Chapter 2: Theories of Ethnicity and Race Flashcards
How do Primordial approaches conceptualize ethnicity and race?
Ethnicity and Race are discrete, ascriptive characteristics that are given at birth and derive from objective biological and blood ties.
Group membership is fixed and we are wired to form bonds with our “own kind”.
How do Primordial theories explain conflicts between races? And what is (one) drawback (of many) to this theory’s explanation?
Conflicts between races are natural because there is a desire to preserve your own group meaning that the “other” is a threat.
Problem: conflict between groups is not consistent. Groups can live together is peace and cooperation for centuries without conflict, clearly they do not always see other groups as a threat
Why is W. I. Thomas’s statement “what is real in peoples minds is real in consequences” important
It means that even though there may be no evidence for biological race differences, the fact that people still think in terms of race means that they will behave as if race is real and therefore there will be real world consequences of race.
What did Thomas (WI) find in his study on the adaption of Polish immigrants to an industrial society in the ?
They found that, forced into a vastly different social environment, the individuals had to compete both with other groups and members of their own group for jobs which caused in-group conflict and disorganization. This in turn led to poor adjustment and despair.
Because of this, he argued for cultural pluralism, the idea that immigrants should be encouraged to retain aspects of their ethnic identity.
What is Robert Park’s Race Relations Cycle
Had two pathways:
1: Contact between groups –> competition for access to scarce and valuable resources –> accommodation between groups –> fusion and assimilation
- Contact between groups –> competition for access to scarce and valuable resources –> Conflict between groups –> Accommodation –> Fusion and assimilation.
The end result of both pathways is that a new culture emerges from the fusion and everyone is able to live in harmony
This is the foundation of the melting pot theory.
What are the 7 stages of Milton Gordon’s process of assimilation?
- Cultural and behavioural assimilation –> immigrants become adapted to the cultural patterns of the host society
- Structural Assimilation –> large scale entrance into primary group’s institutions
- Marital assimilation –> large scale intermarriage between groups
- Identification assimilation –> developing a sense of personhood with the longer settled residents of the society
- Attitude receptional assimilation –> the absence of prejudice in the host society
- Behaviour Receptional assimilation –> the absence of discrimination in the host society
- Civic assimilation: the absence of conflicts over values and power
What is Allport’s contact hypothesis?
It is a hypothesis that suggests prejudice can only be reduced under these specific conditions:
- there is an active goal orientated effort in all parties to reduce prejudice
- there is an equal status/no power dynamic between groups
- Relevant institutional authorities support the process.
What is a flaw in assimilation theories (like Thomas, Park, and Gordon)
They don’t take into account the differences in experience between visible and invisible minorities.
What is Segmented assimilation:
The idea that when immigrants do not assimlate into a homogenous society their children will face one of three outcomes:
- They will assimilate into the dominant culture themselves (measured by economic success)
- they will integrate into ethnic enclaves (measured by retention of ethnic identity
- they become integrated into a pre-existing underclass of society.
What is the difference between behavioural and structural assimilation?
Behavioural: acquiring the dominant groups cultural values
Structural: Integration into the economic, social, and political life of the dominant culture
What are some factors that influence socioeconomic success?
Cultural values (value of money, value of education etc.), racism, class gender and more
What is political economy analysis?
An approach that emerged to explain the historical development of the terms race and ethnicity as well as the social inequalities within such social groups.
What are the key characteristics of the political economy perspective?
- It is rooted in the conflict theories of Marx and Weber
- It focuses on the study of differential allocation of economic, ideological, and political power amount groups and individuals
- It examines social relationships based on ownership and control of private properties
- Its central premise is that people engage in meaningful social actions and practices
- Individuals belong to INHERITED social structures that both ENABLE and CONSTRAIN their social actions (such as gender, class, race, age, sexual orientation, disability status
- Societies are characterized by their differential distribution of property, power, and resources
- people are born into a web of inherited social relations that they cannot change until they understand them
- Social relations are malleable but it takes social praxis (concentrated social action) to bring about change.
How do political economists argue that race problems started?
Through labour problems. e.g. Slavery did not emerge from white supremacy, it came from a need for cheap labour. Racial ideologies became justifications later.
Evidence: in contemporary contexts, racism continues to function as a weapon for exploitative labour practices. For example, capitalists continue to use racism to sow discontent within the working class and reduce inter group unity.
What is the intersectional approach to race and ethinicity
Intersectionality recognizes the multifaceted nature of social inequality and seeks to understand the dynamic interaction between class, gender, race, and other factors that play into power imbalances. It suggsts that all the isms are interrelated systems of power and oppresion
