sociology race notes by Noah Yen-Goossens

Characteristics of a Minority

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Unequal treatment and less power over their lives
Distinguishing physical or cultural traits like skin color or language
Involuntary membership in the group
Awareness of subordination
High rate of in-group marriage

Minority Definition

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Definition of minority by Louis Wirth (1945): "Any group of people who, because of their physical or cultural characteristics, are singled out from the others in society in which they live for differential and unequal treatment, and who therefore regard themselves as objects of collective discrimination."

Scapegoat Theory

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The dominant group will often direct its unfocused aggression to a subordinate group and blame them for the dominant group's problems. For example, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party blaming Germany's economic and social problems following WWI on the nation's Jewish population, or American conservatives blaming many issues on black or Hispanic people.

Race Definition

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Race is a way societies categorize groups of people based on superficial physical characteristics, often to justify social inequality. For example, the distinction of black and white, rather than European and African, developed alongside ideas of freedom in America to justify denying certain groups said freedom.

Examples of Minorities

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Poor/working class/homeless people
Non-English speakers
Disabled people
Immigrants
Queer people
Non-white people

Ethnicity Definition

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Ethnicity refers to shared culture (practices, values, beliefs, etc.) of a group. This means ethnicity can refer to vastly different groups with very different commonalities. Hispanic, Jewish, Irish, or Serbian would all be considered ethnic groups, though each are grouped together for different reasons.

Is Race Biological?

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People of different races aren't significantly different apart from superficial features. In terms of actual DNA, most variation is within same-race populations. Things like resistances or physical features arise not from genes, but from the region's features, such as flora and fauna, sunlight/weather, and diseases one would come into proximity with.

Human Subspecies

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Homo Sapiens haven't been around or isolated for long enough to evolve into separate species or genetically different races.

Colorblindness and Racism

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Pretending that race doesn't exist isn't the same as equality, as equality is individuals being treated equally for who they are. Destroying the idea of race is also not an effective solution to the problem.

The Social Construction of Race

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Several things point to race being socially constructed rather than biological:

The unclear boundaries of race (mixed people often being seen as one specific race)
Differences in categorization, i.e. white vs. black referring to entirely different groups in different countries
Categories changing over time
Tiger Woods, who is biologically mostly Asian, being viewed as black because of physical characteristics

Aside from how race is viewed and treated in society, we are biologically very similar. 85% of the variation of all humans can be found in local populations, and many studies that tried to scientifically prove racial differences have since been disproven.

Assimilation Definition

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Assimilation is the process by which groups of people are forced to conform or be absorbed into another society.

Anglo-Conformism

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Forcing others to conform to white/American society, i.e. forcing immigrants to learn English or attend American schools.

Melting Pot

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The melting pot is the idea that by proximity to each other, ethnic groups will naturally abandon their own cultures and assimilate into one common culture.

Cultural Pluralism

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Cultural Pluralism is when different ethnic groups maintain their own cultures within a dominant culture rather than melding together into one main culture.

Genocide

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Genocide is when an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group is intentionally and systematically destroyed.

Population Transfer

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Population Transfer is when a racial, religious, or ethnic group is forced to relocate to another region and abandon their homes.

Subjugation

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De Jure: The denial of equal access to the benefits of a society based on law.

De Facto: The denial of equal access to the benefits of a society based on everyday practice.

Discussion Questions

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How should we treat those who feel out of place because of their race or the races of people around them? How can we help?

Prejudice Definition

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Prejudice refers to the beliefs, thoughts, feelings, and attitudes someone holds about a group, mostly based on prejudgment, not actual experience.

Racism Definition

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Racism refers to prejudice against specific racial groups, often manifested in the idea that one racial category is better or worse than another.

Discrimination Definition

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Discrimination refers to actions against a specific group, rather than just thoughts.

Stereotypes Definition

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Stereotypes are oversimplified generalizations about groups of people that don't take into account individual differences or agency.

Colorism Definition

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Colorism is a prejudice or difference in treatment based on someone's skin color.

Explicit Racism Definition

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Explicit racism is overt and often intentional racism practiced by individuals or organizations that openly embrace prejudiced beliefs.

Implicit Racism Definition

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Implicit racism refers to an individual's unconscious biases or unintentional reactions when judging people from different racial or ethnic backgrounds.

The Neutrality of Whiteness

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In American society, whiteness is viewed as the default, or normal. Often, skin products are advertised as "friendly to darker skin tones" but you'll rarely see products meant for darker skin, then adapted to work on lighter tones. Other microaggressions such as calling lighter colors "skin tone" or "flesh" condition people to view lightness as normal.

Examples of Implicit Racism

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Treating whiteness/light skin tone as the default
Asking visibly non-white people "Where are you from?" or being surprised when they can speak English well
People with "black-sounding" names being less likely to be hired
Bias in the coverage of crimes based on the race of the victim and perpetrator
Bias in the coverage of wars/humanitarian crises in European/predominantly white countries vs. Middle Eastern/African countries

Implicit Bias Definition

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Implicit bias refers to the mental shortcuts we are conditioned into using based on what we often see associated with each other. If you grow up seeing disproportionate news coverage of black men committing violent crime, your brain makes a shortcut and associates black men with violence.

Discussion Questions

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Have you ever noticed your own implicit biases? If so, how did you feel about and deal with them?

Environmental Racism Definition

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Environmental racism refers to systemic discrimination based on physical location. For example, public schools being overcrowded and underfunded in Black neighbourhoods, and the I-81, I-94, and I-95 highways being deliberately built/expanded to disrupt predominantly Black areas.

Anonymous responses

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The responses in this class and previous have various stories for every race and almost everyone had a story that nobody should go through.

Anonymous Responses

16234341 — 2024-04-30 15:43:25 UTC

There were a lot of responses with people just being in groups where it was normalized to make racist jokes as well as grandparents having subtle implicit racist comments.

White Privilege

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The video in which black students get interviewed for their experiences shows the struggles that black Americans go through and how white people don't have the same experiences because of their privilege.

Privilege Definition

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Privilege refers to the unearned access or advantages one has due to their ascribed statuses (race, age, gender, class, etc.).

The Power of Normal

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Whiteness is viewed as the default, which allows people to defend white privilege or white supremacist as just natural or normal.

The Power of the Benefit of the Doubt

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White people are often given more trust or leeway than non-white people (especially black people). This is what leads to racial police violence, when black people get assaulted or killed for stuff white people often get away with.

The Power of Accumulated Power

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White people's powers in society exist because of white supremacist ideas, but also perpetuate white supremacy by making the ideas seem normal or expected. This makes white privilege and systemic racism a self-fulfilling cycle.

The Fat Blue Line

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Richard Price describes a time he was in a car with some cops and saw them pull over a Black guy and a white kid biking late at night. The cops questioned the two for not wearing helmets even though both described a perfectly normal stepdad-stepson dynamic. The story, although dramatized and told in a comedy setting, depicts a very common racial dynamic, where black people, especially men, are assumed to be "up to something" when taking care of or watching over white children.

Institutionalized Racism Definition

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Institutionalized racism is defined as racism perpetrated by social and political institutions such as schools, courts, the Police, or the military.

Institutionalized Racism Examples

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Medical Racism -- Black and non-white people have historically been experimented on or mistreated by doctors, and are often less likely to be given pain medicine or proper treatment/attention.
Racial Profiling -- Data and many highly publicized court cases show that race plays a massive role in the actions of the Police. Non-white people often have the cops called on them for perfectly reasonable or legal activities, and are often punished violently by police officers.
World War II -- Following Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese Americans were forced out of their homes and placed in internment camps for suspicion of ties to the Japanese government.
Churches and Religious Institutions -- During the time in American history where slavery and the later Jim Crow laws were in place, many religious institutions perpetuated and supported those discriminatory practices.