Language Loss
When languages disappear, cultural diversity is reduced
An indigenous language goes extinct as often as every two weeks as its last speakers die off.
- Of approximately 7,000 remaining languages, ~20% are endangered.
Ethnicity
Ethnic group- gathering sharing certain beliefs, values, habits, customs and norms because of common background.
Ethnicity- identification with a particular ethnic group (exclusion from other groups because of affiliation)
Status- any position that determines where someone fits in society
+ Ascribed status- little or no choice about occupying the status given, often mutually exclusive (ex: gender)
+ Achieved status- gained through choices, actions, efforts, talents or accomplishments (ex: doctor, mother)
Minority groups have an ascribed status associated with position in the sociopolitical hierarchy
- Inferior power and less secure access to resources than majority groups
Race- an ethnic group assumed to have a biological basis
Racism- discrimination against such a group
Race v Ethnicity
Race is a cultural category rather than a biological reality
- Not possible to define human races biologically
U.S. does not draw a clear line between ethnicity and race
- "Hispanic": ethnic category that cuts across racial contrasts like "black" and "white"
- Better to use the phrase ethnic group, rather than race.
Racial Identity
In US, acquire racial identity at birth
- Rule of Dissent: assigns social identity on the basis of ancestry
- Hypodescent: automatically places the children of a union or mating between members of different groups into a minority group
Race in the US
The US Census Bureau has been gathering data by race since 1790
Race in Brazil
More flexible than in US
- Racial classification may change due to achieved status, development biological changes, and other irregular forces.
- No hypodescent rule ever developed in Brazil to ensure that whites and blacks remained separate.
Nations
Nation= society sharing common language, religion, history, territory, ancestry, kinship
Nationalities= groups that have or wish to have autonomous political power.
Assimilation
When a minority group adopts the patterns and norms of the host culture. Incorporates dominant culture so much it no longer exists as its own entity.
Multiculturalism
Plural society- a culture combining ethnic contrasts, ecological specialization, and economic interdependence.
Shifted focus from specific cultural practices and values to relations between ethnic groups.
Multiculturalism= the view of cultural diversity as valuable and worth maintaining in its own right.
Roots of Ethnic Conflict
Prejudice- the devaluing of a group because of is assumed behavior, values, capabilities, or attributes.
Stereotypes- fixed ideas about what the members of a group are like
Discrimination- policies and practices that harm a group and its members.
- De facto: practiced but not legally sanctioned
- De jure: part of the law
Genocide- deliberate elimination of a group
Ethnocide- an attempt to destroy the cultures of certain ethnic groups
- Forced assimilation: when the dominant group forces an ethnic group to adopt the dominant culture. (ex: armenian cemetery destroyed, denies existence)
Results of Ethnic Conflict...
Ethnic Expulsion- removing groups who are culturally different from a culture
Refugees- people who are forced to flee a country
Cultural colonialism- internal domination by one group and its culture or ideology over others