RACE, ETHNICITY AND GENDER

Meaning and Nature of Race and Ethnicity

-According to Macionis, race is a socially constructed category composed of people who share biologically
transmitted traits that members of society consider important.
-According to Schaefer, race, ethnicity and religion serve as barriers to harmonious relationship between
groups and even nations.
-Sometimes, race is the language that also divides people. However, so pervasive are issues of race, ethnicity,
and religion that permeate every aspect of society.
-According to the Encyclopedia of Sociology, sociologists definitions of ethnicity has the following dimensions:
1. Ethnic groups are extended kinship groups although kinship may be defined loosely as based on a common
homeland rather than common ancestry.
2. Co-ethnics share a distinctive culture, marked by differences ranging from language and religion to styles of
dress or cooking. Distinctive culture may be primarily symbolic, as when a groups traditional language is no longer
widely used or its religious observance is confined to holidays.
3. An ethnic group shares a common history, in which key events such as immigration, colonization, etc. form a
sense of collective memory.
Minority Group
-Minority refers to groups subordinated in terms of power and privilege to the majority or dominant group.
-Macioinis defined minority as any category of people distinguished by physical or cultural difference that a
society sets apart and subordinates.
-To be minority, there must be a majority. The ff. are properties that characterize a minority group:
1. Minorities have physical or cultural characteristics that distinguish them from the dominant groups.
2. Membership in minority or majority groups is not voluntary.
3. Members of a minority group generally marry members of the same minority group.
4. Members of a minority group are aware of their subordinate status, a perception that may lead to strong
group solidarity.
5. Members of a minority group experience unequal treatment from the dominant group in the form of
prejudices, discrimination and segregation.
Types of Minority Groups
1. Racial Groups refer to those minorities and corresponding majorities who are classified according to obvious
physical differences.
2. Ethnic Groups are minority groups who are designated by their ethnicity based on cultural differences such as
language, attitudes toward marriage and parenting, and food habits, among others.
3. Religious Groups. Is a status of association with a religion other than the dominant faith.
4. Gender Groups. Males are the social minority. Females, although more numerous are relegated the position
of social minority.
Problems in Race and Ethnic Relations
1. Prejudice. Tischler define it as being down on something one is not up on. Prejudice results from a lack of
knowledge of or unfamiliarity with the subject. (subjective feeling)
2. Discrimination is a different treatment, usually unequal and injurious, accorded to individuals who are
assumed to belong to a particular category or group (overt action)
Merton identified four types of people manifesting various categories related to racial prejudice and
discrimination.
a. Unprejudiced non-discriminators
b. Unprejudiced discriminators
c. Prejudiced non-discriminators
d. Prejudiced discriminators
Causes of Prejudice
1. Stereotyping. Is the tendency to picture all members of a group in an oversimplified or exaggerated manner.
 2. Ethnocentrism. This occurs when one has the belief that his/her own race, nation or group is the best.
3. Scapegoating. This occurs when people have problems they cannot solve and feel frustrated.
4. Authoritarian personality. Often intolerant, highly conformist, submissive to superior, and bullying to
inferiors.
Patterns of Racial and Ethnic Intergroup Relations
-Pluralism occurs when ethnic and racial groups maintain their distinctiveness but treat one another with
respect.
-Assimilation occurs when a minority group becomes integrated into the dominant society.
-Ethnic struggle occurs when two or more groups in a society vie for power and privilege.
-Genocide considered the ultimate solution to intergroup conflict-the mass murder of an ethnic or racial group.
-Slavery refers to the treatment of a group of people as property rather than as persons.
-Subjugation is the subordination of one group and the assumption of a position of authority, power and
domination by the other.
-Segregation is actually a form of subjugation. It refers to the act, process or state of being set apart.
-Expulsion refers to the process of forcing a group to leave the territory where they reside.
-Annihilation refers to the deliberate practice of trying to exterminate a racial or ethnic group.
-The Apartheid in South Africa. The Apartheid has roots in slavery. It is seen by white leaders as a form of
pluralism.
Minority Group Responses
1. Accommodation refers to the process of living with patterns of racism in society.
2. Reform includes various strategies for improving the position of minority groups within the existing system.
3. Separatism or Nationalism involves emphasis on self-help and self-organization.
4. Rebellion and revolution is often a violent collective efforts to challenge or overthrow the prevailing system.
Other Minority Responses
-Avoidance means departing from ones minority group and becoming a member of the majority group.
-Acceptance means the majority of people in a minority ethnic or racial category generally accept their status.
-Assimilation into the majority takes place when members of the minority group eliminate their minority status
and become socially and culturally unified with the dominant group.
-Aggression varies sharply in different times and places. It sometimes appears as distorted preceptors of
majority-group members.
Gender Stratification
*Gender refers to personal traits and social positions that members of a society attach to being female and
male.
*Gender involves hierarchy of ranking of men and women thoroughly different from each other in terms of
power, wealth and other resources.
*Gender Stratification refers to the unequal distribution of wealth power and privilege between men and
women.
*Sex is a biological distinction that develops prior to birth.
Male-Female Differences
-Physically, men differ from women. However, women outperform men in the ultimate game of life.
-Male show greater mathematical ability and females in verbal skills, a difference which pertains to both biology
and socialization.
Gender in Global Perspective
1. Israeli Kibbutzim
2. Margaret Meads research
3. George Murdocks research
Patriarchy and Sexism
Patriarchy means rule of the father. Its a form of social organization in which males dominate females.
Sexism is a belief that one sex is innately superior to the other. It is the ideological basis of patriarchy.
Perspective on Sex Stratification
*Socialization
 *Learning gender identity
*Achievement Socialization
*Domestic Socialization
*Sexism
*Sexual Harassment
Feminist Theories
-Liberal Feminism
-Socialist Feminism
-Radical Feminism
Prospects for Change
Behavior changes slowly thats why traditional gender role is decreasing.