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What Characterizes Race and Ethnic Groups?

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What Characterizes Race and Ethnic Groups? 236 Inequality Shiite Muslims are dominant in numbers and now also in What Characterizes power, but they were a minority under Saddam Hussein’s Race and Ethnic Groups? Sunni rule. Map 8.1 indicates the location of major minor- ity groups in the United States today, although you should be aware that the density of groups in a particular location Migration, war and conquest, trade, and intermarriage have changes over time. left virtually every geographical area of the world populated by Dominant groups are not always a numerical majority. groups of people with varying ethnicities. In this section, we In the case of South Africa, advanced European weapons consider characteristics that set groups apart, especially groups placed the native African Bantu population under the rule that fall at the lower end of the stratification system. of a small percentage of white British and Dutch descen- dants in what became a complex system of planned dis- crimination called apartheid. Until recently, each major Minority Groups group—white, mixed colored, and black—had its own living area, and members carried identification cards show- Several factors characterize minority groups and their ing the “race” to which they belonged. In this case, racial relations with dominant groups in society (Dworkin and classification and privilege were defined by the laws of the Dworkin 1999): dominant group. 1. Minority groups are distinguishable from dominant groups due to factors that make them different from The Concept of Race the group that holds power. Racial minority is one of the two types of minority groups 2. Minority groups are excluded or denied full par- most common in the social world. A race is a group identi- ticipation at the meso level of society in economic, fied by a society because of certain biologically inherited political, educational, religious, health, and recre- physical characteristics. However, in practice, it is impos- ational institutions. sible to accurately identify racial types. Most attempts at 3. Minority groups have less access to power and racial classifications have been based on combinations of resources within the nation and are evaluated less appearance, such as skin color and shade, stature, facial favorably based on their characteristics as minority features, hair color and texture, head form, nose shape, group members. eye color and shape, height, and blood or gene type. Our 4. Minority groups are stereotyped, ridiculed, con- discussion of race focuses on three issues: (1) origins of demned, or otherwise defamed, allowing dominant the concept of race, (2) the social construction of race, and group members to justify and not feel guilty about (3) the significance of race versus class. unequal and poor treatment. 5. Minority groups develop collective identities among Origins of the Concept of Race members to insulate themselves from the unaccepting world; this in turn perpetuates their group identity by In the 18th and 19th centuries, scientists attempted to creating ethnic or racial enclaves, intragroup marriages, divide humans into four major groupings—Mongoloid, and segregated group institutions such as churches. Caucasoid, Negroid, and Australoid—and then into more than 30 racial subcategories. In reality, few individuals fit clearly into any of these types. The next Sociology in Your Social World provides insight into the origins of racial cat- Thinking Sociologically egories that have had a major impact on history and form the basis for many conflicts today. Look again at the list of minority group characteristics above. From the earliest origins in East Africa more than How might people be affected at the micro, the meso, and 7 million years ago, humans slowly spread around the the macro levels of society, depending on their membership globe, south through Africa, north to Europe, and across in dominant or minority groups? Asia. Many scholars believe humans crossed the Bering Straits from Asia to North America around 20,000 BCE and continued to populate North and South America (Diamond 1999:37). Physical adaptations of isolated groups to their Because minority status is determined by history and environments originally resulted in some differences in ideology, the minority group could be the dominant group physical appearance—skin color, stature, hair type—but in a different time or society. Throughout England’s his- mixing of peoples over the centuries has left few if any tory, wars and assassinations changed the ruling group isolated “pure” races, only gradations as one moves around from Catholic to Protestant and back several times. In Iraq, the world. Thus, the way societies choose to define race has Chapter 8. Race and Ethnic Group Stratification: Beyond “We” and “They” 237 Minority Group with Highest Percent of State Population Excluding the category “White, not Hispanic” Asian Black Hispanic Native American Two or more ethnic groups, not Hispanic Map 8.1 Prevalence of Minority Ethnic Groups in the United States come about largely through what is culturally convenient is not true of any group of human beings. So what is the for the dominant group. problem? In the 1970s, the United Nations, concerned about racial conflicts and discrimination, issued a “Statement on Social Construction of Race: Race” prepared by a group of eminent scientists from around Symbolic Interaction Analysis the world. This and similar statements by scientific groups point out the harmful effects of racist arguments, doctrines, Why are sociologists concerned about a concept that has little and policies. The conclusion of their document upheld scientific accuracy and is ill defined? The answer is its social that (1) all people are born free and equal both in dignity significance. The social reality is that people are defined or and in rights, (2) racism stultifies personal development, define themselves as belonging to a group based in part on (3) conflicts (based on race) cost nations money and physical appearance. As individuals try to make meaning of the resources, and (4) racism foments international conflict. social world, they may learn from others that some traits—eye Racist doctrines lack any scientific basis, as all people or nose shape, hair texture, or skin color—are distinguishing belong to the same species and have descended from the traits that make people different. Jean Piaget, famous cognitive same origin. In summary, problems arising from race rela- psychologist, described the human tendency to classify objects tions are social, not biological, in origin; differential treat- as one of our most basic cognitive tools (Piaget and Inhelder ments of groups based on “race” falsely claim a scientific [1955] 1999). This inclination has often been linked to clas- basis for classifying humans. Biologically speaking, a “race” sifying “racial” groups. Once in place, racial categories provide exists in any life form when the two groups cannot inter- individuals with an identity based on ancestry—“my kind of breed, and if they do, the offspring are infertile/sterile. This people have these traits.”.
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