Soc 110

1. Chapter 12
The Changing Context of
American Race and Ethnic
Relations: Current and Future
Issues

2. Chapter Outline
 Issues of the Newest Immigration
 Economic Issues
 Social and Cultural Issues
 Issues of Immigrant Adaptation and Integration
 A Revitalized Nativism?
 Arab Americans
 Cultural Assimilation or Pluralism?
Competing Goals

3.  The Continuing Gap between Euro-
Americans and Racial-Ethnic Minorities
 Compensatory Policies
 Affirmative Action
 The Legal Issues of Affirmative Action
 The Politics of Affirmative Action
 The Future of Affirmative Action

4. 3 Important Issues in the
Changing Context
 1) the changing ethnic configuration
 2) assimilation versus pluralism
 3) continued gap between Euro-American
and most Asian groups on the one hand and
African American, Hispanic American, and
Native American groups on the other

5. Issues of the Newest
Immigration
 Economic issues
 The newest immigration favors some sectors of
the economy and harms others.
 Most Mexican and Caribbean immigrants benefit
employers in labor-intensive industries but
depress the job opportunities of native low-status
workers.
 Many Asian Indians, Chinese, and Filipinos are
highly trained professionals and managers and
are needed as the U.S. lags in producing highly
trained scientific workers.

6. Polling Question
 Is immigration good for the United States?

7.  Illegal immigration
 Approximately 12 million illegal immigrants
 More than 70% of farm-workers are illegal
immigrants
 Future labor needs can be met only with an influx
of immigrants.
 Demand will be particularly evident in high skill
areas.

8.  Social and cultural issues
 Americans have mixed feelings about the
increased diversity of the new immigrants.
 Language has been controversial.
 Some have sought to make English the official
language.
 Others claim an official language masks ethnic
antagonism.
 Majority of immigrants want to and do learn English.

9.  New Immigration
 Current immigrants are likely to experience
segmented assimilation.
 The labor market has changed from industrial to
segmented.
 Recent immigrants maintain contact with their
country of origin through communication and
transportation technologies.

10.  New immigrants continue to arrive from the same
countries.
 Mass media homogenize through anticipatory
acculturation.
 Society and the economy have moved toward
acceptance of ethnic pluralism.

11. Polling Question
 How do the media influence assimilation?

12.  Assimilation
 Is proceeding.
 Is a reciprocal process
 Usually occurs in a series of small shifts.

13.  A revitalized nativism?
 Tolerance for immigration rises and falls with
 Economic conditions.
 International events including terrorist attacks
 The focus of the current debate is mostly on
Mexicans, particularly the undocumented.

14. Arab Americans
 Middle Easterners represent a diversity of
 Ethnic populations
 Religious populations
 Political groups
 Most Arab Americans today trace their origins
to before WWII.
 Numbers swelled beginning in the 1970s.

15.  Most early Arab immigrants were poor and
uneducated but were Christian and soon
blended into the population.
 The last wave is more diverse in
geographical origin, ethnicity, religion and
social class. Many have come because of
political unrest.

17.  Major concentrations are in Detroit, Los
Angeles, and New York.
 They represent a broad range of social
classes and occupations.
 Attainments are usually higher than the
general population.

19.  Arab Americans have been subjected to
negative stereotypes of Muslims.
 It has been particularly strong since 9/11 in
2001.
 Air travel has been especially difficult.

20.  Arabs have traditionally been seen as
mysterious and villainous.
 Negative images have been exacerbated by
 The media
 Oil crisis of 1970s
 September 11, 2001

21.  Assimilation
 Questions of ethnic classification
 U.S. census classifies them as white.
 Most do not see themselves as white.
 Cultural conflict between traditional devout
Muslim values and modern American values
had led to isolation.
 They are increasingly integrated into current
society through the consumer market.

22.  Most Arab Americans are American in their
outlook, values, and attitudes.

23. Cultural Assimilation or
Pluralism?
 Traditionally, assimilation was assumed.
 Today, the assumption is in dispute.
 Beginning in the 1960s, heightened collective
consciousness has developed.
 Some are promoting pluralism.
 Multicultural ideas and policies are reflected
in most major social institutions, especially
education. Bilingualism is controversial.

24. Polling Question
 Why is bilingualism controversial?

25.  Different ethnicities are mixing in the central
cities.
 Pluralistic principles are stronger, but ethnic
differences are diminishing.
 Ethnic leaders may argue that cultures must
be preserved but most immigrants want
assimilation.

26. The Continuing Gap between Euro-
Americans and Racial-Ethnic Minorities
 Public policy debates center on persistent
economic gaps and social distance.
 Compensatory policies
 Arose from the civil rights movement and new
pluralism of the 1960s and 1970s
 Designed to raise group positions
 Designed to protect minority groups from
discrimination

27.  Affirmative action was designed to advance
the economic and educational achievement
of the minorities that had been most
victimized.
 It is now focused on achieving equality of
result in addition to equality of opportunity.

28. Affirmative Action: The Debate
 Affirmative Action is Necessary:
 Indirect and Institutional forms of discrimination
continue to perpetuate non-white disadvantage.
 Non-whites enter the competition with background
disadvantages.
 Without affirmative action, we will return to the
discrimination of the past.
 Affirmative action provides social capital.

29.  Affirmative Action is Unfair:
 It results in reverse discrimination.
 Success is not based on individual merit.
 Targeted groups are stigmatized.
 It is too sweeping in application.
 The major beneficiaries have been middle class.

30. Polling Question
 Have you benefited from affirmative action?

31. The Legal Issues of Affirmative
Action
 Griggs v. Duke Power 1971—Tests given to
potential employees can be invalidated if they
had harmful effects and were not necessary.
 Bakke case 1978—Court ruled that quotas
were illegal, but the use of race can be one of
many criteria and can be used to create a
balanced student body.

32.  Weber v. Kaiser Aluminum—Court declared
that employers seeking to increase minority
representation could use quotas but a later
case ruled that layoffs must be according to
seniority.
 Adarand Construction v. Pena 1995—Court
placed tight limits on affirmative action.
 2007 Supreme Court ruled that efforts to
balance the racial makeup by allocating
students to schools was unconstitutional.

33. The Politics of Affirmative
Action
 Democrats have for the most part supported it.
 Republicans have opposed, or given lukewarm
support and sought to limit its application.
 Presidential administrations up until Reagan
supported affirmative action.
 Reagan sought to subvert it.
 G.W. Bush's Supreme Court appointments will likely
limit it further.

34.  Public opinion
 A majority have generally supported the
rationale, but not always the specific
programs.
 Support has decreased in recent years.
 Perception that equality exists.
 The real issue is social class.
 Essentially a matter of fairness.

35.  The objective has shifted from an effort to
make up for past wrongs to creating the
proportional makeup of the broader group.
 Corporations support affirmative action, but
specifically using race is increasingly
unpopular.

36. Looking Ahead
 Opinion about racial/ethnic issues remains
divided.
 Divisions among racial/ethnic minorities are
increasing.
 We expect ethnic discord to be present for
years to come.

37.  Reasons for optimism
 Evidence of growing tolerance
 U.S. is generally socially and politically cohesive.
 Intermarriage rates are rising.
 Level of American conflict is mild compared with
other societies.

38. Quick Quiz

39. Quiz
1. The ________ Supreme Court case ruled
that universities could use race as one of
several criteria in selecting students.
A. Plessy v. Ferguson
B. Bakke
C. Griggs
D. Loving v. Virginia

40. B. The Bakke Supreme Court case ruled that
universities could use race as one of several
criteria in selecting students.

41. 2. Recent immigration to the U.S. is different
from earlier immigration in that
A. industrial job opportunities are plentiful.
B. immigrants can easily maintain contact with their
country of origin.
C. ethnic pluralism is less popular than it was in the
past.
D. All of the above

42. B. Recent immigration to the U.S. is different
from earlier immigration in that immigrants
can easily maintain contact with their country
of origin.

43. 3. Recently arriving Arab Americans are
particularly subjected to negative stereotypes
of
A. Jews.
B. Muslims.
C. Sephardics.
D. Catholics.

44. B. Recently arriving Arab Americans are
particularly subjected to negative stereotypes
of Muslims.

45. 4. Arab Americans are currently classified as
________ in the census.
A. white
B. black
C. brown
D. Middle Eastern

46. 4. Arab Americans are currently classified as
white in the census.

47. 5. The purpose of affirmative action is shifting
toward
A. making up for past wrongs.
B. equality of opportunity.
C. equality of results.
D. reverse discrimination.

48. C. The purpose of affirmative action is shifting
toward equality of results.