Chapter 10: Ethnicity and Race

CHAPTER 10: ETHNICITY AND RACE

Chapter Overview

This chapter introduces students to the concepts of ethnicity and race. It discusses how race is culturally constructed and examines differences in the construction of race in Brazil, Japan, and the United States. The chapter also introduces the concepts of nation-state and nationality, and outlines the various sources and consequences of ethnic tolerance and conflict.

Chapter Objectives

1. Understand the difference between ascribed and achieved statuses.

2. Be able to distinguish between ethnicity and race.

3. Understand how race is constructed in the United States, and what the rule of hypodescent is.

4. Understand the Japanese concept of race and how it differs from the construction of race in the United States and Brazil.

5. Understand how race is constructed in Brazil and how it differs from conceptions of race in the United States and Japan. In particular, you should understand the fluidity of Brazilians’ concept of race.

6. Know what nation-states, nationalities, and imagined communities are.

7. Know the different ways that ethnic tolerance and accommodation may be achieved. You should know how these differ and the important attributes of each.

8. Be able to identify various sources and consequences of ethnic conflict.

Chapter Outline

I. Ethnic Groups and Ethnicity A. Members of ethnic groups share certain beliefs, values, customs, and norms because of their common background. 1. Ethnic groups may define themselves as different because of language, religion, historical experience, geographic isolation, kinship, or “race.” 2. Markers of an ethnic group may include a collective name, belief in common descent, a sense of solidarity, and an association with a specific territory which the group may or may not hold. B. Ethnicity means identification with, and feeling part of, an ethnic group and exclusion from certain other groups because of this affiliation. C. Status encompasses the various positions that people in society. 1. All people occupy multiple statuses, with particular ones dominating in particular settings. 2. Ascribed statuses are those that people have little or no choice about occupying (e.g., age, “race,” gender). 3. Achieved statuses—those that people acquire through their own choices, actions, efforts, talents, or accomplishments—may be positive or negative. D. Status Shifting 1. Some statuses, particularly ascribed ones, are mutually exclusive, while others are contextual. 2. Adjusting or switching one's status in different social contexts is called the situational negotiation of social identity. 3. In many societies ascribed statuses are associated with positions in the social- political hierarchy. a. So-called minority groups have less power and less secure access to resources than do majority groups. b. Ethnic groups often are minorities. 4. When an ethnic group is assumed to have a biological basis, it is called a race. 5. Discrimination against a race is called racism.

II. Race A. Race, like ethnicity, is a cultural category rather than a biological reality. 1. Ethnic groups, including “races,” derive from contrasts perceived and perpetuated in particular societies, rather than from scientific classifications based on common genes. 2. Only cultural constructions of race are possible, even though the average person conceptualizes “race” in biological terms. B. Most Americans fail to distinguish between ethnicity and race. C. Given the lack of a precise distinction between race and ethnicity, it is probably better to use the term “ethnic group” instead of “race” to describe any such social group.

III. Social Race A. Charles Wagley defined social races as groups assumed to have a biological basis but actually defined in a culturally arbitrary, rather than scientific, manner. B. Hypodescent: Race in the United States 1. In the United States, race is most commonly ascribed to people at birth, although not necessarily on the basis of heredity or genotype. 2. Rules of descent assign social identity on the basis of ancestry 3. In the United States, children of a union between members of different groups are automatically placed in the minority group; this rule of descent, known as hypodescent, is rare outside of the contemporary United States. 4. In the United States, there is a growing number of interracial, biracial, or multiracial individuals who do not identify only with one racial identity. C. Not Us: Race in Japan 1. Despite the presence of a substantial (10%) minority population, the dominant racial ideology in Japan portrays the country as racially and ethnically homogeneous. 2. The (majority) Japanese define themselves by opposition to others, whether minority groups in their own nation or outsiders—anyone who is “not us.” 3. Japanese culture regards certain ethnic groups, such as the burakumin, as having a biological basis even when there is no evidence that they do. a. Burakumin are descendants of a historically low-status social class. b. Despite the fact that burakumin are physically and genetically indistinguishable from the dominant population, they are stigmatized as a separate, inferior race. D. Phenotype and Fluidity: Race in Brazil 1. Compared to the United States and Japan, Brazil (as well as the rest of Latin America) has less exclusionary categories which permit individuals to change their racial classification. 2. Brazilian racial classification recognizes and attempts to describe the physical (phenotypical) variation that exists in the population. a. More than 500 distinct racial labels have been reported. b. In Brazil, racial classification is flexible; individuals’ racial labels may change along with their phenotypical characteristics because of environmental factors. c. The racial labels that people use to describe themselves or others can vary from day to day. 3. Although Brazil and the United States both have histories of slavery and “racial” mixing, no hypodescent rule ever developed in Brazil to ensure that whites and blacks (and other “races”) remained separate.

IV. Ethnic Groups, Nations, and Nationalities A. Nation and nation-state now refer to an autonomous, centrally organized political entity. B. Because of migration, conquest, and colonialism, most nation-states are not ethnically homogeneous. C. Nationalities and Imagined Communities 1. Nationalities are ethnic groups that once had, or wish to have or regain, autonomous political status (their own country). 2. Nationalities and nation-states are “imagined communities” (a term coined by Benedict Anderson) since most of their members, though they feel comradeship, will never meet. 3. In the 18th century, language and printed media (e.g., novels, newspapers) played a crucial role in the growth of European “imagined communities.” 4. Political upheavals, wars, and migration have divided many imagined national communities (e.g., Germany, Korea, the Kurds). 5. While colonialism often erected boundaries that corresponded poorly with preexisting cultural divisions, it also helped create new “imagined communities” beyond nations (e.g., the idea of négritude in West Africa). V. Ethnic Tolerance and Accommodation A. Assimilation 1. Assimilation occurs when a minority group adopts the patterns and norms of a dominant host culture to such an extent that it no longer exists as a separate cultural unit. 2. Assimilation may be forced depending on historical circumstances. B. The Plural Society 1. Interethnic contact does not inevitably lead to assimilation. 2. Fredrik Barth defines plural society as a society combining ethnic contrasts, ecological specialization (i.e., use of different environmental resources by each ethnic group), and the economic interdependence of those groups. 3. According to Barth, ethnic boundaries are most stable and enduring when groups occupy different ecological niches, do not compete, depend on each other’s activities, and exchange with one another. C. Multiculturalism and Ethnic Identity 1. Multiculturalism is the view of cultural diversity in a country as something good and desirable. 2. This view is opposed to assimilationism, which expects minorities to abandon their cultural traditions and values, replacing them with those of the majority population. 3. Basic aspects of multiculturalism at the government level are the official espousal of some degree of cultural relativism along with the promotion of distinct ethnic practices. 4. A number of factors have led the United States to move away from the assimilationist model and toward multiculturalism. a. Large-scale migration—driven by globalization as well as population growth and lack of economic opportunity in “less developed” countries—is introducing unparalleled ethnic variety to host nations, particularly the “developed” countries of North America and Europe. b. Ethnic identities are used increasingly to form self-help organizations focused on enhancing groups’ economic and political competitiveness and combating discrimination.

VI. Roots of Ethnic Conflict A. Prejudice and Discrimination 1. Prejudice is the devaluation of a group because of its assumed behavior, values, capabilities, or attributes. 2. People are prejudiced when they hold stereotypes (fixed, often unfavorable ideas about what the members of a group are like) about groups and apply them to individuals. 3. Discrimination refers to policies and practices that harm a group and its members. a. De facto discrimination is practiced but not legally sanctioned. b. De jure discrimination is part of the law. B. Chips in the Mosaic 1. In the 1992 Los Angeles riots following the Rodney King verdict, much of the violence played out along ethnic lines: African Americans attacked whites, Koreans, and Latinos, and Korean- and Latino-owned businesses were looted and destroyed. 2. This violence expressed frustration by African Americans about their prospects in an increasingly multicultural society. 3. The attitudes expressed by some African Americans following the riots suggest a shortcoming in the multicultural perspective: Ethnic groups (in this case African Americans) expect other ethnic groups in the same nation-state (e.g., Korean Americans) to assimilate to some extent to a shared national culture. C. Aftermaths of Oppression 1. A dominant group may try to destroy the cultures of certain ethnic groups (ethnocide) or force them to adopt the dominant culture (forced assimilation). 2. Ethnic expulsion aims at removing groups that are culturally different from a country. 3. Expulsion may create refugees, or people who have been forced (involuntary refugees) or who have chosen (voluntary refugees) to flee a country, to escape persecution or war. 4. Colonialism refers to the political, social, economic, and cultural domination of a territory and its people by a foreign power for an extended time. a. Because the frontiers imposed by colonialism usually did not reflect preexisting cultural units, colonial nation-building frequently resulted in ethnic strife. b. Cultural colonialism refers to internal domination—by one group and its culture/ideology over others (e.g., the domination over the former Soviet empire by Russian people, language, and culture, and by communist ideology).

VII. Box: The Basques A. Under the Franco dictatorship (1936-1975), the Basques were executed, imprisoned, and exiled, and Basque culture was systematically repressed. B. In the late 1950s disaffected Basque youths founded ETA, an organization that still exists and whose goal is complete Basque independence from Spain. C. In the past few decades, the Basques have gained greater political autonomy, and the Basque language has experienced a resurgence. D. Some 50,000 Basques now live in the United States, where many work as sheep herders. E. Basque Americans have suffered from some discrimination.

Lecture Topics

1. Discuss the nature of multiculturalism and assimilation in the United States throughout its history. What do you, and your students, think will happen to American multiculturalism in the future? 2. Compare various ethnic groups that are struggling for independence or autonomy (e.g., Palestinians, Basques, Kurds, Native American groups, Chechens, Northern Irish, etc.).

3. Discuss the implications of the fact that race is a cultural construct, not a biological reality. Why is it crucial to understand the arbitrary nature of racial classification systems?

4. Discuss the differences between genocide and ethnocide. Which tends to get more attention in the media? Is it possible to reverse the effects of ethnocide?

5. Discuss the various viewpoints in the debate over affirmative action. Encourage students to express their own opinions about this highly controversial topic.

Suggested Films

Affirmative Action: The History of an Idea 1996 56 minutes This film examines the history of affirmative action and the current debate over its role in society. Case studies presented include the University of California, Berkeley, which is attempting to maintain diversity without minority preferences, and the city of Chicago, where affirmative action policies in law enforcement are being challenged. From Films for the Humanities and Sciences.

Beyond Black and White: Affirmative Action in America 1999 58 minutes This film presents a discussion of affirmative action in America, moderated by Harvard Law School’s Charles Ogletree and including Ward Connerly, Christopher Edley, Jr., Julius Becton, Jr., Ruth Simmons, and policy activists from the African-American, Asian, Native American, and Latino communities. From Films for the Humanities and Sciences.

The Colors between Black and White 1994 14 minutes This film presents the work of Dutch biologist Ninian Hubert van Blijenburgh regarding the outdated and ineffective means by which humans create racial classifications. From Films for the Humanities and Sciences.

Interracial Marriage 1992 52 minutes This film explores issues associated with, and changing attitudes toward, interracial marriages. From Films for the Humanities and Sciences.

Racism and Antiracism Education 58 minutes This film investigates issues surrounding racism and education. The discussion is moderated by Harvard Law professor Charles Nesson and includes a Muslim leader, a college vice principal, and the directors of education for the Commission for Racial Equality and a London borough. Part of the series Minority Rights: Hypotheticals. From Films for the Humanities and Sciences.

Understanding Race 52 minutes This film explores the history and development of racial constructions by looking at scientific, historical, and cultural patterns. Issues discussed in the film include the biological unity of Homo sapiens; sanctioned segregation; and cultural biases based on racial stereotypes. A Discovery Channel Production.

Series: Nationalism: Blood and Belonging, The Rise of Ethnic Movements 6-part series 50 minutes each This series investigates the origin and essence of nationalism and the role it has played in ethnic civil wars around the world. Titles in the series: The Road to Nowhere: Yugoslavia; Dreaming a Nation: The Kurds; A Nation Returns: Germany; Lifting the Yoke: Ukraine; Mirror, Mirror: Northern Ireland; Reconquering the Conquest: Quebec. From Films for the Humanities and Sciences.

The Genocide Factor 4-part series 57 minutes each This series traces the history of genocide around the world. Viewer discretion is advised. Titles in the series: Genocide: From Biblical Times through the Ages; Genocide in the First Half of the 20th Century; Never Again? Genocide since the Holocaust; Genocide: The Horror Continues. From Films for the Humanities and Sciences.

The Mosaic Workplace: Managing the Multicultural Workplace 10-part series 15 to 40 minutes each This series explores issues associated with increasingly multicultural workplaces in the United States. Titles in the series: Why Value Diversity?; Understanding Our Biases and Assumptions; Men and Women Working Together; Sexual Harassment; Recruiting and Interviewing; Helping New Employees Feel Valued; Meeting the Diversity Challenge; Success Strategies for Minorities; The Future Is Now: Celebrating Diversity; Understanding Different Cultural Values and Styles. From Films for the Humanities and Sciences.

May the Road Rise to Meet You: The Irish-American Experience 1997 57 minutes The Irish immigrated to the United States in larger numbers than any other ethnic group. This film traces the experiences of Irish-Americans, from their arrival to the modern day, and explores the impact Irish culture has had on American culture. From Films for the Humanities and Sciences.

The Asianization of America 1993 26 minutes This film traces the experiences of Asian Americans in the United States from the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act to the present day. From Films for the Humanities and Sciences. Biculturalism and Acculturation among Latinos 1991 28 minutes This film explores Latinos’ struggle to fit into American society while maintaining their unique cultural heritage. From Films for the Humanities and Sciences.