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Minority group
Subordinate group whose members have less control or power over their own lives than do the members of a dominant or majority group.
Racial group
A drop that is socially set apart because of obvious physical differences
Ethnic
A group set apart from others because of its national origin or distinctive cultural patterns. 
Biological
The mistaken notion of a genetically isolated human group
IQ
The ration of a person's mental age to his or her chronological age multiplied by 100
Racism
A doctrine that one race is superior
Racial formation
A sociohistorical process by which racial categories are created, inhibited, transformed, and destroyed.
Sociology
The systematic study of social behavior and human groups
Stratification
A structured ranking of entire groups of people that perpetuates unequal rewards and power in a society
Class
As defined by Max Weber people who share similar levels of wealth
Functionalist perspective
A sociological approach emphasizing how parts of a society are structured to maintain its stability
Dysfunction
An element of society that may disrupt a social system or decrease its stability
Conflict perspective
A sociological approach that assumes that the social structure is best understood in terms of conflict or tension between competing groups
Blaming the victim
Portraying the problems of racial and ethnic minorities as their fault rather than recognizing society's responsibilities.
Labeling theory
A sociological approach introduced by Howard Becker that attempts to explain why certain people are viewed as deviants and others engaging in the same behavior are not.
Stereotypes
Unreliable, exaggerated generalizations about all members of a group that do not take individual differences into account
Self-fulfilling prophecy
The tendency to respond to and act on the basis of stereotypes, a predisposition that can lead one to validate false definitions. 
Migration
A general term that describes any transfer of population
Emigration
Leaving a country to settle in another
Immigration
Coming into a new country as a permanent resident
Globalization
Worldwide integration of government policies, cultures, social movements, and financial markets through trade, movements of people and the exchange of ideas. 
Colonialism
A foreign power's maintenance of political social economic and cultural dominance over people for an extended period.
World systems theory
A view of the global economic system as divided between nations that control wealth and those that provide natural resources and labor.
Internal colonialism
The treatment of subordinate peoples as colonial subjects by those in power
Genocide
The deliberate systematic killing of an entire people of nation
Ethnic cleansing
Forced deportation of people accompanied by systematic violence
Segregation
The physical separation of two groups, often imposed on a subordinate group by the dominant gorup
Resegregation
The physical separation of racial and ethnic groups reappearing after a period of relative integration
Fusion
A minority and a majority group combining to form a new group
Amalgamation
The process by which a dominant group and a subordinate group combine through intermarriage to from a new group
Melting pot
Diverse racial or ethnic groups or both, forming a new creation, a new cultural entity.
Assimilation
The process by which a subordinate individual or group takes on the characteristics of the dominant group
Pluralism
Mutual respect between the various groups in a society for one another's cultures, allowing minorities to express their own culture without experiencing prejudice or hostility
Pan-ethnicity
The development of solidarity between ethnic subgroups as reflected in the terms Hispanic or Asian American
Marginality
The status of being between two cultures at the same time such as the status of Jewish immigrants in the U.S.
Afrocentric Perspective
An emphasis on the customs of African Cultures and how they have pervaded the history, culture, and behavior of Blacks in the U.S. and around the world
Hate crime
Criminal offense committed because of the offender's bias against a race, religion, ethnic/national origin group, or sexual orientation group
Prejudice
A negative attitude toward an entire category of people such as racial or ethnic minority
Ethnophaulisms
Ethnic or racial slurs including derisive nicknames
Discrimination
The denial of opportunities and equal rights to individuals and groups because of prejudice or for other arbitrary reasons.
Scapegoating theory
A person or group blamed irrationally for another person's or group's problems or difficulties
Authoritarian personality
A psychological construct of a personality type likely to be prejudiced and to use others a scapegoats
Exploitation theory
A Marxist theory that views racial subordination in the US as a manifestation of the class system inherent in capitalism 
Normative approach
The view that prejudice is influenced by societal norms and situations that encourage or discourage the tolerance of minorities
Racial profiling
Any arbitrary police initiated action based on race, ethnicity, or natural origin rather than a person's behavior
Color-blind racism
Use of race-neutral principles to defend the racially unequal status quo
Social distance
Tendency to approach or withdraw from a racial group
Bogardus scale
Technique to measure social distance toward different racial and ethnic groups
Contact hypothesis
An interactionist perspective stating that intergroup contact between people of equal status in non-competitive circumstances will reduce prejudice.
Relative deprivation
The conscious experience of a negative discrepancy between legitimate expectations and present actualities.
Absolute deprivation
The minimum level of subsistence below which families or individuals should not be expected to exist
Total discrimination
The combination of current discrimination with past discrimination created by poor schools and menial jobs
Institutional discrimination
A denial of opportunities and equal rights to individuals or groups resulting from the normal operations of a society
Informal economy
Transfers of money goods or services that are not reported to the government. Common in inner-city neighborhoods and poverty stricken rural areas
Dual labor market
Division of the economy into two areas of employment the secondary one of which is populated primarily by minorities working at menial jobs
Redlining
The pattern of discrimination against people trying to buy homes in minority and racially changing neighborhoods
Income
Salaries wages and other money received
Wealth
An inclusive term encompassing all of a person's material assets including land and other types of property
Environmental justice
Efforts to ensure that hazardous substances are controlled so that communities receive protection regardless of race or socioeconomic circumstances
Affirmative action
Positive efforts to recruit subordinate drop members including women for jobs promotions and educational opportunities
Reverse discrimination
Actions that cause better qualified White men to be passed over for women and minority men
Glass ceiling
The barrier that blocks the promotion of a qualified worker because of gender or minority membership
Glass wall
A barrier to moving laterally in a business to positions that are more likely to lead to upward mobility
Glass escalator
The male advantage experienced in occupations dominated by women
chain immigration
Immigrants sponsor several other immigrants who upon their arrival may sponsor still more
Xenophobia
The fear or hatred of strangers or foreigners
Nativism
Beliefs and policies favoring native born citizens over immigrants
Sinophobes
People with a fear of anything that is associated with China
Mixed status
Families in which one or more members are citizens and one or more are non citizens
Bilingualism
The use of tow or more languages in places of work or education and the treatment of each language as legitimate 
Naturalization
Conferring of citizenship on a person after birth
Remittances
The monies that immigrants return to their country of origin 
Globalization
Worldwide integration of government policies cultures social movements and financial markets through trade movements of people and the exchange of ideas 
Transnationals
Immigrants who sustain multiple social relationships that link their societies of origin and settlement
White Privilege
Rights or immunities granted as a particular benefit or favor being White
Principal of third generation interest
Marcus Hansen's contention that ethnic interest and awareness increase in the third generation among the grandchildren of immigrants
Symbolic ethnicity
Herbert Gans's term that describes emphasis on ethnic food and ethnically associated political issues rather than deeper ties to one's heritage. 
Denomination
A large, organized religion not officially linked with the state or government 
Civil religion
The religious dimension in American life that merges the state with sacred beliefs
Secessionist minority
Groups that reject assimilation and promote coexistence and pluralism
Creationists
People who support a literal interpretation of the biblical book of Genesis on the origins of the universe and argue that evolution should not be presented as established scientific thought
Intelligent design
View that life is so complex that it must have been created by a higher intelligence
Internal colonialism
The treatment of subordinate peoples as colonial subjects by those in power
Millenarian movements
Movements such as the Ghost Dance that prophesy a cataclysm in the immediate future to be followed by a collective salvation
Pan- Indianism
Intertribal social movements in which several tribes, joined by political goals but not by kinship unite in a common identity
Fish-ins
Tribes' protests over government interference with their traditional rights to fish as they like
Powwows
Native American gatherings of dancing, singing, music playing and visiting, accompanied by competitions.
Kick-outs or push-outs
Native American school dropouts who leave behind an unproductive academic environment
Crossover effect
An effect that appears as previously high-scoring Native American children score below average in intelligence when tests are given in English rather than their native languages. 
Environmental justice
Efforts to ensure that hazardous substances are controlled so that al communities receive protection regardless of race or socioeconomic circumstances. 
Salve codes
Laws that defined the low position held by slaves in the United States
Afrocentric perspective
An emphasis on the customs of African cultures anyhow they have pervaded the history culture and behavior of Blacks in the United States and the world
Ebonics
Distinctive dialect with a complex language structure found among many Black Americans
Abolitionists
Whites and free Blacks who favored the end of slavery
Jim Crow
Southern laws passed in the late 19th century that kept Blacks in their subordinate position 
White Primary
Legal provisions forbidding Black voting in election primaries which in one-party areas of the South effectively denied Blacks their right to select elected officials
Slavery reparation
The act of making amends for the injustices of slavery
Sundown towns
Communities where non-Whites were systematically excluded from living
Restrictive covenant
A private contract or agreement that discourages or prevents minority group members from purchasing housing in a neighborhood. 
De jure segregation
Children assigned to schools specifically to maintain racially separated schools
Civil disobedience
A tactic promoted by MLK jr. based on the belief that people have the right to disobey unjust laws under certain circumstances
Riff-raff theory
Also called rotten-apple theory; the belief that the riots of the 1960's were caused by discontented youths rather than by social and economic problems facing all African Americans
Relative deprivation
The conscious experience of a negative discrepancy between legitimate expectations and present actualities 
Rising expectations
The increasing sense of frustration that legitimate needs are being blocked.
De facto segregation
Segregation that is the result of residential patterns
Apartheid schools
All Black schools
Tracking
The practice of placing students in specific curriculum groups on the basis of test scores and other criteria
Acting white
Taking school seriously and accepting the authority of teachers and administrations
Underemployment
Working at a job for which the worker is overqualified involuntary working part time instead of full time or being intermittently employed. 
Class
As defined by Max Weber people who share similar levels of wealth
Zoning laws
Legal provisions stipulating land use and the architectural design of housing often used to keep racial minorities and low-income people out of suburban areas
Victimization surveys
Annual attempts to measure crime rates by interviewing ordinary citizens who may or may not have been crime victims 
Differential justice
Whites being dealt with more leniently than Blacks, whether at the time of arrest, indictment, conviction, sentencing, or parole
Victim discounting
Tendency to view crime as less socially significant if the victim is viewed as less worthy 
Gerrymandering
Redrawing districts bizarrely to create politically advantageous outcomes
Pan ethnicity
The development of solidarity between ethnic subcultures as reflected in the terms Hispanic and Asian American
Color gradient
The placement of people on a continuum from light to dark skin color rather than in distinct racial groupings by skin color
Borderlands
The area of a common culture along the border between Mexico and the United States
Maquiladoras
Foreign owned companies on the Mexican side of the border with the United States 
Hometown clubs
Nonprofit organizations that maintain close ties to immigrants hometowns in Mexico and other Latin American countries
Marielitos
People who arrived form Cuba in the third wave of Cuban immigration, most specifically those forcibly deported by way of Mariel Harbor. The term is generally reserved for refugees seen as especially undesirable. 
Dry foot, wet foot
Policy toward Cuban immigrants that allows those who manage to reach the United States (dry foot) to remain but sends those who are picked up at sea (wet foot) back to Cuba.
Repatriation
The 1930's program of deporting Mexicans
Bracero
Contracted Mexican laborers brought to the United States during WWII
Mojados
Wetbacks; derisive slang for the Mexicans who enter illegally, supposedly by swimming the Rio Grande.
La Raza
Literally meaning "the people", the term refers to the rich heritage of Mexican Americans; it is therefore used to denote a sense of pride among Mexican Americans today
Culture of poverty
A way of life that involves no future panning, no enduring commitment to marriage, and no work ethic; this culture follows the poor even when they move out of the slums or the barrio 
Chicanismo
An ideology emphasizing pride and positive identity among Mexican Americans 
Neoricans
Puerto Ricans who return to the island to settle after living on the mainland of the United States
Neocolonialism
Continuing dependence of former colonies on foreign countries
Familism
Pride and closeness in the family that result in placing family obligation and loyalty before individual needs
Life chances
People's opportunities to provide themselves with material goods, positive living conditions, and favorable life experiences
Mixed status
Families in which one or more members are citizens and one or more are non-citizens
Curanderismo
Hispanic folk medicine
Pentecostalism
A religion similar in many respects to evangelical faiths that believes in the infusion of the Holy Spirit into services and in religious experiences such as faith healing
Orientalism
The simplistic view of the people and history of the Orient with no recognition of change over time or the diversity within its many cultures
Deficit model of ethnic identity
One's ethnicity is viewed by others as a factor of subtracting away the characteristics corresponding to some ideal ethnic type
Hajj
Pilgrimage to Mecca to be completed at least once in a Muslim's lifetime.
Jihad
Struggle against the enemies of Allah, usually taken to mean one's own internal struggle.
Blended identity
Self-image and world view that is a combination of religious faith , cultural background based on nationality, and current residency.
Hijab
A variety of garments that allow women to follow guidelines of modest dress
Islamophobia
A range of negative feelings toward Muslims and their religion that ranges from generalized intolerance to hatred
Model or ideal minority
A group that despite past prejudice and discrimination, succeeds economically, socially, and educationally without resorting to political or violent confrontations with Whites
Blaming the victim
Portraying the problem of racial and ethnic minorities as their fault rather than recognizing society's responsibilities. 
Yellow peril
A term denoting a generalized prejudice toward Asian people and their customs
Racial profiling
Any arbitrary police initiated action based on race, ethnicity, or natural origin rather than a person's behavior.
Panethnicity
The development of solidarity between ethnic subgroups, as reflected in the terms Hispanic and Asian American
Desi
Colloquial name for people who trace their ancestry to South Asia especially India and Pakistan
Arranged marriage
When one's marital partner is chosen by others and the relationship is not based on any preexisting usual attraction
Gook syndrome
David Riesman's phrase describing Americans' tendency to stereotype Asians and to regard them all as alike and undesirable.
Viet Kieu
Vietnamese living abroad, such as in the United States. 
Ilchomose
The 1.5 generation of Korean Americans- those who immigrated into the United States as children
Kye
Rotating credit system used by Korean Americans to subsidize the start-up costs of businesses
Haoles
Native Hawaiians' term for Caucasians
Sovereignty movement
Effort by the indigenous people of Hawaii to secure a measure of self-government and restoration of their lands. 
Tsu
Clans established along family lines and forming a basis for social organization by Chinese Americans
Hui Kuan
Chinese American benevolent associations organized on the basis of the district of the immigrant's origin in China 
Tongs
Chinese American secret associations
Cultural capital
Noneconomic forces such as family background and past investments in education that are then reflected in knowledge about the arts and language
Social capital
Collective benefits of durable social networks and their patterns of reciprocal trust 
Issei
First-generation immigrants from Japan to the United States 
Nisei
Children born of immigrants from Japan
Sansei
The children of the Nisei- that is, the grandchildren of the original immigrants from Japan.
Yonsei
The fourth generation of Japanese Americans in the United States; the children of the Sansei
Kibei
Japanese Americans of the Nisei generation sent back to Japan for schooling and to have marriages arranged.
Evacuees
Japanese Americans interned in camps for the duration of WWII
Anti semitism
Anti-Jewish prejudice or discrimination
Judaizaiton
The lessening importance of Judaism as a religion and the substitution of cultural traditions as the tie that binds Jews
Fringe-of-values theory
Behavior that is on the border of conduct that a society regards as proper and is often carried out by subordinate groups, subjecting those groups to negative sanctions
In-group virtues
Proper behavior by one's own group that become unacceptable when practiced by outsiders (out-group vices)
Out-group vices
In-group virtues that become unacceptable when practiced by out-siders
Holocaust
The state-sponsered systematic persecution and annihilation of European Jewry by Nazi Germany and its collaborators
Holocaust revisionists
People who deny the Nazi effort to exterminate the jews or who minimize the numbers killed
Zionism
Traditional Jewish religious yearning to return to the biblical homeland, now used to refer to support for the star of Israel
Diaspora
The exile of Jews from Palestine
Kashrut
Laws pertaining to permisible (kosher) and forbidden foods and their preparation. 
Yiddishkait
Jewishness
Halakha
Jewish laws covering obligations and duties
Marginality
The status of being between two cultures at the same time, such as the status of Jewish immigrants in the United States
Peoplehood
Milton Gordon's term for a group with a shared feeling
Androgyny
The star of being both masculine and feminine, aggressive and passive
Gender roles
Expectations regarding the proper behavior, attitudes, and activities of males and females
Suffragists
Women and men who worked successfully to gain women the right to vote
Pay equity
The same wages for different types of work that are judged to be comparable by such measures as employee knowledge, skills, effort, responsibility, and working conditions; also called comparable worth.
Mommy track
An unofficial corporate career track for women who want to divide their attention between work and family
Sexual harassment
Any unwanted and unwelcome sexual advances that interfere with a person's ability to perform a job and enjoy the benefits of a job
Feminization of poverty
The trend since 1970 in which women account for a growing proportion of those who I've below the poverty line
Displaced homemakers
Women whose primary occupation had been homemaking but who did not find full-time employment after being divorced, separated, or widowed.
Second shift
The double burden-work outside the home followed by child care and housework- that is faced by many women and that few men share equitably
Mommy tax
Lower salaries women receive over their lifetime because they have children
Matrix of domination
Cumulative impact of oppression because of race, gender, and class as well as sexual orientation, religion, disability status, and age.
Ethnonational conflicts
Conflicts between ethnic, racial, religious, and linguistic groups within nations. These conflicts replace conflicts between nations.
Mestizo
People in the Americas of mixed European (usually spanish) and local indigenous ancestry
Québécois
The French-speaking people of the province of Quebec in Canada. 
Visible minorities
In Canada, persons other that Aboriginal or First Nation people who are non-White in racial background.
Quilombo
Slave hideaways in Brazil
Mulatto escape hatch
Notion that Brazilians of mixed ancestry can move into high-status positions
Dispora
The exile of Jews from Palestine
Intifada
The Palestinian uprising against Israeli authorities in the occupied territories 
Pass laws
Laws that controlled internal movement by non-Whites inSouth Africa
Apartheid
The policy of the South African government intended to maintain separation of Blacks, Coloureds, and Asians from the dominant Whites
Ageism
Prejudice and discrimination against the elderly
Disability
Reduced ability to perform tasks one would normally do at a given stage in life
Visitability
Building private homes to be accessible for visitors with disabilities
Homophobia
The fear of and prejudice toward homosexuality
Domestic partnership
Two unrelated adults who have chosen to share one another's lives in a relationship of mutual caring, who reside together, and who agree to be jointly responsible for their dependents, basic living expenses, and other common necessities

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