Sociology chap. 11 race and ethinicity

a socially constructed category of people who share biologically transmitted traits that members of a society consider important

a shared cultural heritage

a simplified description applied to every person in some category

a rigid and unfair generalization about an entire category of people

unequal treatment of various categories of people

the physical and social separation of categories of people

the belief that one racial category is innately superior or inferior to another

bias built into the operation of society's institutions (including schools, hospitals, law enforcement, etc...)

a state in which people of all races and ethnicities are distinct but have equal social standing

the process by which minorities gradually adopt patterns of dominant culture

• chinese immigrantion began in 1849 (CA's Gold Rush Era)
• worked for cheap labor
• took low-status jobs that whites didn't want
• 1870s - seen as a threat to the whites b/c the chinese