3 Stages of American Race Relations
William J. Wilson
1. Plantation Economy and Racial Caste Oppression social categories heavily influenced by the ideology of racism and “doctrine of paternalism”
2. Industrial Expansion, Class Conflict, and Racial Oppression some growth in African-American middle-class in urban areas. Incomes and lifestyles notably different from white middle-class
3. Progressive transition from Racial Inequalities to Class Inequalities…this new middle-class were leaders in civil rights Created an illusion that once middle class constraints were removed, constraints were gone for poor African Americans.
Symbolic Interactionist Perspective –
Contact Hypothesis the following should be present
1 – groups should possess equal status
2 – groups should seek common goals
3 – groups should feel the need to pull together
4 – authority, law and custom should support positive interaction between groups.
Without
these in place, contact can be negative, even deadly – Gordon Allport
Functional
Perspective –
How do groups fit in to the overall society?
Assimilation
Pluralism (Accommodation)
Pluralism without acceptance (Segregation)
Can’t account for continued inequality,
discrimination, segregation
Bogardus Social Distance Scale:
Degree of willingness to interact and establish relationship with those of another race.
Bobo and Kluegel – if behaviors change – attitudes will follow over time. Younger, better educated are less likely to scale high in social distance
Ethnic Identity – some feel strongly – others less so. Small groups with little power, distinctive appearance, and object of discrimination may feel stronger sense of identity.
WASPS
White Ethnics
African Americans
(
Latino Americans
Asian Americans
Native Americans
Middle Easterners
See your book for major characteristics of each group
Theories of Prejudice:
Dollard
Frustration from unmet goals – unable to strike out at the real source of their frustration
Aggression – strike out at those without power to resist
Scapegoating – placing the blame for one’s troubles on some relatively powerless group (e.g., Witch hunts, Holocaust, “Yellow Fever”)
Adorno:
Authoritarian personality type – rigid thinkers, highly prejudiced, see world as threatened. Rank high on scales of conformity, intolerance, insecurity, respect for authority, and submissiveness to superiors.
Stereotyping – a rigid mental image that summarizes without taking into account individual aspects (e.g., “All blonds are dumb” “All African Americans are good athletes” “All women are emotional.”)
Hartley – 1946 Wallonians, Dinerians, and Perenians Significance of Hartleys study: Prejudice does not depend upon negative experiences. Humans have shown a universal ability to be prejudiced against people they have never met.
Merton’s Types
All-weather bigots or prejudice discriminator
Fair weather bigots and prejudiced
Fair weather liberals but discriminators
All weather liberals and not prejudiced or discriminator
Theories of Prejudice – The “Cycle,” Dollard and Adorno
Individual versus Institutional versus Legal Discrimination individual (negative treatment of one person by another) institutional (negative treatment of minority group that’s built into social institutions – e.g., hiring practices)
(de facto)
legal – built into laws and more severe buy easier to abolish
(de jure)
Feagin – 4 major types of discrimination
Isolate – Intentionally harmful action by an individual from the dominant group
Small group – Intentionally harmful action by a limited number from the dominant group
Institutionalized – Intentional
Institutionalized – Unintended harm but harm none-the-less
Patterns of Intergroup relations
Genocide – systematic annihilation (Native Americans)
Population transfer – involuntary movement of group or indirect transfer by making life so miserable a group leaves
Internal Colonialism – exploitation – denying access
Segregation – keeping groups apart (often accompanies all the above)
Pluralism – encourages ethnic variation – i.e., accommodation
Assimilation – process of absorption into “mainstream” can be slow and voluntary or fast mandatory (various types)
See you power point
from Dr. H
Race – perceived biological characteristics that distinguish a people
2 myths about race
1 – that one is superior
2 – that there is a “pure” race of any type
Race is real in that – “we all live racially structured lives”
Ethnicity – perceived cultural characteristics that distinguish a people
Minority – groups versus Dominant groups
Minority groups are people singled out for unequal treatment by the dominant group (the group with the most power – may or ma not be a numerical majority)
Minority groups share some important characteristics worldwide
1. Membership is ascribed
2. Physical or cultural rights distinguish them – the traits are often held in low esteem by the dominant group
3. Unequally treated
4. tend to marry within their own group
5. tend to feel strong group solidarity
Ethnic Groups share characteristics – these are very similar to about – because they are often the minority group
1. Unique cultural traits
2. A sense of community
3. A feeling of ethnocentrism
4. Ascribed membership
5. Territoriality
Race and Ethnicity
One Race:
Race is not a scientific fact – it varies from place to place and over time.
Sociological definition of race:
Based upon how societies perceive and define groups of people as biologically different.
Internal Colonialism – once colonized or conquered, placed under forced control – then lost property, political rights, and culture
Can’t account for
unequal treatment of voluntary immigrants
Split-labor
Division of the economy into primary occupations (usually held by the dominant group) and secondary labor market (jobs with little security and hazardous working conditions)
Often associated with symbolic racism – subtle beliefs that oppose institutional attempts to correct discrimination – built upon socialization that leads Americans to believe that everyone now has an equal chance.
By itself, split-labor theory can’t account for the interaction of race, gender, and class.
Gendered Racism – e.g., dual job market is not just race and ethnic typed, but also gender-typed (e.g., pink collar ghetto)
Signs that in the U.S. Multi-culturalism has arrived…
1. Ethnic restaurants
2. Different religions co-existing
3. By
21st Century “Average” American will trace ancestry to almost
anywhere but
4. Language battles reflect growing pains
5. Affirmative Action challenged
6. Changing balance of power – evidence of rethinking traditional views of history
Gender
How are males and
females different?
- females outlive males, males are stronger and generally larger
- females learn to speak sooner, use sentences earlier, score higher is tests of verbal fluency, grammar and spelling, males are better with spatial tasks and math
Gender – is a social characteristic and varies from one society to another. Gender serves as a sorting device by which society controls it’s members (i.e., gender norms)
Why are women often considered a minority group?
· Historically they have experienced discrimination as a group even though they outnumber men
· Murdoc surveyed 324 pre-modern societies- found sex typed activities in all of them, although what is considered a male activity in one society, can be considered a female activity in another. Regardless, those defined as male were more valued.
·
Gender
inequality in the
· Inequalities of our recent past – right to vote, own property, testify in court, serve on a jury, right to receiving the paycheck for labor instead of the father or husband receiving it.
How does gender
inequality continue today?
Education
Schools – teachers have been shown to treat boys and girls differently
Sports – greater prestige in male sports
Higher education aspirations (92% of home economics degrees are awarded to females) (86% engineering degrees are males)
Historical View of Gender Stratification 3 Factors
1- type of subsistence base
2- supply and demand for labor
3- extent to which women’s child rearing activities shape work
Why Patriarchy – male dominance?
Birth – tasks kept women closer to home, war, trade, hunting took, men away from home for extended periods, gained prestige by returning with food, goods, artifacts from other cultures, prisoners
Prehistoric times – threats of annihilation by other group, recruitment was needed to fight. Men were bigger, stronger, thus coaxed into bravery by promises of rewards.
Pastoral/Horticultural – in many cases, women were the rewards – sometimes polygamy, menstrual taboos, bride wealth
Women were conditioned early on to adhere to male demands
- Most extreme form of inequality developed in Agrarian society – farming required more strength, men become more involved in the food production.
- Developed along with the origin of private property.
- Ownership was limited to males and gave them extraordinary powers
- Seclusion and subordination led to practices like: foot binding, suttee, genital mutilation (still practiced in more then 25 countries)
Industrial – status declines further with non-paid work, lower wages, cult of womanhood, domesticity mobility no longer dependent upon just wealth – now power and prestige – and control over others and self
Schools –
Gender bias –
Teachers devote more time, effort and attention to boys
4 types of comments from teachers
· praise, acceptance, remediation, criticism
· boys received more of all four types
African American males may receive the most unfavorable treatment
For girls….
How do student-teacher interactions affect self-esteem?
1. lack of attention
2. sexual harassment by boys
3. invisibility and stereotyping of girls in textbooks
4. test bias
College – Male professors versus Female
A “chilly climate” for women – Why?
Today’s Workplace
1900 – only 1 in 5 women worked, today almost 60% work (over age 16)
Females are today almost half the workforce
Males and females have different job expectations both want good $$, status, security
Females place greater values on jobs that give opportunity to make decision, challenges….
Males – greater value on slower pace and leisure
The women in this class can expect to earn $630,000 less than their male counterparts with the same education.
Some reasons for the narrowing gap since 1979
“Glass Ceiling” – an invisible barrier to moving up in a corporation. Even in companies where more then 50% are women, only 5% become senior management. “Glass walls” prevent women from moving laterally into core positions from which senior executives are chosen.
Networks – “old boy” versus “old girl”
“Fast track” (requires 60-70 hrs per week, travel, etc.)
“Mommy track” (stresses both career and family)
problems – might perpetuate or increase pay gap
- encourages women to be satisfied with lower aspirations and fewer promotions
-
men and women should
have tracks that allow each of them to share (corps. Don’t provide “daddy” or
“daddy and mommy” tracks so that they can share the responsibilities of home and career.
· Rape – 83 of every 100,000 women are raped
· Perpetrators are almost exclusively young males
· Some of these are date rapes although it is estimated that most date rapes go unreported – usually between couples that have
Been together for about a year. These are the most difficult to prosecute.
Human Capital – Some basic assumptions: the market is open, competitive, and non-discriminatory
Workers vary in the amount of human capital they bring to their jobs (e.g., acquired education, job training, overall potential for productivity, etc.)
From this perspective: what people earn is a result of their own choices. (the kinds of training and education they’ve accumulated) what people earn is a result of labor market need (demand) for and availability (supply) of particular kinds of workers
Women diminish their HC when they engage in childbearing, care-give parents, have to call in sick for child-care, etc…
While out of the workplace, their HC is deteriorating from nonuse.
When they return to work, they earn less then men because they’ve not invested the years of experience (Women spend on average, 9 years less in the workplace)
Their education and training have become obsolete.
Sex Segregation – concentration of women in occupations they pay lower wages. When large numbers of women move into certain occupations, the wages are lowered overall.
½ pay gap result from Human Capital – the other 50 percent from discrimination (direct or indirect)
e.g., elementary teaching, care giving occupations, etc.
Don’t worry about the items below
The Aged:
Common Myths
1. Old people are usually senile.
2. Older workers are not as productive as younger ones.
3. Most old people live in poverty
4. Most old people are lonely.
5. Most old people end up in nursing homes and other institutions
6. Most old people have no interest in or capacity for sexual relations.
7. Most old people are set in their ways and unable to change.
8. Most old people feel miserable.
The Aged: Realities
1. Most old people do not experience a loss of intelligence or rationality; only about ten percent suffer even a mild loss of memory.
2. On most measures of productivity, older workers are as productive as younger ones, despite some decline in perception and reaction speed.
3. Compared with the population as a whole, the aged are less likely to be poor, primarily because they have many sources of income.
4. In surveys, the majority of the aged say they are never or hardly ever lonely
5. Although about a quarter of aged Americans will spend some time in a nursing home, less then 5 % are institutionalized at any particular time.
6. Most old people maintain their sexual interest and capacity.
7. The majority of the aged manage to adjust to changes such as their children leaving home, their own illness, and impeding death.
8. Some studies have found no significant difference among age group in happiness, morale, or life satisfaction.
Aging
Gerontology – is the study of chronological aging
3 components to aging process:
Bological (senescence)
Psychological (crystalline vs. fluid) fluid – the ability to grasp concepts like math, etc.
Social
Sexual practices, Work, Diet, Social Integration
Gerontocracy – some cultures are run by the elderly
e.f., Tiwi tribe, Eskimo society but “Death hastening activities”
13% over age 65
life expectancy increasing =
“Graying
of
highest proportion in
elderly lose status in our society
“role-less role” below 16 and above 65
Social Factors we
must face at the turn of the century:
· Sex and race have profound effects on life expectancy
· females = 42% live alone, males = 16% live alone
· today 5 to 1 ratio for social security
·
In the year 2000 3 to 1 ratio and most payees
will be non-white
·
Why so important?
·
62% over 65 receive over ½ income from social
security
Ageism – prejudice, discrimination toward people because of age
Negative stereotypes – Media representations (negative and scarce)
Loss of prestige
Technology, machinery make elderly seem obsolete
Mass communication left many out
Death was once common at any age – not it’s expected with aging
Obsession with health/youthfulness
Mortality
Sociological theories of Aging Process
Disengagement
Elderly vacate positions voluntarily
Rewarded with retirement plans
Activity
Examines people’s reations as one set of roles are exchanged for another may or may not be positive for the individual especially if they are no longer allowed to be active social class affects activity level and thus, health and longevity
Conflict
· Struggle between groups for scarce resources
· Social security is a prime example
· 1920’s – 1930’s – 2/3 of all over 65 had no savings – in poverty – political battles resulted in national sales tax proposal
· Instead we got social security from congress resulted from conflict, not generosity
· AARP – over 28 million members
Last Quiz with the correct answer listed
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