Final Test

Question 1

Minority Status

Answer 1

there are categories of people that are
disproportionally concentrated in the lower ranks of the status hierarchy

Question 2

What is minority status based on?

Answer 2

this may be based on one, or a
combination of, factors such as class/caste, sex/gender, race/ethnicity, religious affiliation, etc.

Question 3

In American society today, (Minority status) there is a

Answer 3

complex intersection of these social statuses that continue to influence individuals’ life chances

Question 4

Theorizing Race
What are the two tendencies?

Answer 4

According to Omi and Winant (Racial Formation in
the US) there are two tendencies regarding the
concept of race:

The temptation to see race as essential,
something that is real, concrete and objective

The opposite temptation is to see race as a mere illusion—a “pigment” of the social imagination

Question 5

Racial Markers:The important thing to remember about race is that

Answer 5

it is only important to the extent that society
continues to treat it as such

There is nothing “natural” about racial
distinctiveness

Question 6

Why do we continue to have distinct racial groups like white/black/asia/latino

Answer 6

Bceause of our historical tradition of racial prejudice and ethnic discrimiation

Question 7

Ethnic Markers: In societies that don’t have clear racial distinctions, inequailty is based on what?

Answer 7

other social
markers of position within the social hierarchy—
e.g., gender, ethnic, class/caste, religious
distinctions

Question 8

Ethnic Markers: In every society we learn how to distinguish people as

Answer 8

being higher/lower ; similar/different
based on physical, cultural, material traits

Question 9

Race/Ethnicity:Often times, what is a racial category vs. an ethnic category may become
Name an example as well

Answer 9

blurred—people can potentially “pass” as “White”

For example, Irish-Americans were once
thought of as a distinct race, while now they are
seen as White ethnics

Some relatively “light-skinned” minorities are in
a similar position today

Question 10

Prejudice and Discrimination:Prejudice is a

Answer 10

rigid and unfair generalization (i.e.,
belief or attitude) about a category of people

Question 11

Prejudice and Discrimination: Discrimination is

Answer 11

the unequal treatment of various
categories of people

Question 12

Prejudice and Discrimination: Institutional Discrimination involves

Answer 12

bias that is built into the operation of society’s institutions

Question 13

Critical Race Theory (CRT):Main proponents of this perspective argue thatissues of race and racism are largely ignored by

Answer 13

issues of race and racism are largely ignored by the mainstream or dominant culture (White-Middle Class)

Question 14

Critical Race Theory (CRT): What does CRT highlight?

Answer 14

Highlights current conditions that reject a post-racial
reading of contemporary American society (residential
segregation, unemployment, incarceration, wealth gap,
health outcomes)

Question 15

Critical Race Theory (CRT): Race is?
What is it in american life?

Answer 15

is a social construction and different ethnic and
minority groups have been racialized throughout US history
(none for as long or as thoroughly as Blacks)

Race and racism as endemic in American life

Question 16

Critical Race Theory (CRT):Whites have little incentive todeal with

Answer 16

deal with racism and its effects as they gain major material and economic advantages and privilege from their whiteness

Question 17

Critical Race Theory (CRT):Race as a social hierarchy is deeply embedded

White priviledge still what?

Answer 17

deeply embedded within American social institutions (Institutional Discrimination)

White privilege still exists, despite the
mainstream’s reluctance to call it as such

Question 18

Social Distance and Segregation:Although there are no longer overt, formal
mechanisms for discriminating against certain
categories of people,feelings of

Answer 18

feelings of social distance can create or perpetuate segregation and exclusion from socialnetworks

Question 19

Social Distance and Segregatio: For some groups, social distance becomes insignificant as distinct categories of people
start to

Answer 19

distinct categories of people
start to intermarry and have “mixed race” children

Question 20

Current Rates of Intermarraige:Intermarriage between Whites and Blacks,

Answer 20

although still relatively rare, increased from 65,000 in 1960 to 363,000 in 2000

Overall, intermarriage is most likely for Asians and Hispanics and least likely for Blacks and Whites

Question 21

W. J. Wilson: Jobless Poverty: In the 1950s the urban Black areas were poor, but

By 1990’s what happen next? The effects?

Answer 21

most families had a working adult—69% of adult males

By the 1990s most adults in inner-city
neighborhoods were not officially employed—37%

The disappearance of work has negative,
cumulative effects on individuals, families and
entire communities

Question 22

Evidence of Discrimination:Bertrand and Mullainathan (2004)

Answer 22

conducted an experiment by
sending out resumes in response to help-wanted ads and measured callback rates based on whether the resumes had ”White-sounding” (e.g., Emily, Greg) vs. “African-American”-
sounding names (e.g., Lakisha and Jamal). In effect, the names are racial “markers” or “cues”

Applicants with White names need about 10 resumes to get a
callback vs. 15 resumes for a callback for “African-American”
names

White poepl get more callbacks as a 8 year expierenced african american

Question 23

Massey and Denton, American Apartheid:They argue that racial segregation

Answer 23

They argue that racial segregation is the key structural factor responsible for black poverty in the US
It creates the culture of poverty, welfare dependency, and the jobless ghetto.

Question 24

Massey and Denton, American Apartheid:Moreover, the inner-city ghetto helps to

Answer 24

perpetuate racist stereotypes and other forms of institutional racism (schools, mass media focus on crime and social disorder).

Question 25

Massey and Denton, American Apartheid: It is the lack of

Answer 25

spatial mobility(movement or travel from one to another) that has created separate, unequal communities were subcultural differences become increasingly pronounced

Question 26

Persistent Segregation:Although government programs can attempt to dismantle the ghetto,

Answer 26

racial segregation will likely persist until there is a moral commitment to desegregation that white America has historically lacked

Question 27

Bruce Western, Punishment and
Inequality in America:

Between 1980 and 1999 the US population in prisons and jails grew:

How many were black youths?

Answer 27

Between 1980 and 1999 the US population in prisons and jails grew from ½ million to almost 2 million

By 1995, 1/3 of black male youths were under some form of state supervision and nearly 7% of all black males were incarcerated

Question 28

Bruce Western, Punishment and
Inequality in America:In the early 1990s, US rates of incarceration were about

Answer 28

5-10 times greater than other OECD countries,
but for American blacks the rate was 20 times greate

Question 29

Causes for the Sharp Increase: Western argues that these huge differences were not due to higher US crime rates, but rather the result

Answer 29

of more aggressive prosecutions, tougher sentencing standards, and the intensification of drug-related arrests

Question 30

Causes for the Sharp Increase: One of the short-term effects of this is to

Answer 30

keep unemployment rates in the US artificially low as the US government does not count the
incarcerated population as unemployed

Question 31

Effects of Mass Incarceration: The long-term effects of incarceration are especially
severe for

Answer 31

black youths

Disrupts transitions from school to work
Hinders the acquisition of work experience
Channels ex-offenders into low-wage jobs
Higher rates of long-term unemployment
These effects have been shown to persist even after 15
years for black youth
Trends are showing a decline in incarceration rates,
especially for African-Americans

Question 32

Devah Page, Marked: Tests the

Answer 32

extent that race and criminal background (both social markers) effect employment opportunities by using matched pairs of applicants for entry-level jobs

Question 33

A criminal record is a

Answer 33

long-term negative mark on the social status of ex-offenders and regulates access to resources—social, economic, political, etc

Question 34

Key Findings: A criminal record resulted

Answer 34

in a 50% reduction in callbacks for Whites

Question 35

Incarceration of Ethnic “Others”:

Answer 35

We should also note our current and past inclination to lock up or deport any ethnic minority that is somehow seen as a “threat” to the mainstream:

The periodic arrest and deportation of Mexican
immigrants to the US
Japanese Internment during WWII