assignment
chapter 10 – minority groups and US society: themes, patterns and the future
the importance of subsistence technology
- as the founding of what would become the US was during the time of agrarian subsistence technology, that set the basis of our society
- agrarian subsistence technology requires land and labor
— thus the land of Native Americans was taken away and the group almost eliminated; this group entered this society as a colonized, conquered group
— Native Americans did not work out as labor and poor; indentured servants from home did not work out either; plantation owners (in particular, but not just this group) began to use person’s of African descent as cheap, exploitable, easily controlled labor, beginning what would become the institution of slavery in the US
— — blacks / African Americans, the descendants of this group from Africa, have been incorporated into our society as a conquered, colonized group
impact of industrial subsistence technology
- the various groups that came from Europe during the mid 1800s into the early 1900s came during industrialization
- each group started at the lower tiers of society, but since they had not been incorporated as colonized / conquered, but as immigrants, their increase in status was easier
- as the US became more industrialized and, eventually persons of African American and Hispanic American heritage were given industrial jobs, helping lift the European immigrants up further
- for the elite to succeed in an industrial society, they can increase profits by creating competition between the lower ranked groups
- this creation of competition sometimes took the form of a split labor market, creating more antagonism between groups
- another group denied full acceptance into society were persons from Asia; enter US society as immigrants (so not as many problems as Native Americans, African Americans, Mexican Americans, but still have problems)
impact of post industrial / information / service subsistence technology
- in this subsistence technology requires more and more education for workers
- those groups brought into US society as colonized, conquered groups have had and continue to have problems with academic attainment, keeping their status predominately low
the importance of the contact situation, group competition and power
Blauner – immigrant or colonized
Noel – ethnocentrism (largely determined by immigrant / colonized initial contact), ability for each group to effectively compete and power differentials
the importance of intersectionality
there is no XYZ experience
- the experience of 2 women in our society will differ according differences such as racial / ethnic background, SES, educational attainment, urban or rural residence, political ideology, sexual orientation
— each of the above can combine and recombine to make each of us unique
overall the concept of melting pot (creation of a new society as diverse groups make equal contributions) does not apply to the US
acculturation – learning the culture of a new group
assimilation – groups that had been distinct come to share common culture / merge socially
pluralism – different groups work together while retaining separate identities, cultures, organizational structures
today groups differ on degrees of acculturation, assimilation, pluralism