Race And Ethnicity

Ethnicity and Race are very difficult to define. The two words are so closely related and often times used interchangeably.

Race and ethnicity are two things that have been around since before the colonist journeyed over to America. But what do these two words mean? It is easy for people to confuse them and think that the two definitions can overlap. Race, in sociological terms, is a social concept. The majority of race is concerned with biology and the physical characteristics or hereditary traits a person might have. For example this could be skin, hair, or eye color, or bone structure. Ethnicity is cultural factors that a person would be able to conform to. These factors are shared by people in the subgroups and can be accepted or rejected. Examples of this would be languages, religion, food, and nationality.

Race and Ethnicity – Race is a concept used to differ population groups on the basis of physical characteristics. Races used by the government for statistical purposes are Alaskan Native, American Indian, Asian or Pacific Islander, Black, White, and Unknown. Ethnicity is a concept used to differ population on the basis of cultural characteristics or geographical origins. Ethnic designations used by the government for statistical purposes are of a Hispanic origin o nor of Hispanic origin, and Unknown.

In the U.S., the term “race” has different connotation compared to other countries like Brazil. As the book Culture defines it- in Chapter 11: Ethnicity and Race- a race is nothing more than a biologically related ethnic group. Often, the tendency of North American society to rely on hypodescent, leads to stress and lack of self-identity. As a matter of fact, the book describes hypodescent as the arbitrary classification of interracial children as a member of the least privileged ethnic group to which either of their parents corresponds. Besides, in today’s world U.S. population has become increasing diversified. Diversity has led to racial tension between different groups. Latinos is one general term given to people who speak a Latin-derived language (this includes South American

Race refers to the idea of identifying people into groups based on various physical characteristics. An ethnic group or ethnicity is a population whose members identify with each other based on shared social traits. In America, we currently have six dominant races: white American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, black or African American, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, and people of two or more races. The Census Bureau also classifies Americans as "Hispanic or Latino”. Hispanic and Latino Americans are a diverse ethnicity that composes the largest minority group in the United States. Throughout the last decade many sociologist around the country have gathered evidence to prove the evolution the American population is witnessing.

Some of the similarities between the two terms are that by definition, they are a categorized group of a population. They are similarly significant in the sense that both terms share characteristic traits. In addition, "ethnicity" and "race" share genealogy. Contrarily, the two terms are different because ethnicities are categorized on the basis of a real or presumed common genealogy or ancestry, while races are classified on the basis of various sets of physical characteristics. In other words, ethnicity is determined by your ancestors and family tree. Race is decided based on physical characteristics such as eyes, nose structure, ears, body type, etc. Two examples that I would consider a race to be are African Americans and Whites. Two examples

We know that we are one biologically in terms of being able to share each other’s organs and have children with each other. So, our differences biologically are superficial, hair texture, some ailments which tend to be environmental, and skin color. Those who want to dismiss the notion of the social construction of race normally do so due to their inherent bias to attribute dysfunctional behavior in minority communities due to a racial makeup instead of addressing more systemic problems that plague these communities. Countless studies reveal that lower income people of all groups tend to follow the same negative trajectory.

The term Race refers to a person’s physical, biological traits that lead to different treatment by others in the society. In modern world race is defined more by the identification of people on the basis of their physical characteristics, it is socially constructed. Race refers to a group that is "socially" defined but on the basis of "physical" criteria. Over the period of time, the concept of race has changed in many different forms and is now less about person’s family or cultural ties but more based on how they look. An example of race is brown, white, or black skin.

To me race means who you are and where you come from. Race is the group of people that share physical characteristics as well as a genetic background. I feel that many people often confuse race and ethnicity. Where race connects people by genetics ethnicity connects people through their cultural and social backgrounds.

The Virginia Military Institute was a higher education school in Virginia. It claimed to train the leaders of the future, or “citizen-soldiers” and impart to its students great discipline; however, it only enrolled male students. In 1996, the United States government sued the state of Virginia and the Virginia Military Institute for its male-only policy as a violation of the Fourteenth amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. The District Court ruled in the school’s favor. The Fourth Circuit demanded Virginia to reverse this constitutional violation (Van Camp). In response to this complaint, Virginia proposed a similar program for women: the Virginia Women’s Institute for Leadership. The District Court found that this plan satisfied the equal protection requirement, and the Fourth Circuit affirmed that although these two institutions would differ in prestige (and the historical benefit), they would still offer essentially similar educational opportunities. The United States then appealed to the Supreme Court, and it raised the issue whether this new women’s only academy satisfied the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. The Supreme court ruled, in a 7-to-1 decision, that Virginia Military Institute’s male-only policy was unconstitutional. In order to not violate the Equal Protection clause of the amendment, VMI must make its program available to women as well. VMI

Race, nationality, and ethnicity are several of the most written about subjects in sociology. Sociologist discusses the basis on a person and the unity that they feel with others from the same or different origin. Sociologists like to study those ties as well as the negative effects.

There is no way to address what we’ve covered in this class without first addressing what the concepts of race and ethnicity mean. This is a definition that is constructed differently in every text that we’ve read, and it’s possible that every student in the class had differing definitions of race at the beginning of the semester. Personally I think that we’ve agreed on certain aspects of that definition as the class progressed and we’ve read different texts, but obviously the construction of race holds a different meaning for everyone. In the beginning of the semester, when asked to define the difference between race and ethnicity, I stated that race was a collection of physical features that are grouped together, while ethnicity also takes

"Race" and "ethnicity" are perplexing terms and regularly utilized conversely. These terms were at first isolated to assign "race" as a natural quality and "ethnicity" as a social wonder. This qualification mirrors endeavors to recognize sex and sexual orientation. Dissimilar to "sex" and "sex," notwithstanding, there is little concurrence on center qualifications in the middle of race and

The wealth gap has consistently been at the forefront of the economic disparity conversation. Ethnic background continues to play a role in the amount of wealth in a given household. Studies show that minorities accumulate wealth at an substantially lower rate than Caucasians. A twenty-five-year longitudinal study by Brandeis University discovered that, “The median wealth of white families has shot up precipitously since 1984, while the median wealth of black families has barely moved,” (Resnikoff, 2011) This research will address the question as to whether ethnicity truly plays a role in the amount of wealth a group can accumulate because of factors such as homeownership, college education, and unemployment. The null hypothesis would state that wealth accumulation is highly correlated with race, education, homeownership and income. Whereas the alternative hypothesis would state that wealth accumulation is not correlated with the above-mentioned variables. In order to develop a theoretical framework for this project, a literature review of scholarly journal articles relevant to the topic and causes being addressed, was completed. Studies that have already been conducted on the causes and previous Census reports were used to support my hypothesis.

While reading about ethnic minorities, I made many observations about the group as a whole as well as each separate ethnicity. One observation I made is that according to the figure on page 63 in the textbook, African Americans have the lowest median income as of 2014. The African American population has dealt with poverty for so long and the level of poverty continues to rise. This has lead to an increase in dependence on social welfare programs in the African American community. Due to the massive amount of environmental stressors, the health of African Americans is being greatly impacted. Life expectancy is much lower. As the author writes, “In 2014, black males had a life expectancy of 71.8 years compared to 76.5 years for white males” (p.65). Another important observation is that the lives and history of American Indians have and always will be changed because of White settlers. Because of the ongoing turmoil, deprivation, and displacement that American Indians faced, reports of poverty, drug and alcohol abuse, and health problems are the most prevalent in this group. According to the text, “In 2004, American Indians were 770 percent more likely to die from alcoholism, 420 percent more likely to die from diabetes…” (p.68). My last observation that is the most prevalent to today’s time and especially in California is the massive influx of immigrants. While reading I observed that the largest group of immigrants that come to the United States is from Asia at 41% (p.70).