that culture defines what is masculine and what is feminine

Margaret Mead’s research

If gender is based on biological differences, people everywhere should define “feminine” and “masculine” the same; studied three societies in New Guinea

What did Margaret Mead conclude through her research?

Concluded that culture is key to gender distinction

George Murdock’s Research

Broad study of 200 preindustrial societies, found some global agreement on feminine and masculine tasks

Matriarchy

“Rule by mothers”, a form of social organization in which females dominate males

patriarchy

“Rule by fathers”, a form of social organization in which females dominate males

Sexism

The belief that one sex is innately superior to the other; justification for patriarchy

What does sexism do?

Limits the talents and the ambitions of women

What does the patriarchy do?

Drives men to relentlessly seek control, not only of women but also of themselves and their world

Type A personality

Marked by chronic impatience, driving ambition, competitiveness, and free-floating hostility

Gender roles

Attitudes and activities that a society links to each sex

Importance of “is it a boy or a girl?”

Answer involves not only sex but likely the direction of a child’s life w

What does being a woman put an emphasis on?

Emphasis on cooperation and emotion

What does being a man put an emphasis on?

Emphasis on independence and action

By what age do children learn how society defines men and women?

Three

What do male peer groups emphasize?

Reinforce masculine traits of aggression and control through the games they play

What do peer groups of women emphasize?

Encourage interpersonal skills of communication and cooperation

How do gender and schooling relate to each other?

Gender shapes interested and beliefs about abilities, guiding areas of study and career choices

Who is earning the majority of bachelor’s degrees in the United States?

Women

What two types of jobs have a high concentration of women?

Administrative work (pink-collar jobs) and service work (food, child care, and health care)

How much do women earn relative to how much men earn?

Women earn about 80 cents for every dollar earned by men

what are the three main reasons given as to why women earn less than men?

Type of work, society’s view of the family, discrimination against women

How does housework present a cultural contradiction in the US?

It’s essential for family life and there is little reward for doing it

Are women a minority?

Yes, although they outnumber men they typically have less income, wealth, education, and power at every class level

sexual harassment

Comments, gestures, or physical contacts of a sexual nature that a re deliberate, repeated, and are unwelcome

Structural functionalist theory on gender

Gender serves as a means to organize social life

Talcott Parsons

gender forms a complimentary set of roles, gives each sex responsibility for carrying out important tasks; sees gender as helpful to society

critical review of structural functionalist perspective of gender

Ignora the personal strains and social costs of rigid gender roles, gender complimentarity amounts to submitting to male domination

symbolic interaction perspective of gender

Focusing on how people “do” gender as part of face-to-face interaction in everyday life

Social-conflict perspective of gender

Gender is a structural system of power that provides privilege to some and disadvantage to others

According to Engles, how does gender support social inequality in a capitalistic society?

Capitalism intensifies male domination, creates more wealth which gives greater power to men as earners and owners of property, society assigns women the task of maintaining the home to allow men to work in factories

What is the double exploitation in capitalism found in the social conflict perspective on gender?

Paying low wages for male labor and paying women no wages at all

Critical review of social conflict perspective on gender

Minimizes the extent to which women and men live together cooperatively and often happily

intersection theory

Analysis of the interplay of race, class, and gender, which often results in multiple dimensions of disadvantage

feminism

Support of social equality for women and men, in opposition to patriarchy and sexism

what five principles do most feminists support?

taking action to increase equality, expanding human choice, eliminating gender stratification throughout society, ending sexual violence, and promoting sexual freedom

liberal feminism

Individuals should be free to develop their own talents and pursue their own interests, women should compete with men on a level playing field

Socialist feminism

Capitalism increases patriarchy by concentrating wealth and power in the hands of a small number of men

radical feminism

Belief that patriarchy is so firmly entrenched that even a socialist revolution would not end it, goal is to eliminate gender itself

Why is feminism so controversial?

it calls for significant change, provoking resistance from both men and women who hold conventional ideas about gender

What type of feminism is most supported?

Liberal feminism

“Doing gender”

A person’s gender is not simply an aspect of what one is, but, more fundamentally, it is something that one does, and does recurrently in interaction with others

Social institutions

Organized patterns of beliefs and behaviors that are centered on basic social needs

Cultural universals

General practices found in every culture such as sports, food preparation and funeral ceremonies

functional prerequisites

Those tasks that a society must perform in order to survive

Family

A social institution found in all societies that unites people in cooperative groups to care for one another, including any children

kinship

A social bond based on common ancestry, marriage, or adoption

Marriage

A legal relationship, usually involving economic cooperation, sexual activity, and childbearing

extended family

A family composed of parents and children as well as other kin

consanguine family

What is another term for the extended family?

nuclear family

A family composed of one or two parents and their children

conjugal family

what is another term for the nuclear family?

endogamy

Marriage between people of the same social category

exogamy

Marriage between people of different social categories

monogamy

Marriage that unites two partners