Chapter 8 - Race and Ethnicity

Race

Different ideas of what race means

Race as a physical characteristic (skin tone, eyes, etc)

Race as a nationality

Race as a religion (jews)

Race as entire human species (the “human race”)

-From a sociological perspective, race is used to refer to a category of people who have been singled out as being inferior/superior based on real or alleged physical characteristics

Ethnic Group

Collection of people distinguished, by others or themselves, primarily based on cultural or nationality characteristics

Characteristics of Ethnic Groups

-Unique cultural traits (clothing, music, religion)

-Sense of community

-Feeling of ethnocentrism

-Ascribed membership from bith

-Territorality

Social Significance of Race/Ethnicity 

Ethnicity and race form a base of hierarchical ranking

-The dominant group holds power over others

-Classic study of the vertical mosaic by John Porter reveals strong links between race, ethnicity, and class

Majority and Minority Groups

Majority Group - Advantaged with superior resources and rights in a society

Minority Group - Group whose members are disadvantaged and discriminated against 

-Visible Minority - Official government category for non-white Canadians 

Prejudice

Negative attitude based on preconceived notions about members of selected groups

Racial Prejudice - Belief that certain racial groups are innately inferior to others or have disproportionate number of negative traits

Roots of Prejudice;

-Ethnocentrism

-Stereotypes - overgeneralizations about the appearance, behaviours, or characteristics of members of particular groups

• Sources; Ethnic jokes, media, religious associations, etc

Theories of Prejudice

Scapegoat - Person or group that is incapable of offering resistance to the hostility or aggression of others

Authoritarian Personality - Person characterized by excessive conformity, submissiveness to authority, tolerance, insecurity, high level of superstition, and rigid stereotypical thinking

Measuring Prejudice

Burgardus constructed a scale that uses social distance as a criteria for measuring prejudice

-Social Distance - extent to which people are willing to interact and establish relationships with members of racial and ethnic groups other than their own

Burgardus Scale of Prejudice 

1. I would marry/accept as a close relative

2. I would accept as a close friend

3. I would accept as a next door neighbor

4. I would accept in my school/church

5. I would accept in my community, but not have contact with

6. I would accept as sa resident in my country

7. I would not accept at all, even as a resident of my country 

Study using Burgardus’ Scale

1991 Canadian study showed Canadian born respondents reported less comfort when interacting with Canadians of west-indian, black, muslim, arab, indo-pakistani and sikh origin

Discrimination 

Action or practices of dominant group members that have a harmful impact on members of a subordinate group

-Example; refusal to hire, associate with, or become a friend of those of a subordinate group

Forms of Discrimination

De Jure - legal discrimination which is encoded in laws (ex; chinese exclusionary act, parts of the indian act)

De Facto - Informal discrimination which is entrenched in social customs/institutions

Merton’s Combinations of Prejudice and Discrimination

1. No Prejudice/Non Discriminatory - Those who aren’t prejudiced/discriminatory

2. No Prejudice/Discriminatory - Not prejudiced, but discriminatory because of peer pressure or for political/economic benefits or for traditional ways

3. Prejudice/Non-Discriminatory - Are prejudiced, but cannot discriminate because of peer pressure or for political/economic interests

4. Prejudice/Discriminatory - Those who are prejudiced and who discriminate against others 

Genocide

Extreme form of discrimination, the deliberate and systematic killing of an entire people or nation

Racism

Set of ideas that implies the superiority of one social group over another on the basis of biological or cultural characteristics, together with the power to put these beliefs into practices in a way that denies or excludes minority women and men

Elements of Racism - Prejudice, ethnocentrism, stereotyping, discrimination

Types of Racism; overt, subliminal, polite, institutional, systemic

Functionalist Perspective

How do members of subordinate racial or ethnic groups become part of the dominant group? 
-Either through assimilation or ethnic pluralism 

Assimilation 

Process by which members of subordinate racial and ethnic groups become absorbed into the dominant culture

Cultural Assimilation - Members of an ethnic group adopt dominant group traits such as language, dress, value, and religion

Structural Assimilation - When members of the subordinate group gain acceptance

Biological/Amalgamation - Through inter-marriage (ex; Brazil, Mexico, Hawaii)

Psychological - Change in racial and/or ethnic self-identification on the part of an individual 

Ethnic Pluralism

Coexistence of a variety of distinct racial/ethnic groups

-Equalitarian/Accommodation - When ethnic/racial groups live together on an equal basis (e.g. Switzerland)

-Goal of the 1998 multiculturalism act (Canada)

Segregation

Spatial and social separation of categories of people by race, ethnicity, class, gender, and/or religion

-Examples; Blacks in Nova Scotia, reserves for Indigenous peoples

Conflict Perspective

Focus on economic stratification and access to power informs our understanding of ethnicity and race 

-Internal Colonialism - Situation in which members of a racial or ethnic group are conquered or colonized and forcibly placed under the economic and political control of the dominant groups (e.g., Aboriginal peoples)

-External Colonialism - Great Britain, France, etc, ties to the continent of Africa

Split-Labour Market Theory

Division of the economy into two areas of employment; a primary sector or upper tier, composed of higher paid (usually the dominant group) workers in more secure jobs, and a secondary sector or lower tier, made up of lower-paid workers (often subordinate groups) in jobs with little security and hazardous working conditions 

-Proposes that members of the dominant group develop prejudices against minority groups in order to protect their position in the labour market

Feminist Perspective

Minority women are double disadvantaged as a result of their gender

Gendered Racism - Interactive effect of racism and sexism in the exploitation of women of color

Combines with Split-Labor Market Theory

-For example; Who is more likely to be a nurse or a custodian

Ethnic Groups in Canada 

-Aboriginals

-Charter Canadians

-Multicultural Minorities

Aboriginals

Indigenous occupants of Canada, about 55 sovereign peoples

Subtypes;

-Status Indian - Those with legal rights under the indian act

-Non-Status Indian - Those without legal status

Reasons for Depopulation of Aboriginals

-Genocide

-Forced Migration

-Forced assimilation

Most disadvantaged group in terms of income, employment, housing, nutrition, health, life chances, infant mortality, education, etc

Character Canadians - British

Another term; White Anglo-Saxon Protestant

-most privileged and dominant group

Variations - From working class and women (with less power) to the economic elite

Charter Canadians - Quebecois

1608; First-French settlement in Quebec city

-After seven years war, British defeated the French

-French were allowed to keep their religion, language, and culture while the economic and political power went to the British

-Quiet Revolution; rapid modernization, industrialization, and secularization from 1960-1966,, resulting in increased Quebec Nationalism and Separation Movement

Process;

-From 1970s, the sovereignty movement gained momentum to a near success in 1995

-The separation party (Parti Quebecois) governed Quebec until 2003 with the success of the liberal party and jean charest

Multicultural Minorities

Most Canadian immigrants today are members of visible minorities

-Change in Policy; from discrimination (1869) to a point system (1967)

-Point System - Immigrants selected based on qualifications rather than race/ethnicity

Major Types;

-White ethnics

-Chinese

Racial and Ethnic Inequality in the Future

Diversity in Canada

-Patterns; most new immigrants live in cities

-According to 2021 Census, 26.5% of Canadians belong to visible minority groups

Effects;

-Fear of backlash against visible minorities because of economic downturns; Muslim unrest in France

-Hopes of new tolerance, opnness and acceptance 

Ethnic Origin/Identity

Ethnic Origin - Ethnic characteristics of your ancestors (objective ethnicity)

Ethnic Identity - How you personally identify your ethnicity (subjective ethnicity)

Racialization

Process by which groups come to be designated as being of a particular ‘race’ and on that basis subjected to different and/or unequal treatment

-Differences are purely based on small genetic mutations that reflect the geographic mobility of early humans, therefore race cannot be real under the sociological perspective

Bicultural

Participating in two distinct cultures simultaneously

Adaptation Patterns

Integration Pattern - identifying with both one’s heritage culture and one’s new, national culture

Ethnic Pattern - identifying primarily with one’s heritage culture

National Pattern - identifying primarily with one’s new national culture

Diffuse Pattern - Uncertainty about which cultures one should or should not identify with 

Components of Prejudice

Cognitive Component - What we think, based on the foundations of stereotypes

Affective Component - How we feel, emotions that we attach to the stereotype

Behavioural Component - Action due to prejudice (discrimination)