SYD 4700 Race and Minority Group Relations Exam 3 Study Guide Race A group of people generally considered to be physically distinct in some way such as skin color hair texture or facial features from other groups and are generally considered by themselves or others as a distinct group Ethnicity Belonging to a social group that has a common national or cultural tradition nationality culture ancestry belief language Institutional Discrimination Any arrangement or practice within a social institution or its related organizations that tends to favor one racial or ethnic group usually majority group over another It may be conscious and deliberate as in discriminatory voting laws or subtle and perhaps unintended as in industrial location decisions that favor suburban whites over inner city Blacks Conflict Perspective A sociological perspective that sees society as dominated by a powerful elite which controls most of the wealth and power to the disadvantage of the other less powerful members of society Because of this inequality society tends toward conflict and change although the power or prestige of the dominant group may for a time lead to a consensus or to the appearance thereof However this consensus is temporary The long term tendency is toward conflict and change Functionalist Order Perspective A sociological perspective stressing the notions that society is made up of interrelated parts that contribute to the effectiveness of society and that society tends toward consensus order and stability These tendencies are seen as necessary if society is to be effective and efficient According to this perspective the absence of these conditions can pose serious to the quality of life in the society and even to the society s ability to continue to function Social Distance A preference to avoid certain kinds of contact with minority groups In general the closer the supposed contact living next door vs shopping in the same store the greater tendency to maintain social distance and avoid contact May also refer to maintaining distance thru rituals such as the expectation that minority group members say sir or mam or avoid use of first names when addressing majority group members Ethnocentrism a tendency to view one s own group as the norm or standard and view out groups as not just different but also strange and usually inferior The ways of the in group are seen as the natural or the only way of doing things and becomes a standard against which out groups are judged Ethnic Stratification Ethnic inequality A pattern under which social inequality falls along the lines of race or ethnicity In other words one or more racial or ethnic groups enjoy san advantage over another group with respect to wealth power prestige and other scarce resources Gary Becker s Theory of Discrimination Society has a personal taste for discrimination If White employers employees or potential customers hold this prejudice attitude minority group members are usually not hired for certain jobs Split Labor Market Theory A situation in which laborers re divided into two groups one higher paid often majority and one lower paid often minority The higher paid group attempts to maintain an advantage status by excluding the lower paid group from certain kinds of employment Marxist Theory A theory based on the ideas of Karl Marx that claim discrimination hurts working class Whites as well as minority group members by creating racial divisions within the working class instead of them working to fight for power and rights controlled by boss employers managers Wealth The total value of all economic assets that people own minus their debt Differences in wealth including differences in average wealth between racial and ethnic groups tend to be considerably larger than differences in income Poverty The state or condition of having little or no money goods or means of support This is a condition of being poor that is defined by the fixed poverty level Index of Dissimilarity A measure of the amount of housing segregation between any two groups such as Blacks and Whites It indicates the of either group that would have to move to attain complete integration the same mix of the two groups in every block or neighborhood It can range from zero fully integrated to 100 totally segregated It is also sometimes called the segregation index Restrictive Covenants a provision attached to a deed or sales contract in which the buyer must agree not to sell or rent to a member of a specified group such as Blacks Chicanos or Jews This was one of the major ways state governments took action toward the promotion of housing discrimination State enforcement was the crucial link that made restrictive covenant an effective force of spatial segregation These provisions were legal until 1948 Redlining Refusal to make loans or issue insurance in certain neighborhoods based on the racial composition or average income in the neighborhood regardless of the characteristics of the individual homeowner May also refer more broadly to lending or insurance discrimination against residents of urban neighborhoods based on the racial or ethnic composition of the neighborhoods Racial Steering a practice whereby real estate agents show white customers houses in all white areas and show black customers houses in all black or racially mixed areas Blockbusting A practice by real estate agents or speculators that attempts to scare whites into selling their houses at low prices because Blacks are supposedly moving into their neighborhood The speculator purchases the house and then sells it to a black family often at an inflated price This practice both exploits both Black and white homeowners and encourages racial segregation and rapid racial turnover in urban neighborhoods White flight This was a way of suburban marketing to Whites During industrialization people with more resources and opportunity move into the city but when the cities become overcrowded mixed with integration the intra structure begins to build and the White people move back out 1968 Fair Housing Act Outlawed racial discrimination when selling homes Never completely ended but made it illegal Cultural Bias The educational system demands conformity to an arbitrary norm and punishes those who do not or cannot conform or it expects poor performance from low income and minority students and then treats them in ways that ensure that this expectation comes true Cultural Deprivation a view that identifies the source of