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SOME DEFINITIONS & FACTS
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| MINORITY GROUP |
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- unequal
treatment
- physical
or cultural characteristic(s) that are different
- not
voluntary membership
- group
solidarity strong
- tend
to marry within group
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| RACE (social construction) |
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 | set apart by physical differences, e.g. skin
colour, facial features |
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| ETHNICITY |
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| set apart by national origin or cultural patterns |
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| RACISM |
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| A system of advantage based on race or |
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Prejudice in terms of race plus power |
Dimensions
of racism:
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unconscious
- conscious |
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behaviour
- attitude |
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individual
- institutional |
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belief
systems - cultural systems |
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| RACE BLINDNESS |
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| Denial
of racial differences used to deny reality of racial inequality |
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PREJUDICE - thought level,
attitude |
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| To prejudge, to treating someone differently (negatively) because
of their group identity |
| Sociology of prejudice:
dimensions - socialization, economic competition, social norms,
stereotyping, media, humour |
| Psychology of prejudice: 3
levels - cognitive, emotional and action oriented |
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DISCRIMINATION - action level,
behaviour |
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| Denial of information, access, opportunity ... because of
our group identity |
| Levels in order of increasing levels of severity:
verbal expression, avoidance, exclusion, physical abuse,
extermination |
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| ETHNOCENTRISM |
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| belief that one’s culture is the best and
therefore the standard by which other cultures are consequently judged,
tendency to judge the customs of others according to one's own
cultural standards |
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| CULTURAL RELATIVISM |
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| appreciate other cultures on their own merits,
involves efforts to understand the world as seen by members of other
societies |
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CULTURAL OR IDEOLOGICAL
HEGEMONY |
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| control over the production of values & norms
by those in power, dominant group’s culture dominates culture |
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STEREOTYPE |
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| static and oversimplified ideas about a group or
social category; an unverified overgeneralization that we associate
with a group of people; generalizing traits from one person to entire
group |
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ETHNOPAULISM |
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| negative stereotype |
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SCAPEGOAT |
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| a weak, convenient, and socially approved target; finding
someone to blame for one's own misfortune |
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XENOPHOBIA |
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| Fear of strangers |
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ETHNOVIOLENCE |
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DIVERSITY |
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| All the ways we are different |
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| WHITENESS, The White Race |
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| The White Race is a social, political, legal construct. It
did not emerge historically as and is not based on biological phenomena. |
| While skin color has played a role in human interaction for
centuries and has frequently determined power relationships, but the concept of race is
relatively new. |
| Laws and punishments were created to keep European
indentured servants from building coalitions and associations with African slaves (and
vise versa). Keeping the "oppressed" apart solidified power and control by
owners. |
| European Americans in the United States generally gave/give
up their cultural and national identities to join the general category of
"White", which yields privilege and power. |
| Whiteness determined citizenship. Between 1790 and 1952,
only "white" persons could be naturalized. |
| Until 1931: If a "White" woman with US
citizenship married a non-white foreigner, she was automatically stripped of her
citizenship. |
| Until 1967 interracial marriage was prohibited in most
states |
See: White By Law, Ian F. Hanley Lopez |
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