Chapter 9

Racial and Ethnic Inequality

Chapter Outline

A Framework for Racial and Ethnic Inequality The Maintenance of Inequality: Basic

Processes Race and Ethnic Inequalities in the United

States The Future of Racial and Ethnic Inequality in

the United States Ethic Relations in Comparative Perspectives

Race and Ethnicity

Race refers to a category of people set apart due to physiological traits.

Ethnicity refers to a social group seen as sharing cultural traits, including language, styles of dress, and religion.

Ethnic and racial identities are social constructions.

The Social Construction of Race and Ethnicity

Race refers to presumed genetic transmission of physical characteristics.

Ethnicity refers to socialization into cultural characteristics.

The social construction of race and ethnicity is the process through which a culture defines what constitutes a race or an ethnic group.

The Semicaste Model

Derived from the conflict perspective. Social classes are hierarchically

ordered within racial categories. There is a black and a white upper,

middle, and lower class. Races display very similar orders of

internal inequality.  

The Semi-Caste Model

Patterns of Interaction

Interaction between majority and minority groups fall into four categories:

1. Conflict occurs when a struggle over scarce resources is not governed by shared “rules of engagement.”

2. Accommodation occurs when distinctive cultures or subcultures live in harmony.

Patterns of Interaction

3. Acculturation occurs when members of a minority group take on the culture of the majority group.

4. Assimilation has occurred when social distinctions between a majority and a minority group have fallen away.

% of Income of Families by Race and Ethnicity, 2000

Income QuintileAfrican

AmericanHispanic White

Poorest fifth 3% 4% 5%

Second fifth 9 9 10

Third fifth 16 15 16

Fourth fifth 25 23 23

Richest fifth 47 49 47

Factors Contributing to Prejudice

Cultural norms - may include hateful norms directed at racial or ethnic categories.

Institutional patterns - related to economic competition or conflict over scarce resources.

Personal factors - some personality patterns appear to encourage prejudice.

Relationships betweenPrejudice and Discrimination

Personality Factors That Lead to Prejudice

Authoritarianism - tendency to obey authorities however they may be legitimated.

Frustration - may result in seeking out scapegoats to blame.

Ideology of the American dream - encourages prejudice toward the socially disadvantaged.

White Ethnic Groups

Include French, Dutch, Spanish, and English.

Ethnicity is no longer a primary standard for stratification among whites.

The place of “unhyphenated whites” in the multicultural mix of the United States is not assured.

African-Americans

Largest minority group in the U.S., making up some 13% of the population.

Arrived involuntarily - as slaves. Most African Americans could trace

their ancestry in America to the early colonial period.

African-Americans and Social Conditions

Politics - proportion of blacks in public office remains quite small.

Education - 15% of blacks graduate from college (compared with 25% of whites)

Economic disadvantages: Low earnings and the number of female-headed families contribute to lower incomes levels.

Education by Race and Hispanic Origin, 2000

Poverty by Race and Hispanic Origin, 2000

Family Structure by Race and Hispanic Origin, 2000

 Hispanics

Majority are of Mexican heritage, Latinos have also arrived in America from Cuba, Puerto Rico, and many Central and South American nations.

Will make up about 20% of the U.S. population by the year 2050.

Hispanics

Rapid growth rates raises concerns:1. New immigrants are young and poorly

educated resulting in lower income levels.

2. Concerns among non-Hispanic Americans over competition for jobs.

3. Increasing immigration results in segregation.

Asian Americans

4% of the U.S. population. From Japan, China, South Asia, the

Philippines, and Southeast Asia. Have the highest average household

income of any major ethnic group. Japanese and Chinese-Americans

surpass whites in educational attainment.

Native Americans

Represent more than 200 tribal and linguistic traditions.

The most disadvantaged of ethnic groups.

Overall rates of suicide, alcoholism, and infant mortality are shockingly high on most Indian reservations.