Soc 134 Exam 1 race ethnicity facts race ethnicity helps society categorize things race ethnic categories are not an obvious way to classify things Race has an impact on opportunities and life experiences Racism can persist without overt hateful prejudices and international acts of discrimination Groups at the top are more valued The ideology of color blindness can reproduce the pattern of ethnic inequality There is an organized race ethnic hierarchy in society This hierarchy is reproduced within virtually all large scale social institutions race ethnicity are powerful lens through which we perceive interpret and experience social reality because we attach symbolic meaning to race ethnicity so it influences our assumptions of each other Cognitive bias Confirmation bias our tendency to ignore evidence that does not support our beliefs Attribution error our tendency to attribute behavior and outcomes to innate character traits to external factors homeless Implicit bias subconscious bias towards outside groups and the preference towards one s own group The sociological perspective Society is individualistic Our individual lives are shaped by social environments Our social environments influence our identities beliefs values and behavior Social environments influence our experiences and life outcomes Social structure A system of organized activity durable relationships and practices Hierarchy and inequality are core features of social structures Structural inequalities are organized around several master categories Social life is created maintained and reproduced through SYMBOLIC MEANING Social structure of race ethnicity There is an organized durable race ethnic hierarchy in society race ethnic groups at the top of the hierarchy have greater access to valued resources than those at the bottom Wealth Desirable jobs power and influence respect and prestige access to better health care Race a socially constructed category of people who share arbitrarily selected physical traits Ethnicity a socially constructed category of people who share a cultural heritage language or nationality Irish Kenyan Brazilian Race RACIAL CATEGORIES ARE SYMBOLIC MEANING Nonwhite groups came to be associated with characteristics less intelligent lazier less interested in education Sexually promiscuous dirty spread disease These external differences symbolize perceived internal differences Racial groups are defined without logic HUMANS ARE 99 IDENTICAL Race is NOT a biological category of people Populations are mistakenly equated with racial groups race is a symbolic category of people One drop rule people can have mixed race but when there is one drop of african american they are considered black Hypodescent the rule that any child of mixed ancestry is given the lower status of the races of the parents Racial formation the historical process by which social and political forces create socially recognized racial and ethnic categories racialization social process through which some race ethnic groups are perceived as different and treated unequally in life Racial projects a specific historical example of racial formation racialization slavery and the invention of white black race was not a central principle of society until the emergence of slavery Pan ethnicity used to group various ethnic groups together based off of cultural origins Native American Asian American and Latino Melting pot people from different ethnic backgrounds eventually assimilated into mainstream society Most european immigrants subject to mistreatment and discrimination Originally british scandinavian and central eastern europeans are now all whites Subsequent waves of immigrants replaced prior groups at the bottom of the immigrant hierarchy The non whites are not allowed to assimilate Scientific racism darwin s theory of evolution used to prove that some racial groups were genetically superior Whites seem to be higher on the evolutionary scale survival of the fittest they are more intelligent civilized and have better morals Cultural Deficiency an argument that the cultural attributes or practices associated with disenfranchised ethnic groups have prevented them from assimilating in the US Color blindness 1960 1970 are Jim crow End of state sponsored racial hierarchy Most of social institutions end explicitly racist practices Race is now irrelevant Whites no longer have advantages over nonwhites Racial projects seen as resistance and empowerment sometimes minority groups fight back with racial projects Racial identity as source of pride and soilidatary Civil rights movement black power movement American Indian movement Social movements for justice and equal rights Prejudice not the same thing as racism Negative beliefs attitudes towards an out group Psychological explanations scapegoating blaming an out group for something bad that happens to you Authoritarian personality people who are more obedient and submissive are more likely to hold prejudiced views towards outsiders Social learning theory people are socialized into prejudiced beliefs people with little or no contact with other groups are more likely to develop prejudiced beliefs prejudice derive from the relative position of different racial ethnic groups in society cultural and behavioral generalizations about an entire group of people Minority groups are more likely to be perceived according to stereotypes Stereotypes and prejudice reinforce one another Prejudice and stereotypes align with the symbolic dimensions of race ethnicity unequal treatment of an individual or group because of race ethnicity Discriminatory intent done on purpose Discrimination occurs when an individual group or institution purposely treats members Discriminatory outcomes or consequences Discrimination is defined not by motivation but by the results of normal routine social practices Selective exposure Group threat Stereotypes Discrimination differently Racism Even race neutral practices can reinforce stable patterns of race ethnic inequality property tax to fund schools An organized social system of practices relationships and ideas in which some groups are systemically advantaged or disadvantaged on account of race ethnic characteristics Prejudice and discrimination are common features of racist social systems Color blindness soft racism no hatred we just don t see race Color blindness is currently the dominant ideology in the US Fundamental premise there should be complete neutrality in all aspects of