Race & Ethnicity Current Event

Find a current event that relates to the chapter being covered this week. Briefly summarize the current event and how it relates to the chapter we are covering. You may choose something related to politics, celebrities, local news, etc. but whatever it is make sure that it is not a conspiracy theory and comes from a legitimate site and that the event can be verified. This should be a minimum of 1 page double spaced 12point font.

Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 20

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Race

Chapter 3

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Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 2019.
Racism
A system of advantage and disadvantage based on race
Ideologies can make it difficult to accept that racial inequality continues
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Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 2019.
Race
Social construction that uses certain traits to organize people into hierarchies
Traits may be physical, religious, cultural, or socioeconomic
Constructions entrenched in social structures and organizations
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Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 2019.
Color-blind Racism
Race is irrelevant
Racial discrimination a thing of the past
Problems minorities encounter must stem from individual inadequacies
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Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 2019.
Ethnicity
Cultural heritage
Often connected to nationality
May be associated with languages, surnames, holidays, and clothing styles
A continuum of strength from thick to thin
Symbolic ethnicity
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Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 2019.
Minority Group
Refers to the group’s share of power and resources not size
Women are a numerical majority but lack the income and political power of men
People of color are the majority globally, but they hold minority status in the United States
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Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 2019.
Immigration Patterns
U.S. view of immigrants has shifted based on time period and race/country of origin
Racialization: caricatures in popular media
Early immigration laws explicitly racist

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Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 2019.
DREAM Act
Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM)
Could have prevented deportation of 2 million foreign-born people raised in United States
Granted a 6-year period to either join the military or attend college
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Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 2019.
Income, Wealth, and Race
Even among socioeconomically similar individuals, the U.S. White majority enjoys racial privilege in income and wealth
Tokenistic fallacy
Examples: Oprah, Barack Obama
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Tokenistic fallacy: because a few members of a minority group have achieved equality with majority counterparts, the group no longer experiences racial disadvantage
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Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 2019.
Institutional Discrimination
Social institutions’ policies/practices that favor members of the majority group while systematically disadvantaging others
May not be racially intended
Sometimes difficult to identify
Results in “sedimentation of racial inequality”

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Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 2019.
Jim Crow
System of racialized segregation that existed from 1865 to late 1960s.
Blacks often remained unable to:
own their own labor
testify as witnesses
obtain an equal education
vote
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Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 2019.
New Jim Crow (Alexander 2012)
Criminal justice system acts as the major enforcer of Jim Crow today
Keeps predominantly non-Whites at the bottom of a racial caste system
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Example: White crack users more likely to be sentenced to treatment than prison; only 25% were arrested compared to 63% of Black users (Beckett et al., 2005).
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Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 2019.
Internalized Racism
Occurs when people of color buy into the dominant ideology and view themselves as inferior
Example: police officers of color
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Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 2019.
Health by Race and Ethnicity
In the United States, many health outcomes are worse for racial minorities than Whites
Environmental racism
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Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 2019.
Race and Structural Functionalism
Minorities must assimilate into the dominant culture
Poor integration harmful to social equilibrium
Segmented assimilation
Bumpy line assimilation: “thick” or “thin” ties to parents’ culture of origin
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Segmented assimilation, three types: traditional, downward, or hybrid
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Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 2019.
Race and Conflict Theory
W. E. B. Du Bois’s double consciousness
Blacks simultaneously understand themselves as fully capable humans, and the majority group’s obscured perception of them
Similar to White privilege

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Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 2019.
Race and Conflict Theory
Bonacich’s split labor market theory:
The (White) capitalist class divides the working class by race
Keeps workers from uniting to demand better pay and benefits
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Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 2019.
Race and Conflict Theory
Du Bois’s psychological wage
White capitalists make White workers feel superior to non-Whites
Keeps them from realizing they do not earn much more than the workers they look down upon
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Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 2019.
Race and Symbolic Interaction
Contact hypothesis (Allport, 1954)
The more intergroup contact, the less likely they are to be prejudiced
Contact most effective when:
People are of equal status
Contact is regular, sanctioned by an authority

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Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 2019.
Race and Symbolic Interaction
Stereotype threat (Steele, 1995; 1997)
Occurs when minorities’ self-concepts and performance on tasks are harmed by societal stereotypes that portray them as less competent than other racial groups
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Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 2019.
Spatial Mismatch Theory
Postindustrial jobs moved to suburbs, where poor Blacks couldn’t afford to live
Modern jobs more likely to require advanced education
Feminization of poverty
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Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 2019.
Color-Blind Racism
Tendency to focus on anything but race as the source of problems
Makes it increasingly difficult to address problems
Antiracism: the active struggle against racism
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