racial and ethnic minorities

Examples of racial and ethnic minorities in the following topics:

• Minority Groups

  • The system of apartheid in South Africa exemplifies the complexities of the use of the word "minority. " Apartheid was a system of racial segregation established by National Party governments, which were in power from 1948-1994.
  • In fact, apartheid legislation identified four racial categories: white, black, colored and Asian.
  • Sociologist Louis Wirth defined a minority group as "a 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. " This definition includes both objective and subjective criteria: membership of a minority group is objectively ascribed by society, based on an individual's physical or behavioral characteristics, such as ethnicity and race or gender and sexuality.
  • In addition to long-established ethnic minority populations in various nation-states, ethnic minorities may consist of more recent migrant, indigenous, or landless nomadic communities residing within, or between, a particular national territory.
  • In addition to their small numbers and distinctive ethnicity from the larger Han Chinese majority, they are considered a minority given their relative lack of power in China's larger political structure.

• Racism

  • a person believing people of other races/ethnicities are intellectually inferior and that the inferiority is a characteristic of the race
  • The figure below illustrates how historical racism has resulted in lower odds of inter-generational transmission of wealth, which, in turn, reduces net worth for racial and ethnic minorities in the U.S.Historical racism also relies upon the ongoing "whitening" of social history by educational, political, and economic elites.
  • The disparate treatment of minorities by law enforcement officials is a common example of racial profiling.
  • As Patricia Hill Collins notes, much of our contemporary media offerings (e.g., music videos, songs, films, television shows, magazine and newspaper materials, and online materials) rely upon and reproduce historical patterns of racial inequality, and derogatory depictions of racial minorities in relation to their white counterparts.
  • Expanding on this theme, sociologists have begun to explore "cinethetic racism," which is defined as the portrayal of racial minorities in ways that appeal to white expectations of "good" racial minorities while reproducing the subordination of racial minorities to white needs, desire, and leadership.

• Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the U.S.

  • The United States is a diverse country, racially and ethnically, with over six races officially recognized by the U.S.
  • Hispanic and Latino Americans compose 15% of the population, making up the largest ethnic minority.
  • The United States is a diverse country, racially and ethnically.
  • The United States Census Bureau also classifies Americans as "Hispanic or Latino" and "Not Hispanic or Latino", which identifies Hispanic and Latino Americans as a racially diverse ethnicity that composes the largest minority group in the nation.
  • Also known more simply as Black Americans, the Black or African American group is the largest racial minority, as opposed to Hispanics and Latinos, who are the largest ethnic minority.

• The Diversity Debate

  • In affirmative action programs, the state goes beyond ensuring de jure equality for racial minorities in public education and makes strides to create conditions for de facto equality.
  • Supporters of affirmative action believe that these types of proactive programs prove that all students benefit from racial diversity in the class room, and that institutional forms of racism have precluded members of the minority community from entering spaces of higher education.
  • Some believe that racial and ethnic diversity in schools fosters understanding of new cultures and beliefs systems, dispelling stereotypes held by the majority population .
  • Since the mid-twentieth century, researchers have found that benefits of racial diversity in schools range from higher reading levels, increased likelihood of high school graduation, positive impact on work aspirations and higher educational attainment, greater interaction with other racial groups and creation of interracial friendships in adult life, and higher desire to live and work in racially diverse environments.
  • They perceive little correlation between racial diversity in the classroom and increased performance by minority students.

• Race and Health

  • Health disparities refer to gaps in the quality of health and healthcare across racial and ethnic groups.
  • Health disparities refer to gaps in the quality of health and healthcare across racial and ethnic groups.
  • Health disparities are well documented in minority populations such as African Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, and Latinos.
  • Minorities also have higher rates of cardiovascular disease, HIV/AIDS, and infant mortality than whites.
  • Discuss the health disparities in the United States based on race and the implications for racial minorities

• Racial Groups

  • The United States is a diverse country, racially and ethnically.
  • The United States Census Bureau also classifies Americans as "Hispanic or Latino" and "Not Hispanic or Latino," which identifies Hispanic and Latino Americans as a racially diverse ethnicity that composes the largest minority group in the nation.
  • Efforts to track mixing between groups led to a proliferation of categories (such as "mulatto" and "octoroon") and so-called "blood quantum" distinctions, which refers to the degree of ancestry for an individual of a specific racial or ethnic group (e.g., saying someone is "1/4 Omaha tribe").
  • Further complicating this fact is that a person's racial identity can change over time, and self-ascribed race can differ from assigned race (Kressin et al., 2003).
  • While many see race and ethnicity as the same thing, ethnicity generally refers to a group of people whose members identify with each other through a common heritage and culture, as opposed to the implication of shared biological traits associated with the term "race."

• Ethnic Groups

  • An ethnic group is a group of people who share a common heritage, culture, and/or language; in the U.S., ethnicity often refers to race.
  • This is due to the historical and ongoing significance of racial distinctions that categorize together what might otherwise have been viewed as ethnic groups.
  • For example, various ethnic, "national," or linguistic groups from Africa, Asia and the Pacific Islands, Latin America, and Indigenous America have long been combined together as racial minority groups (currently designated as African American, Asian, Latino and Native American or American Indian, respectively).
  • While a sense of ethnic identity may coexist with racial identity (Chinese Americans among Asian or Irish American among European or White, for example), the long history of the United States as a settler, conqueror, and slave society, and the formal and informal inscription of racialized groupings into law and social stratification schemes has bestowed upon race a fundamental social identification role in the United States.
  • Explain why ethnic and racial categories tend to overlap in the U.S.

• Ethnicity

  • The Bosnian War, which took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between April 1992 and December 1995, has been characterized as an ethnic conflict which primarily involved people of Bosniak, Serb and Croat ethnicities.
  • The following categories - "ethnic categories," "ethnic networks," "ethnies" or "ethnic communities," and "situational ethnicity" - were developed in order to distinguish the instances when ethnic classification is the labeling of others and when it is a case of self-identification.
  • For example, ethnic groups such as Irish, Italian American, Russian, Jewish, and Serbian might all be groups whose members are predominantly included in the racial category "white. " Conversely, the ethnic group British includes citizens from a multiplicity of racial backgrounds: black, white, Asian, and more, plus a variety of racial combinations.
  • The women above are wearing an interesting fusion of modern and ethnic clothing.
  • Provides a glimpse into the many and diverse ethnic groups to be found in China.

• Minorities

  • In this process, the minority group sheds its distinctive traits and is absorbed into the dominant group.
  • An example of a minority population discriminating against a majority population is seen in the racial apartheid that existed until just recently in South Africa.
  • Racial discrimination is and has been official government policy in many countries.
  • In the 1970s, Uganda expelled tens of thousands of ethnic Indians.
  • Until 2003, Malaysia enforced discriminatory policies limiting access to university education for ethnic Chinese and Indian students who are citizens by birth of Malaysia.

• Race and Ethnicity

  • Racial disparities in health care often center around socioeconomic status, diet, and education.
  • Health disparities refer to gaps in the quality of health and health care across racial and ethnic groups.
  • Race and health research, often done in the United States, has found both current and historical racial differences in the frequency, treatments, and availability of treatments for several diseases.
  • Ethnic minorities may also have specific healthcare needs that need to be taken into consideration by health services in order to tackle health disparities.
  • Discuss the role of race in terms of access to and quality of health care, especially for minorities