Race and Ethnicity

Race - social construct: believed to be a real thing and used to categorize people

Morphological construct - changes to adapt well to circumstances

Ethnicity - shared cultural heritage and a social construct from cultural traits, ancestry, languages, and religions

Minorities - distinctive identity (race, sex, orientation)

Prejudice - rigid and unfair generalization

Stereotype - simplified description to every person in same category

Racism - belief that one racial category is superior or inferior (subjective, widespread throughout U.S. history)

Scapegoat - people unfairly blame minorities for their own problems

Authoritarian personality - rigid moralists conform to conventional cultural values and see moral issues as clear cut matters of right and wrong (“I’m right, you’re wrong”)

Culture theory - prejudice is embedded in culture

Conflict theory - self-justification for rich and powerful in the U.S. that cultivation of race consciousness for greeter power and privilege by minorities

Discrimination - unequal treatment of various categories of people

Institutional prejudice and organization - bias built into operation of society’s institutions

Pluralism - people of all races/ethnicities are distinct but have equal social standing

Assimilation - Minorites gradually adopt patterns of dominant culture

Segregation - physical and social separation of categories of people (can be self or forced)

Genocide - systematic killing of one category of people by another