11.7 Conclusion
In this chapter, you explored the social construction of race and ethnicity. After examining ways that people internalize racial identities, you learned to think about groups in relation to their power dynamics. By examining historical and contemporary theories of race, you are able to better understand how racial inequalities persist. While this chapter opened with a video of individuals discussing their identities, you can quickly see that the experience of race impacts everyone. The way that we collect (or fail to collect) data will reflect the accuracy of how categories of race and ethnicity are understood.
Since 2000, when the U.S. Census allowed people to select more than one racial category, an increasing number of Americans have begun choosing two or more categories to describe themselves (Parker et. al 2015). Our multiracial population is on the rise in part because there is an opportunity for Americans to select identities that reflect their experiences. Furthermore, we are seeing a rise in the number of multiracial infants, which demographers predict will continue to grow. How will people navigate several racial and ethnic identities simultaneously?
As we become more multiracial, will we continue to see prejudice and discrimination? A study by the Pew Research Center suggests that it is likely. Currently, over half of multiracial Americans report being subjected to racial slurs or jokes (Parker et al. 2015). Figure 11.14 reflects some of the ways multiracial adults experience racial discrimination. In addition to acts of discrimination, such as being called racial slurs or receiving poor service, many Americans identify ways that discrimination is systemic. Being unfairly stopped by police continues to be indicative of the larger issue of institutionalized racism. Consider what you’ve learned about racialized housing in this chapter. How might experiences of discrimination continue to affect housing practices and interactions with the criminal justice system?
Review of Learning Objectives
Key Terms
- Amalgamation: the process by which a minority group and a majority group combine to form a new group. Amalgamation creates the classic “melting pot” analogy in which there is a combination of cultures that results in a new culture entirely.
- Antiracism: an active process of identifying and eliminating racism by changing systems, organizational structures, policies, and practices and attitudes so that power is redistributed and shared equitably.
- Assimilation: the process by which a minority individual or group gives up its own identity by taking on the characteristics of the dominant culture.
- Colorblindness: also called color-blind racism; a form of racism that is hidden and embedded in our social institutions. The notion that one “does not see color” is problematic and serves to erase the experiences of racial and ethnic minority groups.
- Discrimination: actions against a group of people. Discrimination can be based on race, ethnicity, age, religion, health, and other categories.
- Dominant group: a group that holds the most power in a given society, while subordinate groups are those who lack power compared to the dominant group.
- Ethnicity: categories of difference organized around a shared language, culture, and faith tradition.
- Expulsion: the act of a dominant group forcing a subordinate group to leave a certain area or country.
- Genocide: the deliberate annihilation of a targeted (usually subordinate) group; the most toxic intergroup relationship.
- Implicit bias: also referred to as unconscious bias; the process of associating stereotypes or attitudes toward categories of people without conscious awareness.
- Institutional racism: also called structural racism or systemic racism; involves systems and structures that have procedures or processes that disadvantage racial minority groups.
- Minority group: any group of people who, because of their physical or cultural characteristics, are singled out from the others in the society in which they live for differential and unequal treatment, and who therefore regard themselves as objects of collective discrimination.
- Pluralism: a great mixture of different cultures where each culture retains its own identity and yet adds to the flavor of the whole; represented by the ideal of the United States as a “salad bowl.”
- Prejudice: the beliefs, thoughts, feelings, and attitudes someone holds about a group. A prejudice is not based on personal experience; instead, it is a prejudgment, originating outside actual experience.
- Race: a category of identity that ascribes social, cultural, and political meaning and consequence to physical characteristics.
- Racial formation theory: a theory that points to how what we define as race varies and changes in different political, economic, and historical contexts.
- Racial profiling: a type of systemic racism involves the singling out of racial minorities for differential treatment, usually harsher treatment.
- Racism: a type of prejudice and discrimination used to justify inequalities against individuals by maintaining that one racial category is somehow superior or inferior to others; it is a set of practices used by a racial dominant group to maximize advantages for itself by disadvantaging racial minority groups.
- Redlining: the discriminatory practice of refusing loans to creditworthy applicants in neighborhoods that banks deem undesirable or racially occupied.
- Segregation: the physical separation of two groups, particularly in residence, but also in workplace and social functions.
- Social construction of race: the idea that race is more meaningful on a social level than on a biological level.
- Stereotype: oversimplified generalizations about groups of people. Stereotypes can be based on race, ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation—almost any characteristic. They may be positive (usually about one’s own group) but are often negative (usually toward other groups, such as when members of a dominant racial group suggest that a subordinate racial group is stupid or lazy).
- White privilege: an unearned set of social advantages available to White people; the societal privilege that benefits White people, or those perceived to be White, over non-White people in some societies, including the United States.
Discussion Questions
- How do you describe your ethnicity? Do you include your family’s country of origin? Do you consider yourself multiethnic? How does your ethnicity compare to that of the people you spend most of your time with?
- Select one of the theoretical perspectives discussed in this chapter. Describe the main ideas and explain how it explains racial inequality.
- Give an example of stereotyping that you see in everyday life. Explain what would need to happen for this to be eliminated.
- Provide two examples of White privilege. Do you know people who have experienced this privilege? From what perspective?
- How do redlining and racial steering contribute to institutionalized racism?
- How does institutionalized racism impact health and life changes?
Additional Resources
- Multiracial American Voices: Being Multiracial – Pew Research Center [Streaming Video]
- W. E. B. Du Bois and race conflict [Streaming Video]
- Du Bois double consciousness and two-ness [Website]
- Stages of racial identity development explained [PDF]
- Racial identity facilitator guide [PDF]
- Racial identity development [PDF]
Licenses and Attributions for Conclusion
Open Content, Original
“Conclusion” by Jennifer Puentes is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
“Race and Ethnicity Question Set” was created by ChatGPT and is not subject to copyright. Edits for relevance, alignment, and meaningful answer feedback by Colleen Sanders are licensed under CC BY 4.0.
All Rights Reserved Content
Figure 11.14. Image by Pew Research Center in “Multiracial in America” is included under fair use.
the idea that race is more meaningful on a social level than on a biological level.
categories of difference organized around shared language, culture and faith tradition.
a category of identity that ascribes social, cultural, and political meaning and consequence to physical characteristics.
the beliefs, thoughts, feelings, and attitudes someone holds about a group. A prejudice is not based on personal experience; instead, it is a prejudgment, originating outside actual experience.
actions against a group of people. Discrimination can be based on race, ethnicity, age, religion, health, and other categories.
a type of prejudice and discrimination used to justify inequalities against individuals by maintaining that one racial category is somehow superior or inferior to others; it is a set of practices used by a racial dominant group to maximize advantages for itself by disadvantaging racial minority groups.
an organization that exists to enforce a legal code, which in the United States includes the police, courts, and corrections system.
