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Study Guide: Final Exam
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 |