Chapter 11 : Ethnicity and Race

Race and Ethnicity: Key Concepts

  Ethnic groups have common cultural characteristics that separate them from others within a given population. Ethnic differences are wholly learned, although they are sometimes depicted as "natural."

  Race refers to physical characteristics, such as skin color, that are treated by members of a community or society as socially significant-as signaling distinct cultural characteristics. Many popular beliefs about race are mythical. There are no distinct characteristics by means of which human beings can be allocated to different races.

  Racism is prejudice based on socially significant physical distinctions. A racist is someone who believes that some individuals are superior, or inferior, to others as a result of racial differences.

  Displacement and scapegoating are psychological mechanisms associated with prejudice and discrimination . In displacement, feelings of hostility become directed against objects that are not the real origin of these anxieties. People project their anxieties and insecurities onto scapegoats. Prejudice involves holding preconceived views about an individual or group; discrimination refers to actual behavior that deprives members of a group of opportunities open to others. Prejudice usually involves stereotypical thinking -thinking in terms of fixed and inflexible categories.

Ethnic Relations

  Four models of possible future developments in race and ethnic relations can be distinguished-the first stressing Anglo-conformity, or assimilation , the second the melting pot , the third pluralism , and the fourth multiculturalism . In recent years there has been a tendency to emphasize the fourth of these avenues, whereby different ethnic identities are accepted as equal and separate within the context of the overall national culture.

Global Migration

  Beginning in the fifteenth century, global migratory movements resulting from exploration, colonialism, and slavery created multiethnic populations in various regions of the world and therefore ethnic and racial antagonism. Today, migration appears to be on the rise as part of the process of globalization.

Ethnic Relations in the United States

  A remarkable diversity of ethnic minorities is found in the United States today, each group having its own distinctive cultural characteristics. Some of the most important minority communities numerically, after blacks, are Native Americans, Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Chinese, and Japanese. . An important distinction must be drawn between those

  An important distinction must be drawn between those minorities that came to America as willing immigrants and the colonized peoples who either were here already (Native Americans, Mexican Americans) or were brought by force (African Americans) and who were generally incorporated by violence. Racism targeted at these latter groups has been most persistent and most destructive. Gender discrimination compounds the difficulties facing women of color; about half of African American and Latino families that depend primarily on women's incomes live in poverty.

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