Ethnicity and Race

Ethnic groups and ethnicity

• Ethnic groups– Members share certain beliefs,

values, customs, and norms because of their common background

• Ethnicity – identification with, and feeling part of, an ethnic group and exclusion from certain other groups because of this affiliation

Ethnic groups and ethnicity– Status – the various

positions that people in society

– Shifting identities• Adapting to situations

Race

– Race – an ethnic group assumed to have a biological basis

– Racism – discrimination against a “racial” group– Like ethnicity, race is a cultural category rather than a

biological reality

Social Race• (C. Wagley) – groups assumed to have a biological basis

but actually defined in a culturally arbitrary, rather than scientific, manner

• Cultural construction of “race” in the United States

The Social Construction of Race

• Race - Typically refers to appearances such as skin color, hair type, skin hue, eye color, stature, body size, nose, eyes, and head shape

Race & Science

• The widely held belief that that there are biological differences between racial groups is simply incorrect

Origins of Racial Groups

• Agreement among reputable historians and archaeologists is that the color of primitive humans was Black.

Biracial and Multiracial Identities

• Racial purity is myth– Monoracial – both parents from same racial

group– Biracial – both parents from different racial group– Multiracial – having parents with multiple racial

heritages

Ethnic groups, nations, and nationalities

– Nations/nation-states• Autonomous, centrally organized political entities• Most are not ethnically homogeneous

– Nationalities – ethnic groups that once had, or wish to have or regain, autonomous political status (their own country)

Demography

• Increasing number of persons who are biracial and multiracial

• 2.6% or 7.3 million people in U.S. report more than one race

• Nearly two thirds of all people who reported more than one race lived in just 10 states

• The cities of Los Angeles and New York had the largest two or more races populations

Ethnic tolerance and accommodation - Assimilation

• A minority group adopts the patterns and norms of a dominant host culture to such an extent that it no longer exists as a separate cultural unit

Ethnic tolerance and accommodation - Plural society

• Interethnic contact does not inevitably lead to assimilation

• Plural society

• Ethnic boundaries

One-Drop Rule

• One-drop rule emerged in the South during Slavery– Anyone with 1/16th Black ancestry was denied a White

identity• One-drop rule is still alive, but is not as pervasive as it

used to be• Hypodescent – process wherein biracial people were

assigned to the social status with less social status

Multiculturalism and ethnic identity

– Multiculturalism – the view of cultural diversity in a country as something good and desirable

Roots of ethnic conflict

– Prejudice– Stereotypes– Discrimination

• De facto discrimination – practiced but not legally sanctioned• De jure discrimination – part of law

Aftermaths of oppression– Genocide– Ethnocide– Forced assimilation– Ethnic expulsion

– Colonialism– Cultural colonialism