Race, Racism, and Intersectionality Flashcards
Intersectionality
Concept that race, class, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, nation, ability, and age operate interdependently (overlapping) and not separate entities. They shape complex social inequalities
Race. What is racialization?
A classification system based on physiological differences that societies, cultures, and groups consider socially significant (ex. skin colour). People can self-identify
Racialization–social construct of race
Ethnicity
Common culture/ancestry shared by a group of people. Ethnicity involves self-identification
Racial/Ethnic stability
Depends on identity. Place-based categories (ex. West Asian) had low levels of stability, while “White” had the highest level of stability. Higher education is associated with higher levels of response stability
Stereotypes
Widely-shared generalization about a group of people
Prejudice
Preconceived attitudes about a group of people. Not based on experience
Discrimination
Different and unjust treatment towards a group of people
Implicit bias
Subconscious perceptions that affect individuals’ attitudes and actions
Racism
Beliefs, ideologies, and institutional practices that disadvantage people socially perceived as a member of certain races
Visible minorities
People, other than Aboriginal people, who are non-Caucasian in race/non-white in colour
Settler society
A society historically based on colonization through foreign settlement and displacement of Aboriginal inhabitants, which can lead to immigration, then diversity
Example: Canada is very diverse, heavily associated with our immigration policy. Immigration today is not based on the racial point system
Minority groups. 5 distinguishable characteristics
Groups that are subordinate/lacking in power in society regardless of skin colour/country of origin. Distinguished by:
1) Unequal treatment and less power over their lives
2) Distinguishing physical/cultural traits like skin colour/language
3) Involuntary membership in the group
4) Awareness of subordination
5) High rate of in-group marriage
Scapegoat theory, also known as the…?
Frustration-aggression theory, suggests that the dominant group will displace their untouched aggression onto a subordinate group
Example: The way Adolf Hitler was able to use the Jewish people as scapegoats for Germany’s social/economic problems
Institutional racism
A societal system has developed with an embedded disenfranchisement of a group
Example: Canadian immigration policies that imposed “head taxes” on Chinese immigrants in 1886 and 1904
However, its purpose is not to reproduce inequality, but is just what the outcome is (ex. Residential schools)
