Chapter 10

Terminology / Definition

Race

Differences in human physical characteristics used to categorize large numbers of individuals

Prejudice

Holding of preconceived ideas about an individual or group, ideas that are resistant to change even in the face of new information

Discrimination

Transferring of ideas or emotions from their true source to another object

Plessy v. Ferguson

• allowed segregation in public

• Court supported the idea of “separate but equal”

Stereotype

Fixed and inflexible category

Racism

attribution of characteristics of superiority or inferiority to a population sharing certain physically inherited characteristics

Institution discrimination

Discrimination that is built into the operation of social institutions, including the economy, schools, and legal system

White Privilege

unacknowledged and unearned assets that benefit White people in their everyday lives

Internal colonialism (internal migration)

progressive movement of African Americans moved northward as agricultural work in the South became mechanized and industrial development in the North created new jobs

Population Transfer

forcing to move group of from one place to another,

Segregation

Practice of keeping racial and ethnic groups physically separate

Assimilation

Process by which different cultures are absorbed into a mainstream culture

Pluralism

model of ethnic relations in which all ethnic groups in a society retain their separate identities yet share equally in the rights and powers of citizenship

Ethnocentrism

Believing that your own culture, traditions, and way of life are better or normal than other people’s cultures.

• judging other cultures based on your own culture

Microaggressions

small slights, indignities, or acts of disrespect that are hurtful to people of color even though they are often perpetrated by well-meaning White people.

Minority group

group of people who, because of their distinct physical or cultural characteristics, find themselves in a disadvantaged position within a society

Immigration

movement of people into one country from another for the purpose of settlement

Scapegoats

individuals or groups being blamed for wrongs, even though they are not part of it.

Brown v. Board of Education Topeka Kansas

• Court decided that separating Black and white students in public schools was unconstitutional.

• Schools can’t legally separate students by race, because separate school not equal.