College of the Social Sciences and Development

Department of Sociology and Anthropology

Introduction to Sociology
Race and Ethnicity

Race and Ethnicity

Race and Ethnicity defined
Prejudice and Discrimination
Issues on Race and Ethnicity
Defining Race and Ethnicity

Racial group
o The term racial group is used to describe a group which is set apart from others due to obvious physical differences
(Asian, Whites, Blacks, etc.)

Race
o

Biological significance
Biologically, race is a category of people who, through many generations of in-breeding, have developed
common physical characteristics that distinguish them from other humans.

Contrary to popular belief, there are NO pure races. Nor are there physical traits that can be used to describe one group to
the exclusion of all others.

Some people wish to find biological explanations which would help us understand why certain groups dominate others.
Given the absence of a pure racial group, there can be no satisfactory biological answers for such profound social and
political questions.

Social significance

One of the crucial aspect of the relationship between dominant and subordinate groups is the ability of the former to
imposed its values upon the latter.

William I. Thomas (1923:41-44) an early critic of theories of racial and sexual differences, saw that the definition
of the situation could mold the personality of the individual.

People respond not only to the objective features of the situation or person but also to the meaning that situation or
person has for them. Thus, we create false images that become real in their consequences.

Stereotypes - are unreliable generalizations about all members of a group which do not recognize individual
differences within the group.

An effective apparatus that spreads common stereotypical view is the mass media.

A common response to stereotyping is an composed of acts in which results the embodiment of this false definitions
-- self fulfilling prophecy is a notion when a group or individual displays the vary traits that were presumably
evident.

Ethnic group
o

Unlike racial groups, an ethnic group is set apart from others primarily because of its national origin or distinctive
cultural patterns (e.g. Jews, Aetas, Ifugaos, Igorots, etc.)

Ethnicity
An ethnic group is a group of people whose members are identified through a common trait. This can, but does not have
to, include an idea of common heritage, a common culture, a shared language or dialect. The group's ethos or ideology
may also stress common ancestry and religion, as opposed to an ethnic minority group which refers to race.

College of the Social Sciences and Development

Department of Sociology and Anthropology

Introduction to Sociology
Race and Ethnicity

The distinction between racial and ethnic minorities is not always clear-cut. Some members of ethnic minorities may
have obvious physical differences which set them apart from others.

Sociological Perspectives on Ethnicity and Race

Under a Marxist approach, racism keeps minorities in low-paying jobs, thus supplying the capitalists a pool of cheap labor. In
its parallel effect, by forcing racial minorities to accept lower wages, capitalists can restrict the wages of all members of the
proletariat.

However, though some examples support the exploitation theory of race relations, it is too limited to explain prejudice in its
many forms. (prejudice based on ideological biases, status, religion, etc.)

In the interactionist perspective, sociologists examine a phenomenon called contact hypothesis. Contact hypothesis states that
an interracial contact of people with equal status in cooperative circumstances will cause them to become less prejudiced and
to abandon previously held stereotypes.

The factors of equal status, and a pleasant, noncompetitive atmosphere allows the growth of contact hypothesis.

Prejudice and Discrimination

Prejudice
Prejudice is a negative attitude toward an entire category of people, often an ethnic or racial minority.

Prejudice appears to be a certain disposition that is inherent within ones cognition. It is a concept, which is brought to
existence and is materialized when the subject behaves with reference to this disposition, and directs it towards a
particular (external) subject.

Prejudice can result from ethnocentrism. One important and widespread form of prejudice is racism, the belief that one
race is holds a superior status over others.

Research on prejudice points to two key components:

o
o

Discrimination
o
o

Personality factors (Authoritarian Personality and Scapegoating)

Structural factors (Socialization, Conformity, and Transmission)

Biased attitudes of prejudiced person often lead to discrimination. Discrimination is the process of denying
opportunities and equal rights to individuals and groups because of prejudice or for other arbitrary reasons.
In short, prejudice relates to a particular mentality, whereas discrimination is the actualized form or the embodiment
of this mentality (manifested through actions and behaviors).

Prejudice and Discrimination

Prejudice attitudes should not be equated with discriminatory behavior. While the two are generally related, they are not
identical and either condition can be present without the other.

One may have a tendency to have prejudice towards others, but his/her behavior may vary depending on existing or
impending social conditions.

Institutional Discrimination

College of the Social Sciences and Development

Department of Sociology and Anthropology

Introduction to Sociology
Race and Ethnicity

Refers to the denial of opportunities and equal rights to individuals and groups which results from the normal
operations of society.

Discrimination in the institutional level may legitimize unequal distribution of power, access to privileges and
opportunities, and may determine life chances.

The form of discrimination within the institutional level may occur even when people have no intentions of
discriminating others or even when people are unaware of it. (e.g. Chicago police height requirements, imposing
language policies, etc.)

Logic follows that any form of derogatory act (physical or symbolic) towards others that manifest prejudice is a
form of discrimination. But in order for us to understand the political dimensions of discrimination we must look at
the dimension of how power is pertained and actualized.

Dominant groups in the society has the power to actualize discrimination in an institutional level to a point that it
even subordinate groups would have to work their life processes around the different forms of discrimination and
even recognize that the discrimination within the structure is inevitable, legitimate, and that it is encompassed within
a natural social order.

Issues Related to Race and Ethnicity

Genocide
o Genocide is "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national
group
o

As defined by the UN-CPPCG (Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide) : any of
the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group,
as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately
inflicting on the group conditions of life, calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to
another group."

Raphael Lemkin in his masterpiece Axis Rule in Occupied Europe (1943) invented the term "genocide,"by
combining "genos" (race, people) and "cide" (to kill)

Lemkin defined genocide as follows: "Generally speaking, genocide does not necessarily mean the immediate
destruction of a nation, except when accomplished by mass killings of all members of a nation. It is intended rather
to signify a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of
national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves. The objectives of such a plan would be the
disintegration of the political and social institutions, of culture, language, national feelings, religion, and the
economic existence of national groups, and the destruction of the personal security, liberty, health, dignity, and even
the lives of the individuals belonging to such groups."

Raphael Lemkin in his masterpiece Axis Rule in Occupied Europe (1943) invented the term "genocide,"by
combining "genos" (race, people) and "cide" (to kill)

Lemkin defined genocide as follows: "Generally speaking, genocide does not necessarily mean the immediate
destruction of a nation, except when accomplished by mass killings of all members of a nation. It is intended rather
to signify a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of
national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves. The objectives of such a plan would be the
disintegration of the political and social institutions, of culture, language, national feelings, religion, and the
economic existence of national groups, and the destruction of the personal security, liberty, health, dignity, and even
the lives of the individuals belonging to such groups."

College of the Social Sciences and Development

Department of Sociology and Anthropology

Ethnocide
Also known as cultural genocide, constitutes to the destruction of cultural heritage.

Introduction to Sociology
Race and Ethnicity

The term has since acquired rhetorical value as a phrase that is used to protest against the destruction of cultural heritage.
It is also often misused as a catchphrase to condemn any destruction the user of the phrase disapproves of, without regard
for the criterion of intent to destroy an affected group as such.

Ethnic Cleansing

Ethnic cleansing is the process or policy of eliminating unwanted ethnic or religious groups by deportation, forcible
displacement, mass murder, or by threats of such acts, with the intent of creating a territory inhabited by people of a
homogeneous or pure ethnicity, religion, culture, and history.

Ethnic cleansing usually involves attempts to remove physical and cultural evidence of the targeted group in the territory
through the destruction of homes, social centers, farms, and infrastructure, and by the desecration of monuments,
cemeteries, and places of worship.

The desired result of ethnic cleansing is similar to that of genocide, but while genocide includes complete extermination
of the target group as part of the goal, ethnic cleansing may involve murder only to the point of mobilizing the target
group out of the territory.