Chapter 9: Vocabulary

Question 1

assimilation

Answer 1

a process by which members of subordinate racial and ethnic groups become absorbed into the dominant culture.

Question 2

authoritarian personality

Answer 2

a personality type characterized by excessive conformity, submissiveness to authority, intolerance, insecurity, a high level of superstition, and rigid, stereotypic thinking.

Question 3

discrimination

Answer 3

actions or practices of dominant-group members (or their representatives) that have a harmful effect on members of a subordinate group.

Question 4

dominant group

Answer 4

a racial or ethnic group that has the greatest power and resources in a society.

Question 5

ethnic group

Answer 5

a collection of people distinguished, by others or by themselves, primarily on the basis of cultural or nationality characteristics.

Question 6

ethnic pluralism

Answer 6

the coexistence of a variety of distinct racial and ethnic groups within one society.

Question 7

gendered racism

Answer 7

the interactive effect of racism and sexism on the exploitation of women of color.

Question 8

genocide

Answer 8

the deliberate, systematic killing of an entire people or nation.

Question 9

individual discrimination

Answer 9

behavior consisting of one-on-one acts by members of the dominant group that harm members of the subordinate group or their property.

Question 10

institutional discrimination

Answer 10

the day-to-day practices of organizations and institutions that have a harmful effect on members of subordinate groups.

Question 11

internal colonialism

Answer 11

according to conflict theorists, a practice that occurs when members of a racial or ethnic group are conquered or colonized and forcibly placed under the economic and political control of the dominant group.

Question 12

prejudice

Answer 12

a negative attitude based on faulty generalizations about members of specific racial, ethnic, or other groups.

Question 13

race

Answer 13

a category of people who have been singled out as inferior or superior, often on the basis of real or alleged physical characteristics such as skin color, hair texture, eye shape, or other subjectively selected attributes.

Question 14

racism

Answer 14

a set of attitudes, beliefs, and practices that is used to justify the superior treatment of one racial or ethnic group and the inferior treatment of another racial or ethnic group.

Question 15

scapegoat

Answer 15

a person or group that is incapable of offering resistance to the hostility or aggression of others.

Question 16

segregation

Answer 16

the spatial and social separation of categories of people by race, ethnicity, class, gender, and/or religion.

Question 17

split labor market

Answer 17

the division of the economy into two areas of employment: a primary sector or upper tier, composed of higher-paid (usually dominant-group) workers in more-secure jobs, and a secondary sector or lower tier, composed of lower-paid (often subordinate-group) workers in jobs with little security and hazardous working conditions.

Question 18

stereotypes

Answer 18

overgeneralizations about the appearance, behavior, or other characteristics of members of particular categories.

Question 19

subordinate group

Answer 19

a group whose members, because of physical or cultural characteristics, are disadvantaged and subjected to unequal treatment and discrimination by the dominant group.

Question 20

theory of racial formation

Answer 20

the idea that actions of the government substantially define racial and ethnic relations in the United States.