Module 10 Flashcards
US Census Racial Categories
-1790 ~Free white males and females ~Slaves ~All other free persons (taxed Native Americans and free blacks) -1860 ~Indian ~Chinese ~Black/mulatto ~White -1930 ~Indian ~Chinese: Filipino, Hindu, Japanese Korean ~Negro ~Mexican ~White ~Other -The racial categories include in the census questionnaire generally reflect a social definition of race recognized in this country and not an attempt to define race biologically, anthropologically, or genetically. In addition, it is recognized that the categories of the race item include racial and national origin or sociocultural groups. People may choose to report more than one race to indicate their racial mixtures, such as "American Indian" and "white" -People who identify their origin as Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish may be of any race
Race
-A hierarchical classification system based on human physical characteristics (skin tone, facial structure, hair texture, etc.), which are used to differentiate and construct human groups that are perceived and deemed to be socially significant.
~”Race should not be seen as something tangible that exist in the outside world, which has to be discovered, described, and defined, but as a cultural creation, a product of human invention
~Since the 16th century, ‘race’ has become the core for the categorization of ideas about human differences
-Race is socially constructed
-Race is an ascribed status
Racial Classifications
-Race is not a scientific concept! It is a sociohistorical concept
-Race ascribes a category that reflects perceived or assumed biological basis rather than biological reality
-Overall taxonomies or racial categories depend on time and place. It is often shaped by political and economic factors
~Linnaeus (1758)
*4 races: European, Asian, African, Amerindian
~Blumenbach (1781)
*5 races: Caucasian, Mongoloid, Malay, Ethiopian, American
~Hooton (1926)
*3 races: White, Negroid, Mongoloid 11 “Primary Sub-races” like Alpine
~Garn (1965)
*9 races: Amerindian, Polynesian, Micronesian, Melanesian Papuan, Australian, Asiatic, Indian, European, African
Ethnicity
-Cultural differences such as language, customs, clothing, food, norms, and beliefs that distinguish members of one group from the other
-Boundary construction or formation of groups is based on the culture, history , food, language, religion, ancestry (real or imagined), style of dress, etc.
~Boundaries are used to determine who is and who is not a member
~Ethnicity can be a voluntary status
*A person can be racially white, but ethnically Irish, Italian, Jewish, Columbian, etc.
*A person can be Black, but ethnically Ethiopian, Columbian, Cuban, Saudi, British, etc.
Racialization
-The process by which a previously unclassified group of people are identified and categorized as a racial group based in shared physical features
~15th century onward, Europeans colonization and conquest led to the development and promotion of racial ideologies developed, to justify conquest, extermination, exploitations, and enslavement of entire groups of people.
The Rule of Hypodescent
-A racially dominant group institutes the practice of assigning racially mixed people to the status of the racially subordinate group.
~Maintains a belief that whiteness = purity
~Also known as The One Drop Rule
*First appeared in Virginia 1662. 1/32 drop of black blood and the state classified you as black
*In North Carolina, it varied over time from 1/4, 1/8, 1/16th
White Supremacy
-Attitudes, ideologies, and policies associated with the blatant forms of white or European dominance over “non-white” populations
~4 Characteristics
*Makes envious distinctions of a socially crucial kind that is based primarily if not exclusivity on physical characteristics and ancestry
*Color barge or racial segregation and the restriction meaningful citizenship rights to only a privlage group characterized by light color skin tone
*Systematic and subconscious efforts to make race or color a qualification for membership from the civil community
*The process of establishing and rationing white privlage and dominance in a society
Racism
-A racial system of domination operating in a social processes and social institutions that promote policies favoring certain racial groups while discriminating, excluding, and marginalizing others ~Prejudice ~Discrimination ~Individual racism/discrimination ~Institutional racism/discrimination
Anti-miscegenation laws
-The prohibition of interracial sexual relations and marriage
~Designed to “preserve racial integrity.” A wither person could only marry a person who had no traces of black blood
-Pew Research Center
-Homophily
Pew Research Center
-Between 2008 to 2009, 15% of new marriages were between spouses of different races or ethnicities
~Yet majority still marry within their own racial or ethnic group
Homophily
-The tendency of individuals to associate and bond with similar others
Minority group
-A less powerful subordinate group is dominated politically and economically by a more powerful dominant group within a society
-Elements of minority status
~Its about access to power and resources rather than a numerical distinction
~Distinguished by physicals or cultural attributes that differ from the dominant group and results in discrimination
~Can be based on racial, ethnic, religious, or gender categories
~Promotes endogamy
Endogamy
-Marrying within one’s own group
Colorblind ideology
-Racism in understood/assumed to occur only on an individual level, denying structural dynamics and group membership advantages
~Appearance or avoiding of racial terminology
~Individualism and meritocracy used to deny the continued relevance and persistence of racial discrimination and inequality
-Flip side
~Equal treatment before the law
~”We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Racial Segregation
-Division of urban space to produce boundaries between urban zones, defined in terms of race and color
-Boundaries designed to
~Regulate and restrict movement of various kinds
~To regulate people’s access to opportunities for power, wealth, safely, and relatively satisfying livelihood that cities otherwise have enormous potential to offer their residents
~Aided in normalizing unequal power relations
