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Week4_RaceEthnicityandImmigration.pptxRace, Ethnicity, and Immigration
Week 4
Some Historical Reminders
Christopher Columbus and Indigenous populations
Slavery in the United States
Mob violence in the 19th and 20th centuries
Victims: African American, Black, Irish, Italian, Eastern European, Mexican, and Asian communities
Nazi occupation in Europe
Inequalities building up over time
The Meaning of Race and Ethnicity
Biological concept of race
Society groups people based on shared physical characteristics
Scientists who developed racial categories used physical differences as criteria
However, there are more physical differences within a race or ethnicity than between races and ethnicities
Race is a social construct, not a biological fact
It has no objective reality; people decide what it is
However, because people perceive race as something real, there are real social consequences
Ethnicity: “shared social, cultural, and historical experiences stemming from common national or regional backgrounds”
The good and bad consequences of ethnic heritages
Provides sense of belonging and identity
Prejudice and discrimination against ethnic groups other than our own
Colorblindness
Another form of racism
Ignoring historical violence, racism, and discrimination as well as today’s racial and ethnic inequalities
Through “colorblindness” white people can ignore racism, and justify their privileged status
Since race and ethnicity significantly impacts life chances and opportunities, color unfortunately matters, and thus we cannot ignore it
Prejudice
Prejudice: “a set of negative attitudes, beliefs, and judgments about whole categories of people, and about individual members of those categories, because of their perceived race and/or ethnicity”
Racism: “The belief that certain racial or ethnic groups are inferior to one’s own” (based on power structures; reverse racism does not exist)
Stereotypes: “simplified, mistaken generalizations about people because of their race and/or ethnicity”
Definitions from Social Problems: Continuity & Change (2010)
Prejudice (continued)
Social-psychological theories of prejudice
Authoritarian personality
Frustration theory (i.e. scapegoat theory)
Sociological theories of prejudice
Social learning theory
Mass media
Group threat theory and ethnic competition theory
Correlates of Prejudice
White women and men are equally prejudiced; respond more as whites than as women or men
Lower education levels are associated with more racial prejudice
Southern residence is also a strong indicator of more prejudice
Discrimination
Individual vs. Institutional Discrimination
Individual: discrimination practiced in individuals’ daily lives, usually because they are prejudiced
Examples?
Institutional: discrimination that pervades practices of whole institutions (e.g., housing, health care, law enforcement, employment, education, etc.)
Affects larges numbers of people
Institutions can discriminate even if they do not intend to
Examples: health care, mortgages and residential segregation, employment
Think – Pair - Share
How would Conflict Theory explain the existence of racial prejudice and discrimination?
What about Functionalism?
Intersectionality?
Dimensions of Racial and Ethnic Inequality
Manifestations of racial and ethnic inequality
The increasing wealth gap
Higher levels of stress among people of color
White Privilege
White people benefit from being white, whether they realize it or not
Source: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; Data from the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF)
Source: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; Data from the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF)
Source: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; Data from the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF)
Source: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; Data from the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF)
Source: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; Data from the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF)
Source: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; Data from the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF)
Source: The Brookings Institution; Data from the 2015 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP)
Explaining Racial and Ethnic Inequality
Cultural explanations
The myth of biological inferiority and cultural deficiencies
Structural explanations
The system is at fault – structural problems including institutional and individual discrimination, lack of opportunity, absence of jobs and adequate wages, segregation, school funding
People who are already at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder have a much more difficult time climbing up
Implicit Bias
Go to implicit.Harvard.edu
You don’t have to register. You can just choose your language/nation and continue as a guest.
If you consent to the disclaimer, click “I wish to proceed” at the bottom of the disclaimer.
Choose one of the tests that have to do with race, ethnicity, nationality, or skin color/tone.
After completing one of the tests, view your results. We will discuss the tests and results if you wish to share.
Immigration Key Terms
Pluralism: “salad bowl”
Mixture of different cultures, but each retains its own identity
Assimilation: minority group gives up its own identity by taking on characteristics of the dominant culture
Amalgamation: “melting pot”
Minority group and majority group combine to form a new group
Expulsion: dominant group forcing subordinate group to leave a certain area or whole country
Genocide: deliberate annihilation of a targeted (usually subordinate) group
Definitions from Social Problems: Continuity & Change (2010)
Asian American Immigration
First Asian immigrants to come to US were Chinese
Mid-19th century, primarily men
Gold rush, transcontinental railroad, mining, agriculture
Underpaid, overworked
Japanese immigration began in 1880s around the time of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
Hawaii’s sugar industry; California
Japanese government negotiated with US to ensure well being of their immigrants
Most recent large-scale Asian immigration came from Korea and Vietnam
2nd half of 20th century
Korean immigration has been fairly gradual
Vietnamese immigration primarily post-1975 after fall of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh); political refugees
China
Japan
South Korea
Vietnam
Hispanic Americans and Latinx Populations
Wide range of backgrounds and nationalities
Mexican Americans form largest Hispanic subgroup and oldest
Started early 1900s in response to need for agricultural labor
This obviously does not take into account that large portions of the US were owned by Mexico at one time
Cuban Americans are second-largest Hispanic subgroup
Main wave to US after Castro came to power in 1959; reached peak in 1980 (Mariel boatlift)
Arab American Immigration
While Asian Americans and Hispanic Americans are designated because of their region or country of origin, Arab Americans are designated by Arabia, a country that has not existed for centuries
Arab Americans represent all religious practices, not just Islam
Arab region comprises what colonialism has termed the “Middle East” and parts of northern Africa; more accurate, decolonial name for the region is SWANA (Southwest Asian and North African)
First Arab immigrants came to the US in the late 19th and early 20th centuries
Predominantly Syrian, Lebanese, and Jordanian Christians; represent almost half of the Arab population in the US today
Arab immigrants from 1965 onward have been more likely to be Muslim and more highly educated, escaping political unrest
White Ethnic American Population
Around 76% of US adult population currently identify themselves as white alone (no other race or ethnicity) as of 2019
White ethnic Europeans formed large immigration waves from early 19th to mid 20th century
First major wave was mostly German and Irish starting in the 1820s
Political unrest in Germany, famine in Ireland
Southern and Eastern Europeans immigrated in larger numbers starting in the late 19th, early 20th centuries – Italy, Russia, Poland, Bulgaria, and Austria-Hungary started arriving at same time
Left home countries because of political unrest, land shortages, and crop failures
Eastern European wave also included Jewish people escaping anti-Jewish uprisings starting at this time
Research on Immigration and Crime
“Increases in the foreign-born population share are associated with reductions in the homicide rate, a process observed most clearly in the South region of the US. This reduction is largely the result of spillover, the indirect effect of growth in the immigrant population in one county on homicide rates in other counties” (Ruther 2014:S1).
“[R]esults show that the increased size of the foreign-born population reduces lethal violence over time. Specifically, we find that neighborhoods with a larger share of immigrants have fewer total, non-Latino White, and Latino homicide victims. More broadly, our findings suggest that social disorganization in heavily immigrant cities might be largely a function of economic deprivation rather than forms of “neighborhood” or “system” stability” (Martinez et al. 2010:798)
Martinez, Jr., Ramiro, Jacob I. Stowell, and Matthew T. Lee. 2010. “Immigration and Crime in an Era of Transformation: A longitudinal analysis of homicides in San Diego neighborhoods, 1980 – 2000.” Criminology 48(3):797 – 829.
Ruther, Matt. 2014. “The effect of growth in foreign born population share on county homicide rates: A spatial panel approach.” Papers in Regional Science 93(1):S1 – S24. DOI:10.1111/pirs.12045
Graph Source: New York Times; Original publication & data source: Journal of Ethnicity and Criminal Justice
Let’s think about theory again
How would the major sociological theories explain why some US citizens are so quick to blame immigrants (especially undocumented immigrants), for crime, even though the data shows that crime overall is decreasing AND areas with large increases in immigrants, in particular, have seen large decreases in violent crime?
Group 1: Functionalism
Group 2: Symbolic Interactionism
Group 3: Conflict Theory
Group 4: Intersectionality
Group 5: Critical Race Theory
