What is the difference between race

and ethnicity?
Is race real?

What is racism?

Do race and ethnicity matter anymore?

How are race and ethnicity changing
in the twenty-first century?

Sociological Definitions of Race and Ethnicity

Max Weber
Ethnicity: Belief in shared
descent
Race: Common inherited
and inheritable traits
derived from common
descent

Contemporary
sociologists
Ethnicity: Belief in shared
common descent, based
on perceived cultural
similarities
Race: Belief in shared
common descent, based
on perceived innate
physical similarities

Race and Ethnicity Key Distinctions

Race

Ethnicity

Idea of racial
hierarchies promoted
by European explorers

Ethnic categories are

self- or groupdesignated
Idea of hierarchies
not used with
ethnicity

Racial categories are

regulated

Ethnic terms are free

from regulation

Racial categories are

imposed on

Distinguishing Racial and Ethnic Labels

Overall
Taxonomies depend on time
Recognized
ethnic groups are
and
place.
Ethnic often,
and racial
but categories
not always,
varydescendants
widely acrossofcountries.
immigrants.
Race
These Hopi people constitute a
Anchored
in ethnic
color terms
distinct
group in the

United States, even though their

Ethnicity
ancestors were indigenous to
Associated with local, national,
the area, not recent arrivals.
or regional geography rather
or regional geography rather
than continents

Race and Society

Ideas that support the constructivist view of race:

Race is an invented
classification system

Race is socially created

Societies ideas are subject to

change

Americas Definitions of White

Matthew Frye
Jacobson
Americans ideas
about who is white
have changed over
time lending powerful
support to the
constructivist view of
race

Massive wave of
European
immigration to the
U.S. over the
period of roughly
1880 to 1920 had
a major impact

Boundaries of white
category shifted
dramatically over the
last 200 years as
Americans went
about constructing
and reconstructing
race categories.

Race and Biology (1 of 2)

Races are realbut

not biological

Racial group designation

is a matter of
socialization

Even DNA racial

analysis starts with
human-made rules

Race and Biology (2 of 2)

After reading this chapter, would you

say that the members of this family
in Brasilia all belong to the same
race? Why? Why not?

Race and Place: Comparative Perspective

Wolfe: Local
variants
Explanations
for Variations
in Race
Thinking

Diktter:
Western race
concept
Spread across the
globe in the wake
of imperial
conquest
Blended with local
traditional beliefs
and prejudices to
create new
versions of race

Focused on
demographic,
economic, and
political factors

WHAT IS

RACISM?

Racism Two Phenomena

Negative beliefs or attitudes

held about entire group
Broadly applied, subjective,
and stereotype-filled

RACISM

Prejudice

Discrimination
Any behavior that harms
individuals or puts them at a
disadvantage on the basis of
their group membership
Maintains social hierarchy by
blocking advancement of
subordinate groups

Racial Discrimination

Forms
Using negative words or phrases in reference to
particular group
Placing limits on opportunities based on racial group
membership
Engaging in violent act against an individual or
member of a racial group
Classifications
Individual discrimination
Institutional or structural discrimination

Why Does Racism Occur?

Psychologists

Sociologists

Saw racism as an
expression of
personality disorders

Consider types of
situations where
norms encourage
prejudicial beliefs or
discriminatory acts

Overlook context that

shapes underlying
racists beliefs and
behaviors

Suggest people are

socialized into racism

Whites in particular
may avoid openly
discussing race and
frequently use colorblind rhetoric that
downplays possibility
of racism
Racial prejudice
persists in mass
media portrayals of
racial groups

Discrimination

Prejudice

Does Racism Still Exist in the United States?

In separate experimental
investigations, Pager and
Bertrand and Mullainathan
found racial discrimination
plays significant role in
employment in the U.S. today
Royster found black bluecollar workers disadvantaged
by limited network
connections and white bluecollar workers perceived a
black advantage related to
affirmative action

Racism - Post-Civil Rights Era (1 of 2)

Racial Attitudes on Marriage, Schools, and Residential Choice

Racism - Post-Civil Rights Era (2 of 2)

Racial Attitudes on Inequality Due to Group Characteristics

Disparities in Income and Wealth (1 of 2)

Income
Persistent gaps in family income
between white and nonwhite
households for last 40 years

Wealth
Racial gap in household wealth
central to current patterns of
racial inequality

Disparities in Income and Wealth (2 of 2)

The Wealth Gap

Massey and Denton

1993; Oliver and
Shapiro 1997;
Brown et al. 2003:
Black families have
experienced
multiple generations
of exclusion from
home ownership

Disparities in Employment

Black-white unemployment gap

has been durable feature of
racial inequality since 1960s
Smaller proportion of African
Americans also able to move into
upper-middle-class occupations
Blacks also remain underrepresented
in professional and managerial
positions and overrepresented in
the lower-wage service sector

Disparities in Education
African Americans and
Latinos have
experienced substantial
educational gains over
last three decades
Similar gains made
among whites
Asian Americans have
highest education rates

Race and Inequality

Residential segregation

Despite Civil Rights Act of 1968,

African Americans continued to be
most residentially segregated group in
U.S.

Disparities exist in variety of health

indicators

Health and
healthcare coverage

African Americans have highest rate

of infant mortality, homicides, and HIV
infection among any racial or ethnic
group in U.S.

Criminal Justice Supervision and Felon Disenfranchisement

Criminal Justice
Supervision
In 2010, black men were
seven times more likely to
be incarcerated than white
men and about twice as
likely as Hispanic men (U.S.
Bureau of Justice Statistics
2011).
Felon Disenfranchisement
A disproportionate number
of African Americans are
denied the right to vote
because of felon
disenfranchisement laws.

Privileges of Being White

mortgage lending
The
Biology
crisis that emerged in 2007
hitCultural
black and Hispanic
families
disproportionately
explanations
hard.
Structural context
African-American
Historical and
Latino borrowers are
discrimination
estimated
to have been
twice as likely as
nearly
Contemporary
whites to lose their homes
discrimination
to foreclosure, like this
house in Detroit.

What About Affirmative Action?

Voting
Rights Act
of 1965

Civil
Rights Act
of 1964

Affirmative
action

Is race-based affirmative action a good instrument

for reducing inequality in the U.S.? Why? Why not?

Changes in the Twenty-First Century

The face of America has
changed a great deal since
the nations founding over
200 years ago.
Population changes
Changing race categories
on U.S. Census
Changing stratification

What impact do you think

demographic and social changes
will have on racial inequality in
the United States?
Why?