Issuu

Instructor Resource Manual Chapter 1

The Study of Marginalized Groups

A. Chapter Overview

This chapter begins by examining the stranger as a social phenomenon. Across societies, differences among people cause each group to view other groups as strangers. Perceptions of newcomers reflect categoric knowing, or the classification of others based on limited information such as what is visible. Through interactions strangers have a special awareness of things that go unnoticed by natives, such as customs and social constructions. Race is one such social construction that natives may take for granted but which strangers or newcomers may be acutely aware. Marginalized groups usually receive unequal treatment in society and have features that set them apart and are held in low esteem. Racial groups are biologically similar groups, and ethnic groups share a learned cultural heritage. Ethnocentrism is the belief that one’s own point of view is the center of everything. In any sociological study of race and ethnicity, ethnocentrism must be recognized and diminished in order to reach toward objectivity. The chapter concludes by discussing some foundational concepts of sociology, such as the sociological imagination and the functionalist, interactionist, and conflict theory viewpoints.

B. Learning Objectives

After reading Chapter 1, students should be able to:

1.1 Explain how the concept of the stranger helps us understand others.

1.2 Distinguish the differences between marginalized, racial, and ethnic groups.

1.3 Explain how ethnocentrism affects our acceptance of others.

1.4 Explain the importance of objectivity, personal troubles, and intergroup dynamics in sociological research.

1.5 Evaluate what sociological theories tell us about marginalized groups.

C. Chapter Outline

I. The Stranger as a Social Phenomenon Across societies, differences among people cause each group to view other groups as strangers

A. Similarity and Attraction

1. A significant amount of evidence exists showing greater human receptivity to strangers considered as more similar than to those who are viewed as different. (See Classroom Activity 1)

2. People’s perceptions of similarity are more powerful than actual similarity.

B. Social Distance (See Long Assignment 2)

1. Social distance refers to the degree of closeness or remoteness individuals prefer in interaction with members of other groups.

2. A social distance measurement device created by Emory Bogardus in 1926 and subsequently used in seven comparable studies spanning nine decades years shows the dramatic rise in acceptability of African Americans among college students.

3. Generally speaking, college students of the twenty-first century are more receptive to outgroups than their twentieth-century counterparts, but their level of social acceptance of others still appears dependent on the similarity–attraction bond.

C. Perceptions

1. People perceive strangers primarily through categoric knowing the classification of others on the basis of limited information obtained visually and perhaps verbally.

2. German sociologist Georg Simmel explained that strangers represent both nearness because they are physically close and remoteness because they react differently to the immediate situation and have different values and ways of doing things.

3. Native-born people perceive the stranger in generalities, so the individual becomes the totality, or stereotype, of the entire group.

4. The stranger perceives native-born people not in general but in specific, individual terms. They are more objective about native-born people because the strangers’ geographic mobility enhances their mental mobilities.

D. Interactions

1. According to Alfred Schutz, strangers have an awareness of things that go unnoticed by the natives, such as the natives’ customs, social institutions, appearance, lifestyle, and social constructions, as well as the way race is understood and categorized in the natives’ society. (See Short Assignment 2)

2. In time, strangers take on natives’ perspectives, and natives’ generalizations about the strangers become more concrete through social interactions.

3. Strangers can be both those who come to a different land and those who are marginalized in their native land.

4. Migration is the general term that refers to the movement of people into and out of a specified area, which could either be within a country or from one country to another. Examples are the migration of people from one continent to another or the migration of U.S. Blacks from the South to the North. Emigration is a narrower term that refers to the movement of people out of a country to settle in another, while immigration refers to the movement of people into a new country to become permanent residents.

II. Marginalized Groups, Race, and Ethnicity Sociologists previously used the term minority group to indicate a group’s relative power and status in society. Expanded definition to encompass any physical or cultural trait which included the aged, people with disabilities, members of religions or sects, and groups with unconventional lifestyles. In time, social scientists came to prefer using the term marginalized group. (See Lecture Starter 1) Emphasis became centered on prejudice, discrimination, and oppression.

A. Marginalized groups

1. Marginalized group characteristics

2. The group receives unequal treatment from larger society.

a) The group is easily identifiable by distinguishing features held in low esteem

b) The group feels a sense of group identity.

c) Membership is ascribed one is born into it.

d) Group members practice endogamy, or marrying within the group.

B. The term dominant group is used when referring to a minority group’s relationships with the rest of society, but a person can be a member of both dominant and marginalized groups in different categories.

III. Racial Groups (See Lecture Starter 1) (See Classroom Activity 2)

1. Race is a social construct resulting in which people sharing visible or perceived biological characteristics regard themselves or are regarded by others as a single group on that basis.

2. The social construction of race varies by culture and history.

3. Race is not only a matter of outsider classification. Some people self-identify as Black or Native American when their DNA reveals a higher percentage of a different race.

4. Racism is the linking of biological conditions with alleged abilities and behavior to assert the superiority of one race.

5. Racism is a human invention and a good example of the social construction of reality.

B. Ethnic Groups Ethnicity goes beyond a simple racial similarity to encompass shared cultural traits and/or national origin.

1. Definitions of social groups by ethnicity are complex in multiple ways, involving shared nationality but different languages.

2. Religion is another determinant of ethnic group composition.

IV. Ethnocentrism The belief that one’s own group is the center of everything and all others are scaled and rated with reference to it. (See Long Assignment 1)

A. General Points

1. As a result of ethnocentrism, people usually view their own cultural values as more real and thus superior to those of other groups. This thinking can lead to verbal and nonverbal microaggressions.

2. An alternative to ethnocentrism, cultural relativism, is a perspective that evaluates beliefs and behavior in the context of that culture.

3. Sociologists define an ingroup as a group to which individuals belong and feel loyal and an outgroup as all people who are not members of one’s ingroup. (See Discussion Question 1).

B. Social Identity Theory

1. Theory holds that ingroup members automatically view their group as better because doing so enhances their own social status or social identity, thus raising the value of their personal identity or self-image

2. An outgroup may become a positive reference group, or an exemplary model, if members of the ingroup think it has a conspicuous advantage over them.

C. The Effects of Ethnocentrism

1. It is an important factor in determining marginalized group status in society, but it alone cannot explain the causes of prejudice. Not all marginalized groups become targets of prejudice and discrimination.

2. Some social-conflict theorists argue that ethnocentrism leads to negative consequences when the ingroup feels threatened by the outgroup competing with them for scarce resources. One counterargument is that ethnocentric attitudes caused the problem.

3. An example of ethnocentrism in the United States is calling the major league baseball championship game a World Series.

4. Ethnocentrism has a long history. It was exhibited by the British Victorians, the Romans, the Greeks, and many others.

D. Eurocentrism and Afrocentrism.

1. Eurocentrism is a type of ethnocentrism in which the viewpoint emphasized is that of Western culture.

2. Afrocentrism, also a type of ethnocentrism, emphasizes African culture and its influence on Western civilization and the behavior of American Blacks.

V. Objectivity and Its Challenges

A. In conducting any sociological study of race and ethnicity, we must recognize and question our assumptions.

1. All human beings have values, or socially shared conceptions of what is good, that influence our perspectives and actions.

2. Trying to be objective about race and ethnic relations presents a strong challenge.

B. The Dillingham Flaw (See Short Assignment 1)

1. Senator William P. Dillingham chaired a congressional commission that held hearings on immigration between 1907 and 1911. The commission report erred in interpreting data by using simplistic categories and unfair comparisons of past and present immigrants.

2. To avoid the Dillingham Flaw, we must resist temptation to use modern perceptions to explain a past that the people back then viewed differently.

C. Personal Troubles and Public Issues (See Lecture Starter 2)

1. In The Sociological Imagination, C. Wright Mills explained that an intricate connection exists between the patterns of individual lives and the larger historical context of society.

2. Mistakenly, people view their personal troubles as private matters when in fact they are due to structural changes and institutional contradictions. (See Long Assignment 1)

3. What often passes for assumed group characteristics or individual character flaws or troubles needs to be understood within the larger context of public issues involving the social structure and interaction patterns.

D. The Dynamics of Intergroup Relations

1. Patterns of intergroup relations are always changing due to industrialization, urbanization, shifts in migration patterns, social

movements, and upward or downward economic trends, among many other reasons.

2. Changing relationships can reflect changing attitudes.

VI. Using Theory to Understand Our World

A. Developing Theories

1. Experts in fields of human inquiry seek to find regularities in the world.

2. They attempt to describe these patterns through a hypothesis, an educated assumption that can lead to a theory based on using the scientific method (repeated objective observation, experimentation, extensive data, evidence collection, precise measurement, and careful description).

Theories are based on the best possible explanations.

3. In sociological investigations, three major perspectives shape the study of minorities: functionalist theory, conflict theory (both are macrosocial theories), and interactionist theory (a microsocial theory).

B. Functionalist Theory

1. Functionalist theory emphasizes that the various parts of society have functions, or positive effects, that promote solidarity and maintain the stability of the whole.

1. Manifest functions are obvious and have intended results.

2. Latent functions are hidden and render unexpected results.

3. Dysfunctions are temporary maladjustments.

4. Critics argue that this viewpoint ignores inequalities that often generate tension and conflict.

C. Conflict Theory

1. Conflict theory sees society as being continually engaged in a series of disagreements, tensions, and clashes as different groups compete for limited resources.

2. This theory is influenced by Karl Marx’s socioeconomic view of an elite exploiting the masses.

3. Conflict theorists focus on inequalities and ask who benefits from them.

4. Racism is an ideology a set of generalized beliefs used to explain and justify the interests of those who hold them.

5. False consciousness holding attitudes that do not accurately reflect the objective facts of the situation might impel workers to adopt attitudes that run counter to their own real interests.

6. Critics contend that this viewpoint ignores the unity of a society through shared values and mutual interdependence.

D. Interactionist Theory

1. Interactionist theory examines the microsocial world of personal interaction patterns in everyday life rather than the macrosocial aspects of social institutions and their harmony or conflict.

2. Symbolic interaction the shared symbols and definitions people use when communicating with one another provides the focus for

understanding how individuals create and interpret the life situations they experience

3. Essential to this theory is how people define their reality through a process called the social construction of reality.

4. This theory can be helpful in understanding some false perceptions that occur in dominant-marginalized group relations.

E. A Comparison of Sociological Perspectives It may be most helpful to view these three perspectives as different camera lenses looking at the same reality.

F. Controversial Perspectives

1. Critical race theory (CRT) holds that race is a social construct and speaks to the existence of systemic racism based on three premises.

a) Racism has shaped public policies past and present.

b) Racism is a common experience for people of color.

c) Those who benefit from this racial divide have little interest in change.

d) The debate over CRT has spilled over into the public domain.

2. Replacement theory is a conspiracy theory arguing that an organized effort is underway nationwide to replace Whites, White civilization, and White culture with that of Black and Brown “inferiors.”

a) Thinking reflecting this theory has influenced White nationalists to commit violent hate crimes against Blacks, Hispanics, Jews, and Muslims in recent years.

b) Critics insist that this theory is based on inaccurate assumptions about demographic trends. Most scholars dismiss it.

D. Lecture Suggestions

i. Lecture Starters

1. Have students tell you all of the marginalized groups they can think of and write them on the board. Ask students how they can identify a member of this marginalized group. Push them to think beyond race and ethnicity. Inevitably, there will be many races and ethnic groups written on the board. Have students attempt to differentiate between ethnic groups and races. (See Chapter Outline II) (See Chapter Outline II.B) (LO: 1.2)

2. To begin a lecture about the sociological imagination, ask students to describe briefly what they’ve heard about the nation’s economy. Ask for a few examples of how this might impact individuals. This can begin an engaging descriptive lecture on how personal problems that may seem to be individual are connected to changing social structures (i.e., the economy). (See Chapter Outline IV.C) (LO: 1.4)

ii. Classroom Activities

1. Have students list five friends from their online social network profile (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, etc.) on a sheet of paper. Once listed, have them identify the race, age, religion, and

socioeconomic status of these five people. Answers should illustrate in personal terms the similarity-attraction concept. (See Chapter Outline I.A.1) (LO: 1.1)

2. Expanding on the marginalized group discussion, address the images of racial/ethnic groups portrayed in mass media throughout the United States. Look for advertisements in magazines and on the Internet that show marginalized groups in the United States. Have students break into smaller groups and give each group a set of clippings. Students should study the advertisements with an eye to answering the following questions: What racial/ethnic group do the individuals belong to? What activities are the individuals engaged in? What products are they advertising? Based on the ads and images, what are the messages you receive about this group? Have group representatives discuss the findings with the classroom. (See Chapter Outline II.B) (LO: 1.2)

iii. Discussion Questions

1. After discussing the meanings of ethnocentrism, ingroups, and outgroups, ask students why members of an ingroup might automatically believe their group is better than the outgroup. Have students generate one example of an ingroup and its corresponding outgroup to concretize the question. Ask students when it might occur that an outgroup is viewed positively. Have them give examples. If the students think ingroup members are objectively better, give them a counterexample. (See Chapter OutlineIII.3) (LO: 1.3)

E. Suggested Assignments

Short Assignments

1. Ancestry and the Dillingham Flaw

To better understand the Dillingham Flaw and its importance to the study of diversity, students could write a one- to two-page essay that first describes their ancestral background, including the countries from where their relatives came. The students should then write about the criticisms their relatives might have (or did) faced as new arrivals in the United States. They should compare these criticisms to the ones they hear about present-day immigrants. Are they the same or different and why? (Chapter Outline IV.B) (LO: 1.4)

2. Strangers in Interaction

Assign students to spend some time in a space where they would be considered as part of the outgroup, such as a restaurant, religious space, fitness center, craft store, etc. While they are in this space, they should write brief notes about things that stood out to them or confused them They should notice both objects and people. After they leave the space, students should compose a one- to two-page description of their experiences, including a few sentences about how they felt. (Chapter Outline I.D.1) (LO: 1.1)

Long Assignments

1. Ethnocentrism and the Sociological Imagination

Have each student interview another student on campus who has recently moved to the United States from another country. Students who recently moved to the United States can interview themselves. The interview should include questions that identify things that are different here and things that made it difficult to adjust. Questions about discrimination should also be asked. The student will then write a five- to seven-page paper that analyzes ethnocentrism and uses the

sociological imagination. Examining the difficulties in adjusting to U.S. living, the essay will comment on U.S. ethnocentrism. What parts of U.S. society were difficult to adjust to? What does this say about the culture and values of the United States? Are these elements of U.S. culture and society better or worse than those of the immigrants? Finally, the essay should use the sociological imagination to link the struggles of recent immigrants to societal structures and institutions. How might racial discrimination impact personal struggles? What larger social factors made it difficult to adjust to U.S. society? (See Chapter Outline III) (See Chapter Outline IV.C.2) (LO: 1.4)

2. Social Distance

In groups, have students create a web-based survey (using Survey Monkey or another similar free service) to administer the seven questions of Bogardus’s social distance measurement. Have students choose three racial or ethnic groups from the bottom ten on Table 1.1, “Mean Social Distance Rankings in 2012 and Comparisons to 2001” (page 4) to use for their survey. After tallying the results, have students study media representations of these groups by conducting a content analysis of written news sources. The group members will each choose a different news source and search for stories about the three groups. Each group member will write a report of their findings, which will be compiled into a group report along with the results of the web survey. The students should speculate on the relationship between the results of their survey and the findings of their content analysis. (See Chapter Outline I.B) (LO: 1.1)

G. Annotated Suggested Films/TV Shows

A Question of Identity: What Is Race? (2003, Insight Media, 23 minutes). This program questions whether race is a biological or social construct. It explores the experience of Wayne Nelson, a high school principal who was prompted to rethink his identity after submitting his DNA ancestry for testing to discover the extent of his African heritage and receiving the results.

Bugs for Breakfast: Food and Culture (2001, Insight Media, 19 minutes). This video presents a multicultural look at cultural eating habits, discussing why people eat and what they eat, and highlighting the food taboos of different cultures. It explores different eating patterns and reveals that acceptable food is not a question of taste, but culture.

Get Out (2017, Universal Pictures, 144 minutes). Director-writer Jordan Peele’s film debut begins as a romcom but develops into a horror film, masterfully using the tropes of each genre, with trenchant commentary on race relations. Peele won an Academy Award for his screenplay; the film also received nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor. Note that the film is rated R.

Cross-Cultural Communication (2002, Insight Media, 24 minutes). This program explores psychological and sociological perspectives on cross-cultural communication. It examines the importance of cultural differences in behavior, negotiation style, speech patterns, communication, prejudice, and power.

Race and Ethnicity (2002, Insight Media, 30 minutes). Racism, prejudice, discrimination, and genocide are explored in order to explain theories about racial and ethnic inequality. The

program also considers the influence patterns of race and ethnicity on human interaction.

H. Annotated Suggested Books/Journal Articles

Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Anniversary edition (2020, The New Press). Alexander argues in this popular book that we have not ended racism in America, but rather redesigned it such that Jim Crow segregation has been replaced by mass incarceration as a system of social control. In a new preface for the tenth anniversary edition, the author discusses efforts at criminal justice reform after publication of the first edition.

Baker, Lee D. “Racism, Risk and the New Color of Dirty Jobs.” In The Insecure American: How We Got Here and What We Should Do about It, edited by H. Gusterson and C. Besteman (2009, University of California Press). The piece explores the relationship among race, racism, and work in the United States. Baker puts forth an analysis of the restructuring of race due to immigrant labor.

Collins, Patricia Hill. “Learning from the Outsider Within: The Sociological Significance of Black Feminist Thought” (1986, Social Problems, 33(6): S14-S32). A foundational text in the study of race, this piece promotes the idea that members of the outgroup can gain a particular perspective not available to those in the ingroup.

Omi, Michael, and Howard Winant. Racial Formation in the United States: From The 1960s to the 1990s, second edition (1994, Routledge). Another foundational text in the study of race in the United States, this book proposes a complex theory to understanding how race is constructed through racial projects and cultural representations.

Romero, Mary. Maid in the U.S.A., second edition (2016, Routledge). Based on ethnographic research of domestic work in the western United States, Romero explores the intersection of race, ethnicity, class, and gender. The new edition shows that the issues the author originally identified remain important. This study provides a good example of the sociological imagination, as Romero herself was a maid.

I. Annotated Suggested Websites

Ethnicity and Race: An Introduction to the Nature of Social Group Differentiation and Inequality (http://anthro.palomar.edu/ethnicity/default.htmdefault.htm) is a tutorial website that allows viewers to explore global issues related to race/ethnicity and patterns of discrimination.

Global Issues: Social, Political, Economic and Environmental Issues That Affect Us All (http://www.globalissues.org) is a comprehensive website on topics related to interlocking global issues. To search for global issues of racism, enter racism in the site’s search engine.

The Color of Change (http://colorofchange.org) offers news and analysis of recent racially charged injustices in the United States.

From the United States Census Bureau main webpage (http://www.census.gov), you can access statistics and reports on various U.S. demographics.