SOC 225 1st Edition Exam 1 Study Guide Lecture 1 September 2 The Sociological Study of Race and Ethnicity Sociology systematic study of social behavior and human groups Why do we need sociology looks for social context patterns influence of social forces and impact on individual behavior promotes tolerance and understanding commonsense knowledge versus empirical evidence o commonsense past experience story grown up knowing opinion biography o empirical evidence data experience stats evidence history We don t see things as they are we see them as we are Anais Nin see world through our eyes see as equal don t acknowledge who they are egocentric central focused Lecture 2 September 4 The Sociological Imagination an ability to see the relationship between individual experiences and the larger society o intersection of history evidence vs biography experience don t go off experiences and stories uses knowledge from research to provide opinion open minded aware of behavior and attitude see patterns ask logical questions How Do Sociologists Study Race and Ethnicity Quantitative vs Qualitative Research quantitative stats numbers data qualitative how good accurate Research Methods survey research secondary analysis of data field research experiments content analysis Terminology racial group category of people who have been singled out by others or themselves as inferior or superior on the basis of subjectively selected physical characteristics such as skin color hair texture eye shape ethnic group category of people who are distinguished by others of themselves as inferior or superior primarily on the basis of cultural or nationality characteristics Lecture 3 September 9 Official Racial and Ethnic Classifications political economic social purposes o ex Haven t thought about race until this class one drop rule and eye ball test o one drop of African blood considered black o common white man determined person as African ancestry race always been tied to citizenship whiteness government categories how race has been constructed in U S o conformity o underestimate white overestimate Hispanic classifications effect access to employment housing social services federal aid many other public and private goods and services o race socially constructed o Tiger Woods response to race ethnicity Dominant and Subordinate Groups Dominant group advantaged superior resources and rights in society o social norm subordinate group because of physical or cultural characteristics are disadvantaged and subject to unequal treatment by the majority group and regard themselves as objects of collective discrimination Social Institutions social institutions to meet broad societal needs o ex media medicine family sports religion Racism Prejudice Discrimination racism set of attitudes beliefs and practices used to justify the superior treatment of one racial or ethnic group and the inferior treatment of another racial or ethnic group prejudice negative attitude based on faulty generalizations about members of selected racial and ethnic groups stereotypes overgeneralizations about the appearance behavior or other characteristics of all members of a group individual discrimination consists of one on one acts by members of a dominant group that harm members of a subordinate group or their party institutional discrimination consists of day to day practices of organizations and institutions that have a harmful impact on members of a subordinate group What is Privilege exists when one group has something of value that is denied to others simply because of the groups they belong to rather than because of anything they have done or failed to do unearned did nothing to have doors open or closed for you power rights Two Types of Privileges unearned entitlements thins of value all people should have but when restricted to certain groups results in privilege of unearned advantage conferred dominance goes one step further by giving one group power over another Lecture 4 September 11 Power of an Illusion Difference Between Us use physical means to categorize people into races o race is biologically real o race is an idea we describe to biology different race has different body types 1 in a 1 000 nucleotides make us different 1920s Industrial Power Whites o African Americans immigrants were segregated illness deaths extinction thesis eugenics o gene from mother and father contributed to certain trait black in U S is not black somewhere else different race has ability or skill to do something better than another race traits found in mitochondria from parents o people are more similar with people in another ethnic group rather than within their own group 85 variations within population Iceland Asians etc whites have privilege advantages and others targeted disadvantage Lecture 5 September 16 Power of an Illusion The Story We Tell all men are created equal core of America race how people assign meaning to physical means idea Race o lower class black upper class white o Atlantic Slave Trade brought blacks from Africa to America worked in plantations o Native Americans Europeans naturally white not race but cultural savaged right to be free o civilization religion agriculture etc Europeans wanted Natives like them and forced them too never wanted to affiliate with blacks blacks inferior to whites in body and mind What makes social groups different focus on blacks brought Natives into picture o Indians occupied and owned land in south switched from being hunters to whites Learned religion Owned slaves had plantations o Caved in to avoid losing land nations were composed of people with same similarities ideals language common interests looked the same dressed the same white people conquered land to show they were superior and dominant race Lecture 6 September 18 Power of an Illusion The House We Live In laws and practices that limit opportunities define race 1910 58 mining and construction laborers were immigrants whites were made up of Europeans o In order to live in America categorized as white o Marriages had to determine race black or white o 1909 courts in MA Turks determined white bring in person of race to talk on topic at hand white cannot be scientifically determined need to look like the common man was white of what they said it was band immigration until 1965 people could move into homes after war GI Bill color blind society restricted covenant not able to buy house because of race black families could not buy homes and did not