Sociology: Race, Ethnicity, and Prejudice

Race

• Refers to blood/kinship/family ties, tribal or ethnic connections (biological matters)
• Also refers to power, authority, politics, and government (law and politics)
• Includes social aspects (self and others)
• Sometimes defined legally (e.g., 1/8th black)

Ethnicity

• Language: Race groups often don't share a common language
• Includes land, religion, customs/traditions
• Encompasses intersectionality

Prejudice

• Four types of people regarding prejudice:
  • Unprejudiced non-discriminators
  • Prejudiced discriminators (active bigots) - who preach intolerance and practice exclusion.
  • Unprejudiced discriminators (bystanders) - free from prejudice but will not speak up against it openly.
  • Prejudiced non-discriminators (timid bigots) - believe in prejudice but will not openly advocate for it.
• Prejudice is an irrational negative attitude towards certain groups and their members

Discrimination

• Discrimination is differential treatment that is often unequal and harmful towards people from a particular group.
• Minority groups are singled out due to physical or cultural characteristics and face unequal treatment and less access to power and resources.

Modes of Relations

• Assimilation - individuals try to force their beliefs/culture on others, making themselves feel like they are insiders.
• Segregation - makes individuals feel like outsiders.
• Expulsion - forcing a group to leave their territory.
• Subjugation - subordinating a group through economic and political dominance.
• Annihilation (genocide) - deliberate extermination of a racial or ethnic group.

Sex and Gender Roles

• Biological reproductive roles
• Social constructions of gender roles (e.g., Aristotle, Confucius and examples from their works)
• Judeo-Christian patriarchy - pervasive domination of women in various multi-cultural settings (family, religion, politics, economy, academia)

Population Growth

• Current global population: 8.2 billion
• Factors behind population growth:
  • Lower mortality rates
  • Higher fertility rates
  • Increased life expectancy (due to nutrition and medicine).
• Impact of population growth: Resource scarcity and the need to maintain ecosystems
• Urbanization -shift from agriculture to manufacturing, increasing the number of people living in urban areas. This shift also correlates to the rise of cosmopolitanism in the world.

Suburbanization

• Causes: mass production of cars, development of interstate highways, mortgages, political unrest, and migration away from the city centers, mainly by upper and middle class.
• Consequences: poverty, unemployment, crime, collapse of school systems. Hyper-segregation by socioeconomic class and race

Ecosystem

• A complex, interconnected network of living and non-living things, and its functions include maintaining the living things and the exchange between living and nonliving things.
• The environment surrounds and affects living creatures.
• Sustainablility, health, and access to resources.
• Carrying capacity refers to the upper limit on population growth due to environmental resource constraints. Exceeding capacity leads to resource depletion.

Affluence

• High levels of wealth and comfort put a strain on resources, and people consume the Earth's resources and pollute the environment.

Technology

• Technological developments can improve and make processes more efficient, such as increasing the consumptive use of resources like energy. However, they can also contribute to environmental problems, like pollution. New products may bring increased consumption of resources like energy.

Population and Environmentalism

• Theories on environmentalism based on the relation between population and other issues such as religion, and culture

Theories on Religion

• Religion is a system of beliefs, practices, and values that people share.
  • Sacred aspects (e.g. places, symbols, objects)
  • Functions of religion: defining the sacred, explaining life, offering salvation, providing guidelines for everyday life, social control, and adaptation to different cultures.
  • Dysfunctions of religion: Justification for persecution (e.g., the Inquisition, witch hunts and war/terrorism)

Elements of Religion

• Ritual and prayers (ceremonies or processions)
• Emotion (meditation, worship, consciousness)
• Beliefs (about the divine and/or mediums of communication) and organization
• The sacred versus the profane

Conflict Theories on Religion

• Man creates religion, not the other way around
• Religion can be the result of oppression and alienation.
• Religion often legitimizes social inequalities (e.g. slavery, discrimination against women).

Education Functions

• Cultural transmission of societal knowledge to future generations
• Development of academic and vocational skills
• Research and innovation
• Child care and other social services

Hidden Curriculum

• Social attitudes and values taught in schools that prepare students to fit in society.
• The formal and informal content of a school's curriculum.

Global Inequality and Colonialism

• Colonialism:
  • Colonies of settlement (eliminating indigenous people)
  • Colonies for rule (imposing inequalities to facilitate exploitation)
• Adverse impacts of colonialism: cultural and physical genocide, introduction of tensions, extracting resources/labor.
• Policy issues: access, budgeting, school violence and segregation.

Decolonization

• Colonial division of labor and social organization of labor
• Decolonization examples: Haitian Revolution, African Independence movements
• The three world system (first, second, third worlds)
• Decolonization and rethinking economic sovereignty:
  • Development of economic independence
• Strategies and emphasis on economic growth, industrialization, and import substitution.

Inequality in Postcolonial Societies

• Stubborn dependence on limited commodities
• Global market pressures (vulnerability to market shocks)
• Conflicts, poverty, and inequality
• Massive outmigration of skilled and unskilled labor
• Persistent inequalities in wealth, resources, and social power in former colonies resulting from the socio-economic structures developed during colonial rule.

Explore the complex concepts surrounding race, ethnicity, and prejudice in this insightful quiz. Learn about the distinctions between these terms, the various types of prejudiced individuals, and the implications of discrimination. Perfect for anyone looking to deepen their understanding of social dynamics and inequality.