AFS 394 - BLACK NATIONALISM

Dr. Miletsky

1 THE ORIGINS OF RACIAL AND ETHNIC GROUPS

1.1 CHARACTERISTICS THAT DETERMINE MINORITY GROUP STATUS
History of unequal treatment: Have a history of being the object of prejudice,
discrimination, segregation, racism, sexism, xenophobia, or homophobia.
Distinctive physical or cultural characteristics: Have some physical or cultural characteristic that differentiates them from the majority group.
Membership in the group is involuntary: Membership is an ascribed status
in that individuals are born into a minority group.
Endogamy: The tendency for in-group marriage.
Awareness of subordinate status: Recognition that they are minorities.

1.2 BASIC TYPES OF MINORITY GROUPS

Racial minority group: A biological concept based on the premise that people
are different because of observed physical differences which are assigned social significance by society and because these physical differences result in specific social
consequences (usually negative) for members of this group. (e.g. African Americans, Native Americans)
Ethnic minority group: A cultural concept based on the distinctive cultural
characteristics rather than physical characteristics of a particular group. Also
to original national culture, religion, and race as distinguishing characteristics of
a subgroup within an inclusive national group. (e.g. Irish Americans, Italian
Americans)
Nationality group: A political concept that is used to describe citizens of a
particular country.
Religious minority group: A type of minority group that is in the numerical
minority in any given society and who were at one time or are currently persecuted.

 Gender group: A type of minority group that can actually be in the numerical
majority but that has experienced both prejudice and discrimination, has a long
history of unequal treatment, are aware of their minority group status, and their
membership in the group is involuntary.

1.3 TYPES OF EVOLVING MINORITY GROUPS

The elderly: A type of minority group that is characterized by age. This population has experienced prejudice as well as housing and labor market discrimination.
The physically challenged: A type of minority group that is characterized by
physical disabilities. This population has experienced prejudice as well as discrimination in the form of denial of opportunities in higher education and employment.
The gay and lesbian community: A type of minority group that is characterized by sexual orientation. This community of people has experienced prejudice
as well as housing and labor market discrimination and the denial of basic equal
rights.
The homeless: A type of minority group that is characterized as those men,
women, and children who have fallen through the safety-net of the welfare system.
Homelessness is more than a lack of housing, it is the end result of a life of poverty,
unemployment, or family disorganization that is more often than not caused by
transforming social and economic conditions in society.

1.4 METHODS BY WHICH MINORITY GROUPS ARE CREATED

Voluntary migration: The emigration of an individual or groups of individuals
on their own volition.
Involuntary migration: The emigration of an individual or groups of individuals
not on their own volition.
Political annexation: Territorial domination usually following a military victory.
Those who are victorious in battle claim the land of the vanquished.
Under these circumstances the defeated people are relegated to an inferior status
and often become minorities in their society. Their imposed minority status can
remain in effect for many years or their inferior position in society may pass to the
next generation and remain attached to the group indefinitely.
Colonial expansion: That historical period of exploration and discovery when
the Europeans set out to claim and conquer all the territories in the New World.
While their objective was to obtain more land, they also wanted to extract the
raw materials from the conquered territories, ship them to the mother country,
and increase their wealth.
2

 Internal colonialism: The process by which an ethnic or racial minority group

constitute a colony within White America because institutionalized discrimination
maintains white control over the economic, educational, and political opportunities
of those groups.
Under this system or model of race relations, there is no longer a need to create new
minority groups in foreign lands to take advantage of their cheap labor. Rather
these groups now exist within the mother country and are segregated within the
society where their labor is exploited. These labor reservations which are created
in the mother country are known as ghettos and barrios.

2 PREJUDICE AND DISCRIMINATION

2.1 CHARACTERISTICS ASSOCIATED WITH PREJUDICE
Over-categorization: When a person takes one example, or one experience, and
then generalizes that experience to all the members of a particular group.
Misconceptions: When people make a mistake in the organization of their facts.
Essentially, a prejudicial attitude is based on the organization of erroneous information, which serves to mislead our thinking.
Prejudgments: When a person evaluates the characteristics, forms an opinion,
and acts on that evaluation and opinion of an individual or a group before all the
facts are in.
Rationalization: When people make every effort to integrate new or contradictory facts into their old ways of thinking, maintaining their prejudiced attitudes.
Value judgments: A personal statement about what is desirable or worthwhile.

2.2 THEORIES THAT EXPLAIN THE EXISTENCE OF PREJUDICE

Exploitation theory: Most likely to take hold in those societies where there
is a significant disparity in the power relationship between the majority group
and various minority groups. Is applicable when one group dominates and takes
advantage of another.
Scape-goating theory: Occurs when someone places blame for their problems
on some convenient, but powerless and innocent person or group. It holds that
those who are unwilling to accept personal blame for their misfortunes will find
another person or group to blame for their problems.
Authoritarian personality theory: Represented by a personality type noted
for extreme conformity, rigid thinking, superstition, toughness, suppression of emotions, strong adherence to convention, submissiveness to authority, and arrogance
toward those whom they consider inferior. Authoritarians are very ethnocentric,
3

and adamant in the belief that the values and the goals of their group are the best
and judge all other groups by the standards of their group.
Ecological theory: Holds that the immediate social environment has a direct
impact on the attitudes and perceptions of all individuals.
If a person lives in surroundings where prejudice is part and parcel of everyday
social circumstances, then they are likely to share prejudicial attitudes, political
perspectives, religious beliefs, and life goals. In other words, intolerance begins at
home.
Linguistic theory: Based on the premise that our language and cultural environment have a direct impact on our way of thinking and affects the development
of our ideas and opinions.
If the language and the symbols that we use in everyday life and the meaning
that they have for us foster prejudice, then it becomes very difficult to change our
attitudes and opinions about other people. We need to consider the types of ethnic
slurs or sexist remarks that we use in our daily conversations that are part of our
linguistic repertoire.

2.3 FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION

Individual discrimination: The process by which the members of a more powerful and dominant group exclude specific individuals or groups from certain rights,
opportunities, or privileges and deny the members of another less powerful group
full access to valued resources such as jobs, income, education, health, prestige,
power, or anything that the members of a society value. Further, discrimination
occurs when an act or behavior is an act that results in the unequal treatment of an
individual or a group based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation,
age, or social class.
Institutional discrimination: A process and patterns of unequal treatment
based on group membership that are built into the institutions and daily operations
of society. In other words, the denial of access to valued resources is sanctioned by
cultural values, beliefs, norms, and laws of society. For example, public schools,
the criminal justice system, and political and economic institutions can operate in
ways that put members of some groups at a disadvantage.

2.4 FUNDAMENTAL EXAMPLES OF DISCRIMINATION

Economic discrimination: Occurs when laws, public policies, or corporate policies have a differential impact on certain groups that put them at an economic
disadvantage. The most blatant form of economic discrimination occurs in the
determination of the wage structure.

 Labor market discrimination: Occurs when the hiring practices of employers

have a differential impact on certain groups that put them at a labor market
disadvantage.
Educational discrimination: Occurs when there is institutional discrimination
in public schools resulting in substandard educational experiences for minority
students.
Housing discrimination: Occurs when there is housing or residential segregation.
Sex discrimination: Occurs most often in the area of wages and compensation
for work. Besides being paid less than men for comparable work, women are also
segregated in certain occupations.

2.5 BASIC PROCESSES OF DISCRIMINATION

Expulsion: A type of discrimination where members of an ethnic or racial group
are forced or exiled from a society.
Segregation: The process of separating or state of separation of racial and ethnic
minority groups from the dominant group, either geographically or in public or
quasi-public institutions because of physical and/or cultural criteria. Further, it
refers to a type of discrimination where ethnic groups are spatially isolated in areas
where they can not have the same access to valued resources as those who are not
isolated.
Selective inclusion: A type of discrimination that allows members of an ethnic
or racial group access to certain positions and opportunities while at the same time
excluding them from other positions and opportunities.
Exclusion: A type of discrimination that denies members of an ethnic or racial
group certain positions, independent of the effects of segregation. For example,
the denial of certain basic citizenship rights.

3 MINORITY-MAJORITY RELATIONS
3.1 WAYS IN WHICH IMMIGRANT AND MINORITY GROUPS ASSIMILATE (OR
NOT) INTO AMERICAN SOCIETY
Anglo-centric perspective: A model of assimilation that is based on the belief
that Anglo American institutions constitute the basis for American values and
culture and that these values should be promoted.
Melting pot theory: A model of assimilation that refers to the blending of all the
ethnic differences in society whereby everyone would become a true American.
5

The end result of this process would involve the biological blending of the diverse
racial groups in American society and the mixture of diverse cultures.
Cultural monism: A model of assimilation that advocates the complete assimilation of all ethnic and racial groups whereby the integration of minorities into
American society would produce a very homogeneous society in which all minorities
would be encouraged to adopt the values and the culture of American society.
Cultural pluralism: A model of assimilation that exists when groups have neither
acculturated nor integrated. This process emphasizes cultural heterogeneity or
cultural mixture. The end result of this process not only encourages cultural
diversity but it also allows for cultural differences within society. In other words,
the cultural differences between groups are at a maximum.
Cultural nationalism: A model of assimilation that stresses that racial and
ethnic groups should be completely independent and culturally distinct from the
core group by maintaining their language, culture, traditions, and religion.

3.2 STAGES TO THE PROCESS OF ASSIMILATION

Competitive phase: The process by which racial and ethnic populations compete
over resources, such as jobs, living space, and political representation.
Accomodation: The process by which immigrants and their descendants are
forced to change and adapt to their new environment.
Complete assimilation: The process by which members of an ethnic or racial
group become part of the broader culture and society, losing their distinctive character. Specifically, these different groups subordinate differences and relinquish
cultural traits and identities, expand similarities, and become fused in a new group
with a common culture and social identity.

3.3 FUNDAMENTAL TYPES OF ASSIMILATION

Cultural assimilation (acculturation): The process when the values, beliefs,
dogmas, ideologies, language, and other systems of symbols of the dominant culture
are adopted by ethnic or racial minority groups as their own.
Structural assimilation (integration): The process by which minorities gain
acceptance into the formal organizational structures and institutions of the dominant group of society such as clubs, social organizations, schools, workplaces, and
political arenas.
Marital assimilation (malgamation): The process of biological blending,
through marriage and extramarital relations, in which different racial or ethnic
groups are fused with each other or with the majority group into a new group.

 Identificational assimilation: The process whereby members of an ethnic or

racial group no longer see themselves as distinctive and, like members of the dominant group, stake their personal identities to participation and success in the
mainstream institutions of a society. The development of a sense of peoplehood
between minorities and the majority group can be the result.

4 THEORIES OF ETHNIC RELATIONS

4.1 THEORIES THAT EXIST WHICH EXPLAIN ETHNIC RELATIONS
Assimilation theory: The process by which members of an ethnic or racial group
become part of the broader culture and society, losing their distinctive character.
Specifically, these different groups subordinate differences and relinquish cultural
traits and identities, expand similarities, and become fused in a new group with a
common culture and social identity.
Pluralism theory: Cultural or societal pluralism refers to a peaceful coexistence of different groups. A societal arrangement composed of a multiplicity of
autonomous but interdependent groups. A societal arrangement composed of a
dominant group surrounded by a series of relatively autonomous and interdependent minority groups. In other words, the various ethnic and racial groups in
society are allowed to retain important aspects of their culture.
Biological theory: The emphasis on the biological underpinnings of race and
ethnicity are that the units of natural selection are the genes, rather than the individual. Biological theories of race and ethnicity, then, start with these assumptions
and see them as a driving force operating to produce and sustain race and ethnicity.
Human ecology theory: Stresses the forces of competition, selection, and speciation of distinctive racial and ethnic groupings. Further, this framework emphasizes that living patterns in urban areas are produced by competition for scarce
resources - land, housing, and jobs.
Human groups exist in a struggle for survival, each trying to find a viable social
niche. Thus, as populations migrate to urban areas, they accelerate the level
of competition for resources with those already present and, set in motion the
processes of accomodation and assimilation.
Power and stratification theory: Emphasizes how the process of discrimination
produces overrepresentation of members of society in certain areas.
Caste theory: Race and ethnic relations as constituting a caste system in
which racial and ethnic groups are confined to lower socioeconomic positions,
denied access to power, and segregated in their own living space.

Adding a marxist twist, this argument emphasizes that the capitalist class
of owners and managers of industry has been crucial to the caste-like subordination of racial and ethnic groups. Thus, exploitive practices are tied to
the actions and interests of economic elites who mobilize power and ideologies in order to have a ready, desperate, and low-cost labor pool available for
exploitation.
Colonialism theory: External colonialism is the process by which one nations controls the political and economic activities of another, less developed
and less powerful society. Four components comprise the colonialization complex:
1. Forced entry into a territory and its population,
2. Alteration or destruction of the indigenous culture and patterns of social
organization,
3. Domination of the indigenous population by representatives of the invading society, and
4. Justification of such activities with highly prejudicial, racist beliefs and
stereotypes.
Internal colonialism is the process where the dynamics of the colonialization
complex operate within a society. For example, African Americans constitute a colony within White America because institutionalized discrimination
maintains White control over the economic, educational, and political opportunities of many African Americans. Another example would be that of
Native Americans. Through various attempts at genocide, Euro-Americans
successfully took away land, forcing those who survived to live on reservations
which are examples of very visible types of internal colonies.
Split labor market theory: A process where the emphasis is on competition between ethnic or racial minority groups for resources. The dominant
class in society uses its power to foster racial and ethnic antagonism for its
own benefit. Markets for labor become partitioned, with members of certain
ethnic or racial groups being confined to some jobs in the labor market and
not allowed to work in other, typically higher-paying jobs.
Split class theory: Emphasizes economic exploitation of the lower classes by
those in the higher classes. Added to this dynamic, however, is the recognition
that each class includes segments or sectors that are isolated and hence subject
to discriminatory practices. Further, the splits within each class are along
ethnic or racial lines. In other words, members of an ethnic or racial group
are subordinate within a class and are often relegated to the less desirable,
lower-paying, and less secure jobs within a particular class.