Chapter Summary

Chapter 3: RACIAL AND ETHNIC INEQUALITY

Race is one of the most diverse social problems facing the United States today. Related to race, but not as pronounced in the difference in treatment by the dominant group, is ethnicity. Racial pertains to a category of people who have been singled out, by others or themselves, as inferior or superior, on the basis of subjectively selected physical characteristics such as skin color, hair texture, and eye shape. An ethnic group is a category of people who are distinguished, by others or by themselves, as inferior or superior, primarily on the basis of cultural or nationality characteristics.

Racial and ethnic classifications have been used for political, economic, and social purposes in the United States since colonial times. The standards for these classifications have usually been based on purely subjective criteria, including the “one-drop rule,” the fraction method, and “eyeball test.” Although the government uses racial classification based primarily on skin color, the U. S. Census now permits respondents to place themselves in more than one racial category. Sociologically, groups are classified as being dominant or subordinate to identify power relationships that are based on perceived racial, ethnic, or other attributes and identities. In the United States the dominant group is associated with the concept of white skin privilege; a term for preferential treatment afforded a person because of European (white) heritage.

At the heart of racial and ethnic differences are attitudes, beliefs, and practices that accompany the relationship between different categories of people. Racism and ethnocentrism are used to justify the superior treatment one group exercises over another and to defend the assumption that one’s own group is superior to all others. Prejudice is a negative attitude based on faulty generalizations about members of selected racial and ethnic groups while discrimination is the unfair treatment directed against them. Discrimination can be either individual or one-on-one acts or institutional which refers to the accepted day-to-day practices of organizations and institutions of society.

Sociologists have developed different perspectives to explain why racial and ethnic inequality occurs and why they persist. These perspectives include theories based on social-psychological factors, functionalism, conflict, symbolic interactionism, and other sociological factors. The social-psychological perspectives rely on the frustration-aggression hypothesis, scapegoat theory, and authoritative personality theory to explain prejudice. The symbolic interactionist perspective relies heavily on racial socialization. Functionalism addresses assimilation based on the melting pot model or the Anglo-conformity model, ethnic pluralism, and segregation. The conflict perspective emphasizes the role of the capitalist class in racial exploitation, racial inequality based on gender oppression, internal colonialism, and the theory of racial formation.

All subordinate groups in the United States, whether they are racial or ethnic, have suffered differential treatment. Some have been treated with greater hostility and for longer periods of time than others. Native Americans numbered approximately 15 million at the time Columbus arrived in the West Indies in 1492. Through conquest, domination, and exploitation the Native Americans were almost exterminated. Today they number approximately 2.5 million with most Native Americans living in California, Arizona, and New Mexico. African Americans comprise 13 percent of the United States population and account for 36 million people. Discrimination aimed at African Americans is often based on the “demonization” of blackness. The enslavement of African Americans to provide forced labor on Southern plantations began in 1619. Although officially abolished in 1863, discrimination against African Americans continued through de jure and de facto segregation. Jim Crow laws were passed in the South to legally prohibit the mixing of races by establishing “separate but equal” schools and other facilities. Through the civil rights movement, segregation based on law or custom was declared unconstitutional. Even so, African Americans are still subjected to differential treatment, have unemployment rates twice as high as white Americans, and earn less than most other members of American society. Latinos/as or Hispanic Americans number more than 37 million people, qualifying them as the largest minority or subordinate group in the United States. Almost two-thirds of this population is of Mexican origin. Other Latinos/as trace their heritage to Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Central and South America. Latinos/as average higher unemployment rates than non-Latinos/as whites. They also have lower average wages, lower annual incomes, and poorer working conditions. More than one-fifth of Latinos/as are classified as being in poverty. Asian and Pacific Americans are often stereotyped as “the model minority” because of their technical and professional status, level of education, and middle- or upper-class occupations. Even so, Asian and Pacific peoples have also been subjected to discrimination, beginning shortly after they arrived in America in the mid 1800s. In 1882 Congress passed the Chinese Exclusionary Act making Chinese immigration illegal. During World War II, Americans of Japanese ancestry were interned in concentration camps, regardless of how long they had been American citizens. It is noteworthy that German-Americans and Italian-Americans were never subjected to a similar fate under the justification of national security.

Sociologists advocate several different strategies to reduce racial and ethnic inequalities. These strategies are based on the three primary sociological perspectives of functionalism, conflict, and symbolic interactionism. Functionalists suggest restructuring social institutions to reduce discrimination and diffuse racial-ethnic conflict. This approach advocates the investment of time and money to eliminate institutionalized discrimination in education, housing, employment, and the criminal justice system. From a conflict perspective, racial and ethnic inequality can be reduced only through struggle and political action. Conflict theorists believe that if inequality is based on the exploitation of subordinate groups by the dominant group, political intervention is necessary to bring about economic and social change. Symbolic interactionists believe prejudice and discrimination are learned behavior, and what is learned can be unlearned.

The future treatment of racial and ethnic groups in the United States is uncertain. There is optimism that greater equality will develop as the U.S. population becomes increasingly diverse.