Sociological Meanings of Basic Concepts

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Chapter 3

Discrimination

Understanding Discrimination

Relative Deprivation
Conscious experience of a negative discrepancy
Between legitimate expectation & present actuality
Absolute Deprivation
Standard minimum level of subsistence below which families should not be expected to exist

Understanding Discrimination

Discrimination
Denial of opportunities & equal rights to individuals and groups
Because of prejudice or for other arbitrary reasons
Total Discrimination
Combination of current discrimination with past discrimination

Hate Crimes

Race apparent motivation for the bias in approximately 51 percent of the reports,
Religion, sexual orientation, & ethnicity accounted for 11–20% each
Vandalism & intimidation most common crimes
Crime against people: 58 percent of incidents involved assault, rape, or murder

Institutional Discrimination

The denial of opportunities and equal rights to individuals and groups
Results from normal operations of a society
Institutional forms of discrimination are committed collectively against a group
May be unconscious - it is not a function of awareness of discrimination

Examples of Institutional Discrimination

Standards for assessing credit risks do not work for Hispanics and African Americans
IQ testing favors middle-class children
Many jobs eliminate a person with felony records or past drug offenses,
Which disproportionately reduces employment opportunities for people of color

Examples of Institutional Discrimination

The criminal justice system is dominated by Whites
Find it difficult to understand life in poverty
Hiring practices often require several years of experience at jobs
Only recently opened to members of subordinate groups

Discrimination Hits the Wallet

Informal Economy (Irregular/Underground Economy)
Transfers of money, goods, or services that are not reported to the government
Irregular economy - operates outside the boundaries of the regular economy
Job stability, wages, working conditions or benefits

Discrimination Hits the Wallet

Regular labor market operates according to the principles of the conventional labor market
Dual Labor Market Model
According to this model, minorities have been relegated to the informal economy
Informal economy offers few safeguards against fraud or malpractice

Discrimination Hits the Wallet

Few fringe benefits such as stability, wages, health insurance, and pension
Criticized for promoting unfair and dangerous working conditions
Workers are ill prepared to enter the regular economy permanently

Discrimination Today

Discrimination is widespread in the U.S.
Sometimes results from prejudices held by individuals, but more significantly:
Is found in institutional discrimination and the presence of the informal economy

Discrimination Today

Quantifying discrimination is problematic
1. Identifying the different treatment of minorities
2. Determining the cost of discrimination
Distribution of income as a measure of discrimination

Eliminating Discrimination

Two major sources for the elimination of discrimination:
Governmental agencies and policies
Roosevelt’s 1943 and the Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC)
Supreme court decision - 1954 Brown v. Board of Education

Eliminating Discrimination

Voluntary associations
State’s Rights
Each state is sovereign in most of its affairs
And has the right to order them without interference from the federal government
Since 1964, several acts and amendments have been made to the Civil Rights Act

Eliminating Discrimination

To cover the many areas of discrimination left untouched; Criminal Justice and Housing
Redlining
The pattern of discrimination against people:
Trying to buy homes in minority and racially changing neighborhoods
Applied to areas other than housing

Figure 3.4: Median Income by Race, Ethnicity, and Gender

Wealth Inequality: Discrimination’s Legacy

Past discrimination carries into the present and future
No inherited wealth is element of the past
Less opportunity of Blacks to accumulate assets

Wealth Inequality: Discrimination’s Legacy

Income
Salaries and wages
Wealth
Encompasses all a person’s assets, land, stocks, and other types of property

Environmental Justice

Efforts to ensure that hazardous substances are controlled so that:
All communities receive protection regardless of race or socioeconomic circumstance
Issues of environmental justice not limited to metropolitan areas

Environmental Justice

Abuse of Native American reservation land
Tribal lands regarded as dumping grounds for toxic waste that go to the highest bidder
Controversy within the scientific community over potential hazards
Complexity of the issues in terms of social class and race are apparent

Environmental Justice

Executive order (1994)
Requires all federal agencies to ensure that low-income and minority communities have:
Access to better information about their environment and have an opportunity in shaping:
Government policies that affect their community’s health

Affirmative Action

Positive effort to recruit subordinate-group members, including women
Jobs, promotions, & educational opportunities
Today, has become a catchall term for racial preference programs and goals
Lightning rod for opposition to programs that suggest consideration of women/minorities

Affirmative Action Explained

Has been viewed as an important tool for reducing institutional discrimination
Federal measures aimed at procedures that deny equal opportunities, even if:
Not intended to be overtly discriminatory
Lack of minority-group/female employees may in itself represent unlawful exclusion

Examples of Affirmative Action and Institutional Discrimination

Height & weight requirements that are:
Unnecessarily geared to the physical proportions of White males
Seniority rules, when applied to jobs historically held only by white males
Nepotism-based membership policies
Restrictive employment leave policies

Examples of Affirmative Action and Institutional Discrimination

Rules requiring only English be spoken at the workplace
Standardized academic tests or criteria
Preferences shown by law and medical schools
Credit policies of banks and lending institutions

The Legal Debate

In the 1978 Bakke case (Regents of the University of California v Bakke)
By a narrow 5-4 vote, ordered the medical school of the University of California at Davis
To admit Allan Bakke, a qualified White engineer who had originally been denied admission
Solely on the basis of his race

Reverse Discrimination

An emotional term because it conjures up the notion that somehow:
Women and minorities will subject White men in the U.S. to the same treatment received by:
Minorities during the last three centuries

Reverse Discrimination

Supporters of affirmative action
Informal social networks, personal recommendations & family ties
White men will have a distinct advantage built on generations of being in positions of power

The Glass Ceiling

Barrier that blocks the promotion of a qualified worker
Because of gender or minority membership
Block lateral moves to areas from which executives are promoted
Contribute to women not moving to decision-making positions in nation’s corp. giants

The Glass Ceiling

Determinants of the Glass Ceiling
Lack of management commitment to establishing system, policies, and practices
For achieving workplace diversity and upward mobility
Pay inequities for work of equal or comparable value

The Glass Ceiling

Sex, race, and ethnic-based stereotyping and harassment
Unfair recruitment practices
Lack of family-friendly workplace policies
“Parent-track” policies
Limited opportunities for advancement to decision-making positions

The Glass Ceiling

Glass Escalator
Refers to the male advantage experienced in occupations dominated by women
Men who chose to enter female-dominated occupations are often rewarded with
Promotions and positions of responsibility coveted by their fellow female workers

Figure 3.5: Glass Ceilings and Glass Walls