SOC-1101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 31: Arthur De Gobineau, Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, Carl Linnaeus
13 Oct 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
ETHNICITY AND RACE
BASIC CONCEPTS
Ethnicity : Cultural values and norms that distinguish the members of any given
group from others. An ethnic group is one of whose members share a distinct
awareness of a common cultural identity, separating them from other groups.
In virtually all societies, ethnic differences are associated with variations in
power and material wealth. Where ethnic differences are also racial, such
divisions are sometimes especially pronounced.
Race : Differences in human physical characteristics used to categorize large
numbers of individuals.
Minority groups : A group of people in a given society who, because of their
distinct physical and cultural characteristics, find themselves in situation of
inequality compared with the dominant group within that society.
Racialization : The process by which understandings of race are used to classify
individuals or groups of people. Racial distinctions are more than ways of
describing human differences; they are also important factors in the
reproduction of patterns of power and inequality.
Stereotyping : Thinking in terms of fixed and inflexible categories.
Prejudice : Refer to opinions or attitudes held by members of one group
toward another. These preconceived views are often based on hearsay and are
resistant to change even in the face of direct evidence of new information.
Discrimination : Behaviour that denies to the members of a particular group
recourses or rewards that can be obtained by others.
Racism : The attribution of characteristics of superiority or inferiority to a
population sharing certain physically inherited characteristics. Racism is a
specific form of prejudice, focusing on physical variations between people.
Institutional racism : Patterns of discrimination based on ethnicity that have
become structured into existing social institutions.
SCIENCE AND RACISM
• Carolus Linnaeus
His work "Systema Naturae" (1735) was the first to create a classification of
race based on skin colour, and different races were actually said to be different
Document Summary
Ethnicity : cultural values and norms that distinguish the members of any given group from others. An ethnic group is one of whose members share a distinct awareness of a common cultural identity, separating them from other groups. In virtually all societies, ethnic differences are associated with variations in power and material wealth. Where ethnic differences are also racial, such divisions are sometimes especially pronounced. Race : differences in human physical characteristics used to categorize large numbers of individuals. Minority groups : a group of people in a given society who, because of their distinct physical and cultural characteristics, find themselves in situation of inequality compared with the dominant group within that society. Racialization : the process by which understandings of race are used to classify individuals or groups of people. Racial distinctions are more than ways of describing human differences; they are also important factors in the reproduction of patterns of power and inequality.
