Sociology of Race and Ethnicity: Housing, Social Movements, Economics, and Education

Comprehensive flashcards covering residential segregation, the civil rights movement, economic disparities and labor dynamics, and structural and symbolic inequalities in education.

According to Social Distance Theory, why is frequent racial and ethnic interaction essential for social equality?

Frequent interaction is crucial for improving equality because racial and ethnic separation increases prejudice and discrimination, and reinforces stereotypes.

Between $1934$ and $1962$, how much new housing was financed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and the Veterans Administration, and what percentage was available to nonwhite families?

They financed more than $120\text{ billion}$ dollars worth of new housing, but less than $2\%$ of this real estate was made available to nonwhite families.

What discriminatory housing practice is shown in this Home Owners' Loan Corporation/FHA map where minority neighborhoods were outlined and denied loans?

Redlining

How do blockbusting, restrictive covenants, and racial steering differ in discriminatory housing practices?

Blockbusting involves real estate speculators selling homes to nonwhites in white neighborhoods to spark panic-selling at below-market rates; restrictive covenants are contractual agreements among homeowners barring sales to nonwhites; and steering is when real estate agents show white neighborhoods only to whites and nonwhite neighborhoods only to nonwhites.

What was the structural impact of post-World War II urban renewal programs on minority urban communities?

City planners displaced entire communities to build highways, hospitals, and civic improvements, which crowded inner cities and severely worsened living conditions for disproportionately nonwhite residents.

What event forced Congress to enact the Fair Housing Act of $1968$, and what unintended suburban consequence followed?

The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. (along with late $1960\text{s}$ urban unrest) forced Congress to act; while intended to integrate communities, it contributed greatly to white flight to the suburbs.

What does the Index of Dissimilarity measure, and what do its scale endpoints represent?

It measures neighborhood segregation and integration on a scale from $0$ to $100$, where $0$ represents full integration and $100$ represents complete segregation.

How did the percentage of people of color living in U.S. suburbs change between $1990$ and $2020$?

The share of suburbanites who were people of color increased from $20\%$ in $1990$ to $45\%$ in $2020$.

How does 'white flight' connect symbolic perceptions of integration with structural inequality?

Perceptions that integration causes declining property values, rising crime, and falling school quality prompt white departures to the suburbs, which drains resources, concentrates poverty, and structurally reinforces the original negative stereotypes as a self-fulfilling prophecy.

What major demographic movement between $1915$ and $1970$ is illustrated on this map, and what economic shifts drove it?

The Great Migration, which was driven by a sharp decline in Southern rural agricultural labor demand and a massive growth of industrial manufacturing jobs in Northern and Western cities.

What was the 'uneasy alliance' within the Democratic Party prior to the $1960\text{s}$ political realignment?

An alliance between conservative Southern Democrats and liberal Northern Democrats, where Northern Democrats agreed not to push for civil rights legislation in order to maintain party unity and pass New Deal programs.

Why did the Cold War pressure the United States government to address domestic racial segregation?

American claims to be a global model of freedom, liberty, and democracy were undermined by state-sanctioned racism and segregation, creating an international embarrassment exploited by the Soviet Union.

What were the primary civil rights organizations that coordinated non-violent direct action during the Civil Rights Movement?

The NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee), SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference), and CORE (Congress of Racial Equality).

What event initiated the $1955$ Montgomery Bus Boycott, and what institution served as its strategic hub?

The refusal of Rosa Parks to surrender her bus seat initiated the boycott; the Black church served as the primary location for strategic planning and decision-making.

What were the Freedom Rides of $1961$ organized to test, and what did participants encounter in Alabama and Mississippi?

They tested recent court rulings declaring segregation on interstate buses illegal; riders faced severe violence (including bombings and beatings) in Alabama and mass arrests in Mississippi.

What were the key provisions of Titles II, VI, and VII of the Civil Rights Act of $1964$?

Title II banned discrimination in public accommodations, Title VI authorized the cutoff of federal funding to institutions that discriminated, and Title VII banned employment discrimination.

How did the Black Power/Nationalist Movement differ philosophically and tactically from the mainstream Civil Rights Movement?

Associated with Malcolm X, it emphasized racial difference, Black pride, and Black culture; it endorsed self-defense rather than nonviolence, and utilized a rhetoric of separation rather than integration.

How did the wealth gap between white and African American families change between $1983$ and $2013$?

In $1983$, white families held $8\text{ times}$ more wealth than African American families ($46,160\text{ dollars}$ vs. $5,768\text{ dollars}$ in $2013\text{ dollars}$; by $2013$, whites held $12\text{ times}$ more wealth ($134,230\text{ dollars}$ vs. $11,030\text{ dollars}$).

Which major worker categories were deliberately excluded from Social Security benefits in the $1930\text{s}$ New Deal legislation?

Agricultural/farm workers and domestic workers/maids, occupations that were disproportionately filled by African American and Latino workers.

What is the difference between bonding social capital and bridging social capital?

Bonding capital refers to social ties formed among similar people or groups (homophily), whereas bridging capital refers to social ties connecting dissimilar people across lines such as race, class, or ethnicity.

How did deindustrialization in the $1970\text{s}$ and $1980\text{s}$ affect manufacturing jobs in Philadelphia, Chicago, and New York City?

Philadelphia lost $64\%$ of its manufacturing jobs, Chicago lost $60\%$, and New York City lost $58\%$, disproportionately harming minority workers who relied on these jobs for entry into the middle class.

What is a split labor market, and how does it affect interracial worker solidarity?

A labor market where two or more racial groups are paid different wages for similar work; employers leverage this to pit racial groups against one another (such as using minorities as strike breakers), which breeds resentment and undermines interracial union solidarity.

What major finding regarding criminal records and hiring discrimination is shown in Devah Pager's $2003$ audit experiment?

White applicants with a criminal record received more callbacks ($17\%$) than Black applicants with no criminal record ($14\%$).

What callback disparity did Bertrand and Mullainathan ($2004$) find between resumes with stereotypically white names versus African American names?

Resumes with white-sounding names (such as Emily or Greg) received $50\%$ more interview callbacks than identical resumes with Black-sounding names (such as Lakisha or Jamal).

How does the cultural ideology of 'meritocracy' reproduce racial inequality?

By asserting that society offers equal opportunity and that individual effort alone dictates success, it attributes racial disparities to personal or cultural failings of minorities (e.g., laziness) rather than addressing structural barriers.

How was welfare assistance politically racialized beginning in the late $20\text{th}$ century?

Following the $1960\text{s}$ War on Poverty, welfare was framed as disproportionately supporting nonworking minority women through stereotypes like the 'Welfare Queen,' leading to significant bipartisan cuts and stigmatization.

What constitutional precedent was overturned by the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education ($1954$)?

The 'Separate but Equal' doctrine established under Plessy v. Ferguson ($1896$), ruling that de jure segregation violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

What federal enforcement mechanism finally initiated widespread school desegregation in the South ten years after the Brown ruling?

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of $1964$, which authorized the federal government to cut off federal funding from school districts that refused to integrate.

What trend in Southern school desegregation from $1954$ to $2011$ is demonstrated in this chart?

The percentage of Black students attending majority white Southern schools rose sharply after the Civil Rights Act of $1964$, peaked near $44\%$ in the late $1980\text{s}$, and steadily declined back to around $23\%$ by $2011$.

What is the difference between de jure segregation and de facto segregation in education?

De jure segregation is mandated and enforced by law; de facto segregation arises from residential patterns, socioeconomic sorting, and wealth inequalities without explicit legal enforcement.

What did the Supreme Court decide in San Antonio School District v. Rodriguez ($1973$) regarding school funding disparities?

The Court ruled that disparities in public school funding caused by local property-tax wealth differences were race-neutral and therefore did not violate the Constitution.

How does Pierre Bourdieu's concept of cultural capital help explain educational disparities?

Cultural capital encompasses linguistic styles, etiquette, mannerisms, and familiarity with high culture valued by elite educational institutions; students from higher socioeconomic backgrounds possess more of it, influencing teacher evaluations and academic tracking.

What is the educational 'discipline gap' between Black and white students?

Nonwhite students, particularly Black students, are suspended and expelled at substantially higher rates (ranging between $18.5\%$ and $24.8\%$ in $2008\text{--}2014$) compared to white students ($5.7\%$ to $8.0\%$).

What is 'code switching' among minority students in educational settings?

The intentional shifting of language, communication styles, and behavioral presentation between home communities and schools to align with institutional expectations of teachers and administrators.

What is stereotype threat, and why does it undermine cognitive and academic performance?

It is the psychological predicament where an individual fears confirming negative stereotypes about their group; this fear induces anxiety and consumes working memory, thereby interfering with cognitive functioning.

What phenomenon is illustrated by the performance gap between Black and white students under test-framing conditions in this experiment?

Stereotype threat; Black students solve fewer items when the test is framed as a measure of intellectual ability, but perform at parity with (or above) white students when the task is presented without the threat.