Discrimination notes

Vocabulary:

  • Ascribed vs Achieved status
  • De facto vs de jure
  • Ethnocentrism
  • Race and racial categories
  • White ethnics - France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Poland
  • Institutional discrimination

Stereotypes vs Prejudices vs Discrimination

Merton:

Prejudiced discriminator:

"All weather Bigot"

Prejudiced non-discriminator:

"Timid Bigot"

Unprejudiced discriminator:

"Reluctant Liberal"

Unprejudiced non discriminator: 

"All weather Liberal"

Patterns of minority treatment

  • Amalgamation: A+B+C= D. America the Melting Pot?
  • Assimilation: A+B+C= A. Forced or voluntary; names, cultural practices, etc.
  • Expulsion/Transfer
  • Extermination/Genocide
  • Cultural Pluralism: A+B+C= A+B+C. Equal status and tolerance
  • Legal Protection
  • Segregation: forced, voluntary, and/or institutional
  • Subjugation

Minority Groups in the US

Hispanics

    • 10-14% of population
    • Growth
    • Language
    • Diversity

    African-Americans 

    • 12% of population
    • Poverty (1/3)
    • Income ~1/2 that of whites 
    • 20% of military, 25% of soldiers in the Gulf War
    • Legacy of slavery?
      • Little change past 30 years: Income, Health (infant mortality), Education, Residence
      • Criminal justice: 13% of current drug users, 35% of arrests for drug use, 55% of convictions, 70% of incarcerations

    Chinese

    • Less than 2% of population 
    • Railroad
    • Opium 
    • 1882 Exclusion Act
    • Change since WWII

    Native Americans 

    • 1% of population
    • Genocide
    • Reservations
    • Diverse groups--Pan-Indian Movement
    • Bleak--poverty, alcoholism, violence. 

    Japanese 

    • 1% of population
    • Recent arrival
    • Nisei (3rd generation) and assimilation
    • Internment and WWII
    • Denial of rights

    Indochinese:

    • very recent, esp. Vietnamese
    • Rejected
    • Dispersed
    • Asian-Americans: Model Minority

    Jews:

    • Anti-Semitism
    • Assimilation

    White Ethnics and WASP's


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