Racial and Ethnic Inequality

Lecture/Discussion corresponding to assigned readings for week #6

How do we define Race and Ethnicity?

I. The Significance of Race

Minority Groups• Racial group: refers to a category of people who are

believed to share physical characteristics that are deemed socially significant.

• Ethnic group: group set apart from others primarily because of its national origin or distinctive cultural patterns

• Minority group: subordinate group whose members have significantly less control or power than members of dominant or majority group– Race? What other groups are minority groups? What

characteristics create minority groups?

Dominant and Minority GroupsOther characteristics that may make a group subject to unequal treatment: gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, skin color.

Are dominant groups always larger than minority groups?

• One Argument: Race no longer matters– There is equal opportunity due to civil rights movement– We live in a color-blind society

• Do we? Have we reached the promise land that MLK spoke of in 1963?

Opposition (Sociological): Race structures society and is highly significant.While trends may be encouraging, and there are no longer legally enforced forms of racial domination, racial inequality is widespread and racism is much less overt. -Notion of color blind racism

Why talk about Race? Is Racial Inequality a Social Problem?

Color Blind Racism

• Eduardo Bonilla Silva

• Race and ethnicity organize societies and play a large role in fueling violence around the globe.

• We can look at statistics, trends, and examples of contemporary race relations to see that race is still significant in the post-civil rights era. Examples?– Race based hate crimes and groups– Poverty rates– Natural disasters and their effects– The US Criminal Justice System

Race is a Social Reality

II. Race-A Social Construction

– Each society socially constructs the meaning of symbols

• Social Construction of Race– What does this mean?

Race as a social construct

• We know race is socially constructed because the meaning of race has been inconsistent.

• The meaning of race has changed– Over time– Across cultures

• The idea of “white” has evolved over time.

• Some scholars predict that Latinos and Asians will be the new “whites” in the next 50 years.– Thoughts?

Example: Race changing over time

Example: Race changing over timeSince 1790, the census has never measured race in the

same way in the U.S. “Mulatto” was in the 1800 census, but taken out a few

decades later“Mexican” was considered a race in 1930, but in the next

census, they were counted as whiteAsian Indians were considered white in 1970The term “negro” still appears on today’s census, in addition

to “African American”In the earliest census measurements, survey takers would

assign your race to you.

Example: Race across cultures

• How many races are in the United States?• Brazil?– http://www.zonalatina.com/Zldata55.htm

• Racial Formation: Basically, racial categories have been created, shaped, re-shaped, and destroyed throughout history depending on the social and historical context.

• Race is NOT biologically/genetically real, but it is very real in the social sense.– Who has had the power to define groups and the

meanings attached to them? How does this happen?

The Social Construction of Race

A Brief History of Racehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UZS8Wb4S5k&feature=relatedStart at two mins in. • Race became the tool through

which Europeans could justify the domination, enslavement, and exploitation of racially “othered” groups. Which groups?

• Since race became a social construct, it has been used by those in power (dominant groups)to deny “others” (minority groups) access to valued resources. What types of resources?

III. Prejudice and Discrimination

• What’s the difference?

Prejudice• Prejudice: “pre-judge” – Attitudes that certain groups of people are either

inferior or superior– Can be either positive or negative

• i.e. Asians are good at math, African Americans are good at sports– Stereotypes

Learning Prejudice

• Socialization and the media– How do kids become prejudiced?

• Internalization of prejudices• Kenneth Clark’s (1954) doll experiment• CNN Study-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2zY3sB7yak• First 9:30

– What forms of media perpetuate prejudice?

Discrimination • The acts that arise from prejudices– Individual discrimination: Unfair on unequal treatment

based on group membership, on an individual level• i.e. Not inviting a co-worker to lunch based on their race• i.e. hate crimes

– Discrimination is:• Subtle: for example not sitting next to someone• Blatant: Racial slurs

Institutionalized discrimination

Institutionalized discrimination: how discrimination is woven into the fabric of societyLooks at a culture of racismDoes not look at

individuals as racistsWe see these things as

normal and do not question them

Institutional Discrimination Examples• Home mortgage and car loans– Thomas (1992) and Passell (1996) found that controlling for

income and credit scores, Latinos and African Americans were 60% more likely to be rejected for loans than whites

The Criminal Justice SystemMinorities are disproportionately underrepresented among police, lawyers, judges, and juries.

The Education systemMinorities are disproportionately represented in low-income neighborhoods, where schools and teachers are underfunded.

Discriminatory Housing Practices

• Redlining: mortgage companies deny loans for houses in minority neighborhoods.

• Racial steering: realtors discourage minorities from moving into certain neighborhoods.

• Restrictive home covenants: illegal pacts between residents that they will not sell or rent their homes to minorities.

• Racial Stratification• Further injustice

Effects of Discrimination

IV. Racial Stratification

• Poverty Rates• Child Poverty rates• Median Family income

The Importance of Wealth

• Wealth and the black middle class– “Starting from Scratch”

• Benefits of generational accumulation– Dalton Conley example in text

Conclusion

• Race Matters

• Combating racism and discrimination

• Human Agency