A n t h r o p o l o g y Appreciating Human Diversity Fifteenth Edition Conrad Phillip Kottak University of Michigan McGraw-Hill © 2013 McGraw-Hill Companies. All Rights Reserved. C H A P T E R ETHNICITY AND RACE 15-2 ETHNICITY AND RACE • Ethnic Groups and Ethnicity • Race and Ethnicity • The Social Construction of Race • Ethnic Tolerance and Accommodation • Roots of Ethnic Conflict 15-3 ETHNICITY AND RACE • What is social status, and how does it relate to ethnicity? • How are race and ethnicity socially constructed in various societies? • What are the positive and negative aspects of ethnicity? 15-4 Understanding Ourselves • Who are you? • What labels come to mind? • Situational Negotiation of Social Identity - most people have different identities in different contexts • Identities and behavior change with context • The “hats” we wear depend on the situation • Both black and Hispanic; both father and ballplayer; both daughter and teacher • Face to face encounters – others see who we are or who they perceive us to be; may expect certain behaviors based on their perception of identity; hard to be anonymous when face to face • Today, identities are not always constrained by physical attributes – can use modern technology to reveal and manipulate what we want them to think we are (i.e. “catfish) 15-5 ETHNIC GROUPS AND ETHNICITY • Ethnic group: a group whose members share certain beliefs, values, habits, customs, and norms because of their common background/cultural distinctions • Members may define themselves as distinct through language, religion, geography, history, ancestry, and race • Collective name, belief in common descent, sense of solidarity, association with specific territory • Ethnicity: identification with, and feeling part of, an ethnic group and exclusion from certain other groups because of this affiliation • Ethnic feelings and associated behavior vary in intensity • A change in the degree of importance attached to ethnic identity may reflect political change • Soviet rule ended and ethnic feelings rose 15-6 Status Shifting • Situational Negotiation of Identity • Different “hats” in different situations • Ethnicity is only one basis for group identity • Cultural differences may be associated with ethnicity, class, region, or religion • People belong to many different groups/have different identities • Loyal to neighborhood, school, town, state, nation, religion, ethnic group, interest group… • Complex societies – people constantly negotiate social identities • Status: positions that people occupy in society • Ascribed status: little or no choice about occupying the status given (age, race, gender, birthplace…) • People are born members of a group and remain members • Achieved status: through choices, actions, efforts, talents, or accomplishments; may be positive or negative (salesperson, mother, felon, college student) 15-7 Table 15.1: Race/Ethnic Identification in the United States, 2010 15-8 Figure 15.1: Social Statuses 15-9 STATUS SHIFTING Ascribed Status • Some statuses, particularly ascribed ones, can be mutually exclusive • Can’t be both male and female, both son and daughter, both white and black • Some statuses are contextual • Situational negotiation of social identity – adjusting one’s status/identity to different social contexts • i.e. Hispanic, Latino, and Mexican or Cuban • Labels for a person, depend on the perception by others of that person’s status, as well as that person’s own assertions of status • In many societies, ascribed status associated with position in the sociopolitical hierarchy (i.e. India and the caste system) • Minority groups have inferior power and less secure access to resources than majority groups • Minority groups are obvious features of stratification in the U.S. • Look at discrepancies in income with different ethnic groups 15-10 RACE AND ETHNICITY • Race: an ethnic group assumed to have biological basis; shared blood or genes • Racism: discrimination against an ethnic group that is assumed to have biological basis; based on physical features 15-11 RACE AND ETHNICITY • Race • only cultural/social constructions of race are possible • not a biological reality or we would have scientific categories based on common genes • Socially constructed category that is arbitrary • Black, white, yellow, red, Caucasian, Negroid, Mongoloid, American Indian… – not biologically distinct species • AAA stresses that inequalities among racial groups are not consequences of biological inheritance, but are products of social, economic, educational, or political circumstances • U.S. culture does not draw very clear line between ethnicity and race • Americans often use “ethnicity” and “race” interchangeably • “Hispanic” - refers to one’s language and geography, rather than ethnicity • Better to use ethnic group than race 15-12 HYPODESCENT: RACE IN THE UNITED STATES • In U.S. culture, racial identity acquired at birth • Ascribed status • Is not based on biology or simple ancestry • 50% from black mom and 50% from white dad – child automatically classified as black • Arbitrary classification operating under rule of descent • Rule of descent: assigns social identity on the basis of ancestry • Hypodescent: automatically places children of mixed marriages in the group of their minority parent; common in U.S. • Effects of Hypodescent: • Divides U.S. society into groups unequal in their access to wealth, power, and prestige • Population growth attributed more to minority categories • it is easier for Native Americans or Hispanics to negotiate identity than black identity, so blacks are more affected by the rule of hypodescent than others 15-13 Hypodescent: Race in the U.S. • Example: President Obama (Kenyan father, white American mother) • Example: Louisiana case of Susie Guillory Phillips • In some states, anyone known to have ANY black ancestor, can be classified as member of black race • Light skinned woman, Caucasian features, straight black hair • Raised white; as adult, found out she was part black from birth certificate • Challenged Louisiana 1/32 law, but lost • Rare case because race is usually ascribed at birth and does not change; hers was on her birth certificate but she was raised based on her physical features, not ancestry • Race is ARBITRARY category • Rule of Hypodescent affects Blacks, Asians, Native Americans, and Hispanics differently • it is easier to negotiate Native American, Asian, or Hispanic identity than Black identity • rule of ascription isn’t as strong nor is assumption of biological differences • Racism still exists! • Child of an ethnic group may not identify as a part of that ethnic group; child not raised as part of ethnic group may reclaim identity later in life 15-14 RACE IN THE CENSUS • U.S. Census Bureau gathering data by race since 1790 • Rule of Hypodescent – results in population growth being attributed to minorities • 1980 – 2010 • Number of respondents tripled for people choosing “some other race” • Suggests an imprecision in and dissatisfaction with the existing categories • Interracial marriages and multiracial children are increasing • Children identify with more than one ethnicity • Troubling that important characteristic, like identity, is dictated by arbitrary rule of hypodescent 15-15 RACE IN THE CENSUS • Canadian census asks about “visible minorities” rather than race • “Persons, other than Aboriginal peoples (aka First Nations in Canada), who are non-Caucasian in race or nonwhite in color” • South Asian and Chinese are largest visible minority; not racial categories • Minorities represent a smaller percentage of the total population than in the U.S. • In both the U.S. and Canada, the visible minority population is increasing steadily due to migration and rapid population growth 15-16 Figure 15.2: Reproduction of Questions on Race and Hispanic Origin from Census 2010 15-17 NOT US: RACE IN JAPAN • Japan commonly viewed as homogeneous (same/similar in nature) in race, ethnicity, language, and culture • However, about 10% of population are minorities • Intrinsic racism: belief that perceived racial difference is sufficient reason to value one person less than another • Majority Japanese are seen as “pure” and believed to “share the same blood” • Similar to hypodescent but less precise • Children of mixed marriages may not get same “racial” label as minority parent, but are still stigmatized for non-Japanese ancestry 15-18 NOT US: RACE IN JAPAN • Most Japanese define themselves by their opposition to others—anyone not us • Not us should stay away • Assimilation discouraged: taboos on interracial marriage, residential segregation, work that keeps minorities in their place • Certain ethnic groups seen as having biological basis • Burakumin perceived as standing apart from the majority of Japanese – their blood makes them not us • Low status social class • Genetically and physically indistinguishable from the dominant population, but they are treated as a different race • Segregated neighborhoods • Treated poorly (by teachers, children…) • Like blacks in the U.S., Japan’s burakumin are stratified: class structured, with differences in wealth, prestige, and power 15-19 PHENOTYPE AND FLUIDITY: RACE IN BRAZIL • Brazil: racial identity is more flexible, more of an achieved status • Although Brazil has history of slavery like U.S., no hypodescent rule ever developed in Brazil to ensure that whites and blacks remained separate • Attuned to slight phenotypic (physical) differences; over 500 racial categories • Construction of race is more flexible; may change