Media Reaction Paper/Project

Race and Ethnicity – Part II

SOCY 3720-E01 Global Perspectives on Social Issues

Summer 2019

Part II:

• For the second part of our lecture we will be discussing these main academic notions:

 Patterns of Majority – Minority Interaction

• Genocide • Segregation

 De Jure Segregation  De Facto Segregation

• Assimilation • Pluralism

• Prejudice and Bigotry Approaches • Prejudice and Bigotry in Social Structures. • Prejudice and Bigotry and their Cultural Factors:

 Social Norms  Stereotyping

• Prejudice and Bigotry in the Individual:  Frustration – Aggression  Projection

Patterns of Majority - Minority Interaction

• There are many different ways that majority and minority populations interact. These interactions can

also range from positive to negative and from peaceful to deadly.

• When studying these patterns, sociologists use four models:

 Genocide  Segregation  Assimilation  Pluralism

• Genocide: today this term is used to describe “the deliberate, systematic killing of an entire people or

nation.” (Schaefer, 2002).

• Genocide is murder and it has occurred again and again in human history. It has been tolerated and

sometimes even encouraged by governments and their people.

• There have been many instances of genocide throughout the ages and some of the most infamous

examples are:

• Beginning in 1500, the Spanish, Portuguese, English, French, and Dutch forcefully colonized North and

South America, resulting in the deaths of thousands of native people. (Although most native people fell

victim to diseases brought by Europeans to which they had no natural defenses, many were also killed.)

• Turkish authorities killing about one million Armenians in 1915.

• We often hear this term when discussing the Holocaust as Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany exterminated

about 6 million European Jews along with Homosexual individuals and Romani people.

• We have our own history of genocide in the United States in relation to American Indians.

• Jozef Stalin is believed to have killed approximately 7 million people.

• The more recent genocides in Rwanda and in Darfur.

• Segregation: it refers to “the physical separation of two groups in residence, workplace, and social

functions. Generally, the dominant group imposes segregation on a subordinate group.” (Schaefer,

2002).

• We have seen examples of segregation right here in the United States not only though the institution of

slavery, but legal segregation as well.

• We have also seen the government-imposed racial segregation in South Africa during apartheid.

• There are two specific types of segregation:

• De Jure segregation: derives from the Latin “by law,” this type of segregation is required by law.

• De Facto segregation: derives from the Latin “in fact,” this type of segregation results from “housing

patterns, economic inequalities, gerrymandered school districts, and the departure of middle-class

families from communities with increasing rates of minority households and poor or mediocre schools.”

(Eitzen & Zinn, 2006).

• Assimilation: it is “the process by which a subordinate individual or group takes on the characteristics of

the dominant group and is eventually accepted as part of that group.” (Schaefer, 2002).

• Minorities can (and sometimes are expected to) assimilate and when doing so they may change their

own customs, language, or other important cultural aspects as well.

• A very well-known notion in relation to assimilation is the older ‘Melting Pot’ approach, now replaced

by the more inclusive ‘salad bowl’ approach. The latter ensuring that cultural, ethnic, and other

differences are celebrated or at least preserved instead of being blended into one similar lifestyle.

• A common example is when majority groups ‘force’ members from a minority group to learn a language

other than their native one.

• Pluralism: according to Schaefer it “implies that various groups in a society have mutual respect for one

another’s culture, a respect that allows minorities to express their own culture without suffering

prejudice or hostility.” (Schaefer, 2002).

• This pattern also includes the notion of a somewhat equal standing. No disadvantage should exist for a

minority group.

• In many countries pluralism can be seen through the value that all people have equal standing under the

law.

Prejudice and Bigotry

• These are the Prejudice and Bigotry Approaches we will review:

• Prejudice and Bigotry in Social Structures. • Prejudice and Bigotry and their Cultural Factors:

• Social Norms • Stereotyping

• Prejudice and Bigotry in the Individual: • Frustration – Aggression • Projection

• Prejudice and Bigotry in Social Structures:

• Bigot is a very influential term usually referring to an individual intolerant to others or towards those

with a different opinion or point of view.

• Bigotry is not necessarily intolerance, it is more unreasonable intolerance.

• As Kornblum and Julian point out, “in many societies the demand for more than the available supply of

certain goods gives rise to a competitive struggle, which usually results in the dominance of one group

and the subordination of others.

• Even if the initial competition is for economic goods, the contest is ultimately a struggle for power and,

hence, a political process.

• Once established, political dominance is likely to be reinforced by economic exploitation. Slavery and

serfdom are the most obvious forms of exploitation.

• Ex. Migrant farm workers, undocumented immigrants, and unorganized clerical and service workers.”

(Kornblum & Julian, 2004)

• Discrimination can take different forms within our social structures.

• Some forms may be practical like members of the subordinate group being legally prevented from

owning property or voting or being terrorized into submission.

• Some forms of discrimination can be symbolic, for example, when African Americans were refused

service in many different establishments before and during the Civil Rights Movement.

• All forms are intended consciously or unconsciously, at keeping the subordinate people subjugated.

(Kornblum & Julian, 2004)

• Prejudice and Bigotry and their Cultural Factors:

• Cultural factors have their place and can also influence prejudice and bigotry in a society. The first

cultural factor relates to social norms.

• A social norm is “a commonly accepted standard that specifies the kind of behavior that is appropriate

in a given situation. Even though social norms do not necessarily tells us why prejudice and

discrimination begin, they do help explain how and why they are perpetuated. Social norms are learned

in a process that begins almost at birth.” (Kornblum & Julian, 2004)

• Another cultural factor is stereotyping.

• This is another source of prejudice and discrimination because when we stereotype “we are attributing a

fixed and usually unfavorable or inaccurate conception to a category of people.

• Whereas social norms are concerned primarily with behavior and only indirectly with attitudes,

stereotyping, as we previously studied, is basically a matter of attitude.” (Kornblum & Julian, 2004)

• Prejudice and Bigotry in the Individual:

• The first factor is frustration-aggression.

• “At one time or another most human beings feel frustrated. They want something, but because of events

or other people they cannot get it.

• This can lead to anger and to aggression, which may be expressed in many several ways.

• The most obvious way is to strike at the source of the frustration, but often this is impossible; frustrated

individuals do not know the source or are subjectively unable to recognize it or are in a position in

which they cannot risk such an action.” (Kornblum & Julian, 2004)

• The aggression is usually directed at a safer, easier, and more convenient target, one comparable to the

real source of the frustration.

• This is done by displacing this aggression onto a scapegoat.

• A clear example of this is the Vincent Chin case here in the United States. Vincent Chin, a Chinese-

American individual was beaten to death by two White autoworkers who blamed the Japanese and

Japanese companies for being laid off from work. They were frustrated and they used Vincent Chin as a

scapegoat and beat him to death with a baseball bat. .

• Feel free to watch the documentary Vincent Who? about this specific case.

• Another source of prejudice and discrimination at an individual level is projection.

• “Many people have personal traits that they consider undesirable. They wish to rid themselves of those

traits, but they cannot always do it directly, wither because they find the effort too difficult or because

they are unable to admit to themselves that they possess those traits.

• They may relieve their tension by attributing the unwanted traits to others, often members of another

group. This makes it possible for them to reject and condemn the traits without rejecting and

condemning themselves. Since the emotional pressure underlying projection can be very intense, it is

difficult to counter them with rational arguments.” (Kornblum & Julian, 2004)

• Final Thoughts

• I would recommend that all of you take a moment to reflect about this topic outside of a graded

academic environment and internalize the main notions presented in these past two lectures. Read this

information again, not as a student, but as a global citizen in order to grasp where and how this topic

affects us as a global community and in ways beyond the borders of this country.

 Do you agree or disagree with the current state of these racial and ethnic issues?

 Are they still controversial? Why?

 Are we globally discussing semantics here? “You say tomato, I say tomatoe?”

 Are these notions realistic or not necessary anymore? Why?

 Still find a need to study a section such as this one?

 Are we “there” yet? Where is “there?”