LECTURE 10: RACIAL INEQUALITY

Question 1

Race

Answer 1

• a social construct
• a category of people whoa re perceived to share distinct physical characteristics that are deemed socially significant
• the racial classification system that exists in any society is LEARNED

Question 2

ethnicity

Answer 2

• a shared cultural heritage or nationality… also socially constructed
• is less associated with physicial characteristics compared to race and is more often regarded as an identity

Question 3

immigration

Answer 3

• refers to the movement of people into a country from another
• PUSH factors: aspects of a country that makes someone want to leave
• PULL factors: aspects of another country that makes someone want to go live there

Question 4

scapegoating

Answer 4

the act of blaming a person or group for something bad that had happened or that someone else has done

Question 5

assimilation

Answer 5

the process whereby individuals or groups of different ethnic heritage are absorbed into the dominant culture of a society

Question 6

pluralism

Answer 6

mixing of different cultures in which each culture retains its own unique identity

Question 7

echochambers

Answer 7

an environment in which a person encounters only beliefs or opinions that coincide with their own so that their existing views are reinforced, and alternative ideas are not considered

Question 8

overt discrimination

Answer 8

clear and direct discrimination that is not hidden in the same sense that prejudiced beliefs are clearly the perpetrators motivation

Question 9

subtle discrimination

Answer 9

unclear or indirect discrimination that is difficulty to analyze or describe due to the perpetrators motivations being unclear

Question 10

systematic discrmination

Answer 10

patterns of behaviour, policies or practices that reflect current or former prejudices and that are embedded within the structures of a formal social organization and which create or perpetuate disadvantage for marginalized persons

Question 11

adaptive discrimination

Answer 11

discrimination that is based on the prejudice of others

Question 12

conscious discrmination

Answer 12

overt negative behaviour that can be expressed through physical and verbal harassment or through more subtle means such as exclusions

Question 13

unconscious or implicit discrimination

Answer 13

bias that operates outside of the person’s awareness and can be in direct contradiction to a person’s espoused beliefs and values

Question 14

4 tenants of critical race theory

Answer 14

1. race is a socially constructed and NOT a biologically grounded category. it is used to oppress and exploit people of color
2. racism is a normal, persistent, and defining characteristics of social institutions including policits, the legal system, the economy, and all other societal institutions/ structures
3. progress on racial issues occurs primarily during periods of INTEREST CONVERGENCE: when marginalized group interests are taken up by the dominant group only due to it fitting their own interests
4. individuals cannot be adequately understood by their membership in separate marginalized communities. in other words, marginalization is iNTERSECTIONAL: membership in multiple marginalized communities compounds or intensifies the negative repercussions an individual faces as a result

Question 15

social desirability bias

Answer 15

the tendency for respondents of surveys to underreport socially undesirable attitudes and behaviours and to over report more desirable attributes

Question 16

contact hypothesis

Answer 16

that contact between groups can shape the prejudices and opinions of those invovled

Question 17

relative deprivation

Answer 17

anger and resentment stemming from the perception of having less economic political and social resources and rights than other groups

Question 18

the reasons we see for disproportionate police contract and brutality against the Black community

Answer 18

• overt and conscious discrmination by police
• subtle and systemic discrimination by police such as through statistical discrimination
• negative contact between police and black communities resulting in feedback loop of mutual distrust
• socioeconomic disadvantage, intergenerational trauma, relative deprivation, and lower sense of mastery leading to lower socio economic statuses