Wk10: Racial, Ethnic and National Identity

Question 1

Race

Answer 1

socially constructed divisions of people based
on certain physical or biological characteristics
(e.g., skin colour)

Question 2

Ethnicity

Answer 2

more complex than race and usually
involves grouping people who share a common
cultural, linguistic or ancestral heritage (e.g.,
language, religion, geography)

Question 3

majority group

Answer 3

In Australia, people of Anglo-Celtic background are
a majority group that not only has a greater
numerical representation in society but also holds
significant power and privilege

Question 4

minority group

Answer 4

A minority group is a group that has a smaller
population in society and holds less power than the majority group (for e.g., Indigenous Peoples)

• The idea of a minority group ruling over a majority group is almost always the result of colonisation

Question 5

dominant group

Answer 5

A dominant group is the group that has the greatest power, but not necessarily the greatest numbers (for e.g., Anglo Celtic)

Question 6

The Out of Africa Theory (OAT)

Answer 6

was the most prominent until recently: where
humans evolved in Africa 100, 000 years ago and left the continent 50, 000 years
ago) in turn wiping out Neanderthals

Question 7

OAT has been contradicted:

Answer 7

fossils with modern traits have been found across the word (for e.g., Morocco and China) – thus human evolution and migration
* We didn’t wipe out Neanderthals, we (homosapiens) bred with Neanderthals and
Denisovans.
* It appears now that humans left Africa and exchanged genes with Neanderthals and
Denisovans across Europe, China and Indonesia (some would include Australia).

Question 8

Institutional racism:

Answer 8

recognises that racist beliefs can be built into social institutions (not just a product of individual actions) – for e.g., Apartheid and Boundary St
Brisbane

Question 9

Social Darwinism:

Answer 9

attempted to ground racist beliefs into scientific thinking. A hierarchy of races was produced which
placed “Europeans” at the pinnacle of
civilization and Indigenous Australians, at
one point as flora and fauna

Question 10

Eugenics:

Answer 10

a social movement which sought
to produce practice interventions to
improve the genetic composition of human
populations

Question 11

Genocide:

Answer 11

is the attempt to destroy or exterminate a people based on their race and/or ethnicity

Question 12

Ethnic cleansing:

Answer 12

refers to persecution through imprisonment, expulsion or murder of members of an ethnic minority by a majority to achieve ethnic
homogeneity in majority-controlled
territories (Bosnian Serb War)

Question 13

New racism

Answer 13

refers to the idea that those practicing racism base their arguments on notions of cultural,
rather than biological, difference

• Thus negative views of others are expressed in ways which present a denial of “old-fashioned” racism, by being grounded in seemingly
  ‘rational’ and ‘neutral’ discourses
• Two examples:
  1. Asylum Seekers
  2. September 11

Question 14

White privilege

Answer 14

Examples
1. Often curricula is developed for white, middle-class, Western peoples.
2. The disproportionate number of black deaths in
custody.
3. Unemployment rates are higher for Black
Americans.

Question 15

Conquest

Answer 15

When one group uses its superior military
strength to dominate another when it comes into contact with people who have a different culture and, often, a different physical appearance?

Question 16

Annexation

Answer 16

Is the incorporation of one territory into
another. Under this system, members of ethnic and racial groups are forced to become members of a new society (e.g, Hawaii & Australia)

Question 17

Nationalism

Answer 17

a set of consciously formulated political and militaristic beliefs that argue for the superiority or unique value of one’s own country, its people, landscape and traditions.

It is often associated with political movements
related either to struggles for self-
determination or, conversely, to imperialist
conquest

Question 18

National Identity

Answer 18

• A broad set of shared understandings within
  a nation about its people and values, and to
  common languages, symbols and practices
  that help to constitute them as a nation

Question 19

Multiculturalism

Answer 19

• Is Australia as a multicultural success story?

Most contemporary studies highlight a mixed picture of our attitudes towards the ideals of multiculturalism

Question 20

Is Nationalism on the Rise?

Answer 20

• National boundaries and identities are
  being broken down by global
  communications technologies such as the
  internet, transnational corporations and
  economic integration, and international
  political organisations such as the United
  Nations.
• Nationalism can also encourage exclusion
  – i.e., you only need to look toward our
  own country to see who has been
  excluded from ‘our mainstream values’

Question 21

Voluntary immigration:

Answer 21

refers to the willing movement of people from one
society to another

Question 22

Involuntary immigration:

Answer 22

refers to the forced movement of people from one
society to another

Question 23

Superordination:

Answer 23

regardless of whether immigration is voluntary or
involuntary, some predictable patterns
appear when people come into
contact with unfamiliar groups

Question 24

Migration

Answer 24

• Defined: The long-term movements of people
  over large distances.
• According to the 2016 census, 28.5% of
  Australians were born overseas and 49% had a
  parent born overseas.
• Since the 1970s, the total fertility rate has, in
  most years, been below the level where the
  population can be replaced without migration.

Question 25

Migration: push factors

Answer 25

Reasons to
leave a place of origin.
* Unemployment,
poverty, war,
politics

Question 26

Migration: pull factors

Answer 26

Reasons to migrate to a new
destination.
* Job opportunities,
political stability,
climate, chain
migration.

Question 27

Chain migration:

Answer 27

when migrants from a particular
area are followed by others from the same area or region due to informal ties.
* This can explain clustering of ethnic
groups within suburbs or regions.

Question 28

Hold factors:

Answer 28

Things that prevent moving even when
people wish to.
* Quotas on immigrant numbers, students still
in school, inability to get a passport, needing
to save money.

Question 29

Outcomes of Migration

Answer 29

With each passing generation, the arriving
group becomes more like the host group
regarding way of life and values.
* Social experiences are key to assimilation

Visibility matters
* Comparing the migrant experiences of
three recent refugee groups –
exYugoslavs, black Africans and people
from the Middle East – Colic-Peisker
(2009) has shown how ex-Yugoslavs
had the highest level of settlement
satisfaction, in part due to their
whiteness, which allowed them to
break away from their refugee status
more easily.

Question 30

Indigenous superordination

Answer 30

is the subordination of an immigrant group to a
dominant group

Question 31

Migrant superordination

Answer 31

occurs when a more powerful group enters an
area and conquers the native population

Question 32

ethnocentrism

Answer 32

thinking about or defining another
culture on the basis of your
own

Question 33

When minority groups face
superordination, there are several
ways they can “choose” to react:

Answer 33

Pluralistic minorities
Assimilationist minorities
Secessionist
Ethnic enclaves

Question 34

Pluralistic minorities

Answer 34

some participation within dominant society
while maintaining some aspects of
original identity and values

Question 35

Assimilationist minorities:

Answer 35

Complete absorption into the dominant values
and identity of the dominant

Question 36

Secessionist

Answer 36

Withdrawal from the
dominant identities and values

Question 37

Ethnic enclaves

Answer 37

The clustering of
people who share ethnicity within a
geographical space. As a group, they
are often economically distinct from
the dominant group

Question 38

Prejudice

Answer 38

usually refers to negative
attitudes about an entire category of
people

Question 39

stereotypes

Answer 39

simplified perceptions people have of an entire
group, usually based on false
assumption

Positive stereotypes can be just as
damaging as negative stereotypes

Question 40

Notion of ‘double consciousness’

Answer 40

Having to hold two sets of beliefs
and values due to who you are
culturally and where you are
culturally located.

Question 41

scapegoat

Answer 41

Often, we don’t have the ability to
attack the real source of our
frustration, so we scapegoat
(unfairly accuse) another group as
the source of our problem

Question 42

Sources of prejudice

Answer 42

Research supports the notion that
you are more likely to be prejudiced
if you have less education and are
of lower intelligence (supports the
idea prejudice is learnt and can be
unlearned)

• Structural issues such as the mix of
  racial and ethnic groups, as well as
  income inequality and differences
  in economic opportunity, may assist
  in the perpetuation of extreme
  forms of racism

Question 43

Indigenous AU: British colonists declared the land
terra nullius

Answer 43

unowned wasteland that could legitimately be
colonised

Question 44

Aboriginal Resistance
Example 1

Answer 44

Domains were preserved where Aboriginal people
resided, distant from missionaries aiming to
integrate them into labour and compliance

Question 45

Aboriginal Resistance
Example 2

Answer 45

The development of fringe camps Members
saw themselves as a mob with flexible
grouping whose members come and go
over time and may belong to different
linguistic and tribal groups.
* Collective identity
* Social support
* A place to relaxand live in a style
of one’s own

Question 46

Aboriginal Resistance
Example 3

Answer 46

Contemporary planning focuses on altering
laws, policies, and societal perceptions to
ensure not just the survival but the
flourishing of Aboriginal
peoples

Question 47

Fourth World
Peoples

Answer 47

Defined:
* The people in question are an
indigenous group rather than a
migrant group.
* The people have been subsumed
into a modern nation-state and
have had their sovereignty and
territory appropriated against their
will during a period of colonial
expansion.
* The people are economically and
politically marginalised
* The indigenous culture is
stigmatised by the dominant
culture.
There is a struggle for social
justice and for a right to self-
determination and control over
traditional lands and resources.
* The Fourth World people constitute
a tiny minority of the population of
Australia which contributes to
political powerlessness in our
democratic society.

Question 48

Change: Complete
or Incomplete?

Answer 48

• In May 1967, a referendum endorsed
  changes to the Constitution that gave
  Aboriginal people citizenship and the right
  to vote in what was their own land.
• Equal rights and racial discrimination
  became illegal.
• There is still inequality due to poor policy
  and individual prejudice. Where though?
• Employment
• Housing
• Education
• Criminal justice
• Health
• Essentially everywhere and anywhere

Question 49

Functionalism

Answer 49

Racism has intended and unintended
consequences. For example,
pastoralists in Australia dispossessed
Aboriginal People from their lands,
and their cheap labour functioned to
develop agriculture in remote areas

• Culture holds society together
  through shared values and norms
  and there must be a balanced
  relationship between the community,
  the market and the government

Question 50

Conflict Theory:

Answer 50

Racism is the result of power conflicts
among different group. The group with
the more power oppresses the weakest
groups, a result of which can cause
racism to occur. Racism can arise from
competition over limited resources

Question 51

Symbolic Interactionism:

Answer 51

By changing what is acceptable in
society we change reality. For example,
racial slurs that were acceptable 100
yrs ago are highly discouraged today.
Acceptable terms lead to what is said
and thought in society

Question 52

Functionalism and the Function of
Racism

Answer 52

Solidarity: Racism creates
an “us vs. them” mentality
and a group’s mechanical
solidarity.

Hierarchy: Racism
maintains hierarchy. People
are considered lesser and
thus less deserving of
resources.

Social Control: Races seen
as ‘superior’ hold control
within a hierarchy.

Defining Deviance &
Acceptable: Races or
ethnicities are seen as
having negative traits and
behaviours that serve as
markers of deviance. Thus,
maintaining a boundary of
acceptable behaviour.

Challenging the Status Quo:
Those who challenge racism,
may be initially be deviant,
but if this group grows large,
it becomes the normal to
challenge racism.

Question 53

Conflict Theory: Keeping &
Seeking Power

Answer 53

Dehumanise and
Exploitation: It is much easier
to exploit and dominate those
you dehumanise and see as
lesser.

A Tool of Division: If the
lower classes are divided
amongst themselves, they are
distracted from unifying and
challenging those with greater

Resistance: Just as it is useful
to dehumanise your opponent
when oppressing, it is also
useful to dehumanise when
resisting oppression.

Institutional Racism: Conflict
theory also highlights how
racism isn’t just an individual
act of discrimination but is
embedded in the institutions of
society. These institutions,
controlled by the dominant
group, perpetuate racial
inequalities and maintain the
status quo.

Question 54

Symbolic Interactionism

Answer 54

Socialisation: We learn racial
differences, labels and stereotypes
through socialization and our
interactions are shaped by them (of
course, we try to resist them too).

Construction of Racial Identity: We
see ourselves through a racial identity,
which influences how we interact with
others and across different settings.

Interactions with Media: We interact
with media and those interactions
inform our perceptions and interactions.

Performance of Race: Just as we
perform gender, according to
internalised societal expectations. We also perform race