SOC 104 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: White Privilege, Chauvinism, Ethnocentrism

• School: Ryerson University
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 104
• Professor: Lock Rebecca

Document Summary

500 yr old term when referring to similarities between people, plants and animals. Only in the 18th century is it used to refer to people in terms of physical/biological characteristics. Categorizing people based on race is due to the expansion of capitalism with imperial domination of the non-european and the growth of science in the 19th century in the field of anthropology. Presently used in relation to nationality and colour. The differences within races may be greater than between races. Overestimating & underestimating genetic similarities & differences = social mistake. Race is a social and interpretively assumed difference. Race: a category of people who share certain common physical traits deemed to be socially significant. Racialized: the social process by which certain groups of people are singled out for unequal treatment on the basis of real or imagined physical characteristics. Ethnic groups: distinguished by socially selected cultural traits rather than physical ones [such as] language, religion, ideology, ancestry and historical symbols.