Social Inequality Essay

8.1 Defining Race and Ethnicity

1. Race is a social category based on real or perceived biological differences between groups and people. It is more meaningful on a social level than on a biological level.

2. Ethnicity is another social category applied to a group with shared  ancestry  or cultural heritage.

1. Symbolic ethnicity involves enactment of ethnic identity on special occasions (e.g. Irish and St. Patrick's Day, Chinese and the lunar new year).

2. Situational ethnicity involves deliberately asserting ethnicity in some situations and downplaying it in others. (This is generally an option only for those whose ethnicity is not linked to race. That is, whites of various ethnic backgrounds can engage in situational ethnicity, whereas nonwhites cannot.)

8.2 Race, Ethnicity, and Power

1. Sociologists define a minority group as any social category whose members suffer from unequal treatment as a result of holding that status.

2. Racism refers to an ideology or set of beliefs about the superiority of one racial or ethnic group to another. This irrational mind-set is usually founded on the assumption that differences among racial or ethnic groups are biological or innate.

3. Prejudice is an inflexible attitude about a group of people and is founded on generalizations and stereotypes.

4. Discrimination includes any action or behavior that results in the unequal treatment of individuals because of their membership in a certain social group. Discrimination can occur on both an individual and an institutional level.

8.3 Theoretical Approaches to Understanding Race in America

1. Functionalists argue that groups tend to believe that their own cultures are superior and that their ways of doing things are the normal and right ways.

2. Conflict theorists argue that race and class are linked and that racism is driven by economic competition. Also, racism is embedded in the political and economic structure of the United States.

8.4 Race as an Interactional Accomplishment

1. Using Goffman's theory of interaction, race and ethnicity can be interpreted as a performance of identity. Racial and ethnic identity are both projected and interpreted by individuals in their everyday lives.

2. Passing is the act of living as if one is a member of a different racial category. Passing is stressful, hard work, and almost entirely interactional.

3. Embodied identities are the way that we are perceived in the physical world. Interaction online is a way of separating the performance of race and ethnicity from the physical traits. Byron Burkhalter's research on an Internet community based on African American culture demonstrates how "racially relevant" content and language are used to project and interpret racial identity in a bodiless realm.

8.5 Race, Ethnicity, and Life Chances

1. Family: African Americans are more likely than whites or Latinos never to marry, to divorce, or to be  widowed . African Americans and Latinos are more likely to be teen mothers than whites and Asian Americans.

2. Health: Nonwhites are less likely to have  health insurance  than whites. Also, life expectancies for African Americans are significantly lower than for whites.

3. Education: Asian Americans and whites enjoy more overall success in the U.S. educational system than African Americans and  Latinos , in terms of both high school graduation rates and the number of  degrees in  higher education.

4. Work and Income: Whites hold the majority of positions in managerial and executive professions. Asian Americans had the highest median income in 2006, followed by whites and African Americans. Latinos had the lowest median income among these four groups.

5. Criminal Justice: African American and Latino males are more likely to be incarcerated than white males.

6. Intersectionality: For white women married to black men, race and gender combine to create different understandings of race.

8.6 Race Relations: Conflict or Cooperation

1. Genocide: Systematic extermination of a group.

2. Population Transfer: Forcible removal of a group from its homeland.

3. Internal Colonialism: Exploitation of a minority group within the dominant group's own borders.

4. Assimilation: Absorption of the minority group by the dominant group until the minority group is no longer distinct.

5. Pluralism: Embracing and encouraging racial and ethnic variation within one society.