Midterm 2 (Race to Economy and Exchange) Flashcards
(103 cards)
The Constitutional Act of 1982
Anti-discrimination: every individual has the right to equal protection and benefit without discrimination
Social stratification
Unequal access to advantages: economic resources, power, and prestige, NOT natural because we used to be egalitarian
Egalitarian society
everyone has equal access to economic resources, power, and prestige
Rank society
Some social groups have greater access to prestige
Class/caste society
Unequal access to economic resources, power, and prestige
Racism
belief that some racial groups are inferior, combines with social stratification when ethnic diversity is associated with differences in physical features
Race defined in biology
A subgroup within a species - not applicable to humans (no subspecies within modern homo sapiens) and arbitrary
Which are subsets of genetic variation in the African population?
Genetic variations in European and Asian populations, though each group has a significant level of uniqueness
4 major groups or racial categories based on geographic area (Linnaeus)
All Europeans are white, Africans are black, Native Americans are red, and Asians are yellow
Where did “caucasian” come from (Blumenbach)?
Light-skinned people (Europeans) are “Caucasian” from the skull of a woman in the Caucasus mountains that reflects nature’s ideal form while dark-skinned Africans are “Ethiopian”
Hierarchy of races according to Blumenbach
Caucasians are the original, ideal, god-intended race while others have degenerated into inferior races and moved away from their place of origin
Franz Boas
Against scientific racism, racial hierarchies, and introduced the ideology of cultural relativism
Hypodescent or One-drop rule in the US and Canada
A person with any drop of “black blood” will be considered black but a small amount of white ancestry did not make them white
Reverse of the one-drop rule in Latin America
A small amount of European blood makes a person white, wealthier individuals are considered whiter (race is fluid)
Miscegenation
interbreeding of people considered to belong in different races
What does skin color indicate?
Not a person’s race, culture, or susceptibility to disease but offers insights into one’s geographic ancestry, an adaptive trait linked to the strength of the sun’s ultraviolet rays
How genetically similar and different are humans?
Humans share ~99.9% of genetic code with each other while genetic variation mostly occurs within groups
Where is human DNA and specific alleles traced back to?
African population that existed over 10,000 years ago
Genetic variations found Africans vs. Asians and Europeans
Nearly all genetic variations found in Asians and Europeans are also found in Africans, who also possess novel variants
What do genetic changes indicate?
Geographic ancestry: each is a marker for a person’s ancestors who lived where the changes occurred
Sickle cell trait
Offers resistance to malaria, prevalent in places where malaria is common e.g. those of African, Middle Eastern, Indian, Mediterranean
Health consequences of racism as a stressor
Mental distress and increased cardiovascular response
Racialization
genetic variation explains racial variation
Spirometer
medical device that naturalizes racial differences and correct for race e.g. African Americans are assumed to have smaller lung capacity
