Sociology Notes

The childhood anecdote from the beginning of the chapter shows that racial prejudices and differences are not inborn and they are a result of the way that society shaped a persons image of the different races. Based on this assumption, it is safe to believe that a non-white three year old would be likely to bring home a white “baby sister” because the three year old wouldn’t realize that there is a difference. White people are put at an advantage with an “invisible knapsack of privileges”.

There is a link between real estate value and school segregation. Inequalities in wealth have contributed to the long-term inequality between blacks and whites in the United States. As a general statement, whites are usually more wealthy and blacks are usually less wealthy. This contributed greatly to the inequalities between blacks and whites.

As much as the idea of race should not necessarily play a role in the differences between people, statistics show that there definitely is a correlation between many things in reference to race. So although politically speaking, race shouldn’t play a factor, it still does and therefore sociologists study it because it has to do with the study of people and where they fall into society at large.

Science is informed by culture because sociology, which is the science of people, wouldn’t exist unless there were people and cultures to study. Culture is what makes up sociology. Science, in turn, fueled racism because of what was studied. Science came to the conclusion that racism exists and in turned, fueled it.

Eugenics and physiognomy contradict the saying, “You can’t ” because they explain it in terms of people. They say that the external of a person is not the determining factor and people should not be judged based on that. Today, although in theory it is nice, people still judge based on color, race etc.

Racialization is “the formation of a new radical identity, in which ideological boundaries of difference are drawn around a formerly unnoticed group of people”. Muslims have negative stereotyping in the mainstream media. They are often depicted as being extremely wealthy. They are also shown and uncivilized and barbaric. Many people associate them with terrorists. When the Irish first came to America, although they have physical white skin, they were not treated as such and instead were treated in the same way as African Americans.

Race and Ethnicity are two separate things. Race refers the physical appearance of a person, such as the color of his/her skin. Ethnicity on the other hand, is defined by cultural factors such as beliefs and culture. Therefore, stating your ethnicity is more similar to stating you like the Beatles than describing your race because the Beetles give an example of culture.

Rwanda- conflict
United States- Pluralism
Minority groups in America respond to domination in different ways depending on many factors including where they come from. It is difficult to generalize to answer this question thoroughly. Groups in Rwanda responded with mass genocide.

 As time goes on, society seems to be more and more tolerant of everything, whether it be race, sexual identity etc. we have already majorly minimized the gap between people and race. I think that it will continue. It might even come to the point of complete integration and acceptance with no prejudices. Society at large is definitely moving towards a more tolerant place.