Perspectives – Racial & Ethnic Inequality Structural Functionalism – If a society is to work harmoniously, newcomers must assimilate by adopting the dominant groups values, goals and language. Otherwise, the society will experience discord and conflict. Functionalists suggest that racial-ethnic inequality sustains a pool of cheap labor for jobs that require little or no training. A good example is that of farmers relying on immigrants to work in fields at low wages – otherwise, many farmers might realize economic ruin. In this way, dominant group members benefit from inequality by avoiding undesirable jobs while providing employment to people with low educational or skill levels. Another function of racial and ethnic inequality is to keep minorities from acquiring decent jobs, as well as education and housing, which makes more of those scarce resources available to the white population. Conflict Theory – Dominant groups try to protect their power and privilege, while subordinate groups struggle to gain a larger share of societal resources. Many conflict theorists agree that economic inequality generates racial-ethnic inequality. For instance, jobs in the primary labor market that are held primarily by whites, provide better wages, health and pensions benefits as well as better job security. In contrast, workers in the secondary labor market, who are largely minorities, are easily replaced. These groups tend to compete with each other rather than uniting against exploitation. Conflict theorists such as W.E.B. Dubois, maintain that race is a more important factor than the economy or social class because even middle-class minority groups experience severe discrimination on a daily basis that reminds them of their subordinate place in U.S. society. Feminist Theories – Most low paid employees are women – and they are predominantly minority. For feminist scholars, such segregation of minority women reflects gendered racism. Gendered feminism refers to the combined and cumulative effects of inequality due to racism and sexism. Although many white women encounter discrimination on a daily basis, minority women get a double dose of inequality. Feminist scholars also look at how men, especially those in dominant groups, exploit many minority women sexually. Symbolic Interactionism – We learn attitudes, norms, and values throughout the life cycle. We learn attitudes toward dominant and minority groups through labeling and selective perception, both of which can increase prejudice and discrimination. For example, a comprehensive study of major U.S. news magazines concluded that labeling immigrants as a “problem” and a “menace” ignored the broader array of Latino roles and contributions to American communities. The “contact hypothesis” states that the more people get to know members of a minority group personally, the less likely they are to be prejudiced against that group. Taken from SOC 2009-2020 by Nijole V. Benokraitis Slide 2 Race/Ethnicity: • Race: A category of people who are believed to share distinct physical characteristics that are deemed socially significant. The division of people sometimes on the basis of skin color, hair texture, facial features, body shape or size. • Racism: The belief that race accounts for differences in human character and ability and that a particular race is superior to others. Racism is a prejudice that asserts one race is inferior to another, thus making them less worthy of fair treatment. • Ethnicity: A shared cultural heritage or nationality. Ethnic groups can be distinguished on the basis of language, forms of family structures and roles of family members, religious beliefs and practices, dietary customs, forms of artistic expression such as music and dance. Ethnic labels are often misleading ( a Black American and a Black Jamaican or a Cuban and a Mexican or Puerto Rican) • Minority Group: a category of people who have unequal access to positions of power, prestige, and wealth in a society and who tend to be targets of prejudice and discrimination. Minority status is not based on numerical representation in society, but rather on social status. Slide 3 Prejudice/Discrimination: • Prejudice: Negative attitudes and feelings toward or about an entire category of people. Prejudice can be directed toward religion, sexual orientation, political affiliation, age, social class, sex, race or ethnicity. • We learn prejudice through socialization, I was socialized to hate and fear black men, because they are rapists, criminals, and not as good as whites. Individuals adopt the goals and beliefs of their family, peers • Discrimination: Actions or practices that result in differential treatment of categories of individuals. • Individual discrimination: when individuals treat other individuals unfairly or unequally because of the their group membership. Overt: when the individual discriminates because of his or her own prejudicial attitudes (white landlord refusing to rent to blacks). Institutional Discrimination: When normal operations and procedures of social institutions result in unequal treatment of and opportunities for minorities. Institutional discrimination is covert and insidious and maintains the subordinate position of minorities in society. Ethnocentrism: the belief that one’s own group is superior, groups values and behaviors are right and better than all others. Also, thinking about or defining another culture on the basis of your own. Slide 4 Segregation: • The enforced separation from the dominant group based on factors such as race, gender, or ethnicity. • 1960s & earlier embraced, “separate but equal” • Today, segregation is illegal, but still persists. Unofficial segregation continues to this day. Researchers find that blacks of various income levels experience similar segregation from whites. Income inequality is one of the biggest reasons - racial minorities generally earn less money and cannot afford to live in wealthy neighborhoods dominated by whites (Carl, 2013:49). Slide 5 Stereotypes: Stereotypes: over simplified generalized images of members of a particular group or an exaggeration about the characteristics and behavior of a particular group. These simplified and extreme perceptions of an entire group of people are usually based on false assumptions. Have you ever heard any of these stereotypes? • Asians are model students. • Black men are not good fathers • Black men are criminals • Mexican families do not value education • Minorities are lazy and soak the American system (primarily in education and health care) • Blondes are air-headed. • Women are terrible drivers. Slide 6 Immigration: • Immigration: The influx of peoples from other countries into the United States. • Historical Examples of Immigration: The first 100 years of U.S. history anyone was allowed to immigrate. Chinese, Irish, Italians, Poles… Immigrants from nonwhite, non-European countries created fear and resentment among native-born Americans. This fear eventually led to legislation that restricted or halted the immigration of various national groups such as the Chinese. Today, most immigrants come to the U.S. from Asia and Mexico and middle or South American countries. • Why do they come here: Push and Pull theory suggests that the many hardships experienced by poor people throughout the world “pushes” them to leave their countries and the economic opportunities that exist in affluent countries “pull” them to those countries. • The life of an immigrant is a difficult adjustment in the U.S. First, they endure prejudice, discrimination and lack of social support. Many work very hard to succeed educationally and occupationally. Native born Americans believe that immigrants are taking away their jobs. Immigrants are more likely to live in poverty and be unemployed. Nearly half of all immigrants work at or below the minimum wage. In many states, immigrants are not eligible for state assistance programs such as food stamps, cash aid, and Medical. Many immigrants are afraid to seek services because of their citizenship status. Slide 7 Types of Immigrants: • Labor Immigrants are those who migrate to a new country because they are seeking work. We have many such immigrants doing farm work in the U.S. and day workers. • Professional Immigrants are those who migrate to a new country because they possess some skill or profession. The U.S. has a high rate of engineers from the country of India. Entrepreneurial Immigrants are people who migrate because they seek to own their own business. Slide 8 Multiculturalism/Assimilation: • Multiculturalism is a concept that supports the inherent value of different cultures within society. • Proponents of multiculturalism think that immigrants should maintain links to their original culture -- such as language, cultural beliefs, traditions and religion -- while also integrating into their new culture. • Opponents of multiculturalism worry that this practice keeps groups from adapting to the dominant culture. • Assimilation is the process by which minority groups adopt the patterns of the dominant culture. Assimilation can be voluntary, but it can also be forced through policies like the English Only Laws. • Rapid Assimilation occurs when a minority group completely abandons its previous culture in favor of a new one. One example of rapid assimilation is when the government took Native American students from their parents and placed them in boarding schools to teach them “white ways.” A latent or unintended consequence was that many of these students left the boarding home unprepared to live in either the dominant culture or their own culture. • Segmented Assimilation is the idea that there is more than one way to adopt a new land and become economically and socially successful. Traditional thought has held that the faster immigrants become acculturated to the U.S. and give up the culture of their home country, the faster they will achieve successful assimilation. However, poor immigrants are now necessarily exposed to the ‘right’ elements of the new culture (opportunities for a safe neighborhood, a good job, lucrative career, a good education, or reliable healthcare, etc. . . ), instead, they are acculturated to the culture of poor inner-city residents and do not learn the elements associated with middle-class ideals of success. • History of Immigration - see table on P. 50. Chinese Exclusion Act (1882), Immigration Act (1891), Immigration Act (1924), Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments (1965), Immigrant Control and Reform Act (1986), Immigrations Act (1990), Armed Forces Immigration Act (1991), Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (1996), Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigration Responsibility Act (1996). Source - data from Immigration Legal History, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, U.S. Department of Homeland Security English Only Laws are social policies dealing with assimilation and are met with passionate responses from both sides of the issue. • Pros: having an official language unites the country, provides an incentive for new immigrants to assimilate more quickly, save costs because government documents no long need to address multiple languages, ensures that the history of the country and its language remains intact and people must learn English in order to work, shop, and interact with society. • Cons: English Only laws are anti-immigrant because they make it harder for immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses, find work, and interact with social structure in U.S. and such laws can be used to weaken the educational opportunities of non-English-speaking children. • Also, the fear of losing English as the national language is unfounded. The U.S. Census Bureau projections suggest that by 2050, approximately 24 percent of the U.S. population will be Latinos -- making them the largest immigrant group in the U.S. Even if all these Latino people were to speak only Spanish, it still means that almost three-fourths of Americans would still speak English (see Pro & Con “English Only Laws, p. 51). Slide 9 Hate Crime: • What is Hate Crime? • What motivates Hate Crime? • Who are the targets? • Hate Groups • Technology: Hate on the Web • http://www.splcenter.org/intel/map/hate.jsp • Strategies for Action? • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qxt5vbufMDM • Hate Crime Definition: An unlawful act of violence motivated by prejudice or bias. Examples of hate crimes include intimidation or threats, destruction of or damage to property, physical assault or murder. • Motivation: Hate crimes are among the most dehumanizing of crimes because the perpetrator views his or her victim as lacking full human worth due to his or her skin color, language, religion, sexual orientation or disability. • Thrill often motivates a hate crime or Protection of communities, workplace, or college campus against outsider contamination such as same sex marriage or interracial marriages. • Mission Crimes: Perpetrated by white supremacist group members or other offenders. These groups include Klu Klux Klan, AKA, Neo-Nazis, Skinheads, etc… • The targets of hate crime tend to be people who are different from the Christian, White, Male ideal are targeted: Jews, Gays, Blacks and Other Minorities, Women, Muslims, etc. • Hate Groups are organizations that promote hostility or violence toward others based on race and other factors such as immigration and sexual orientation. Strategies for Action: • Legal and Political: increasing minority participation and representation in government, eliminating inequalities in school funding, creating equal opportunities through affirmative action. • Affirmative Action: a broad range of policies and practices in the workplace and educational institutions to promote equal opportunity as well as diversity. An attempt to compensate for the effects of past discrimination and prevent current discrimination against women and racial and ethnic minorities. Women are the main recipients and beneficiaries of affirmative action policies. • Educational Strategies - Multicultural education that encompasses a broad range of programs and strategies to dispel myths, stereotypes and ignorance about minorities, to promote tolerance and appreciation of diversity and to include minority groups. Example: bully programs, tolerance for sexual orientation programs, and museum of tolerance. • What are the positive and negative functions of Hate Crime Websites? There are countless website run by hate groups such as neo-Nazi skinheads and white supremacist groups. These websites have the capacity to spread their philosophical ideology and to recruit members in addition to organizing hate crime activities and events. • Why are anti-hate crime laws and policies sometimes ineffective in eliminating Hate Crime Websites? Slide 10 – Genocide: • The systematic effort to kill all members of a particular ethnic, religious, political, racial, or national group. • What are some historical example of genocide? • Genocide is the attempt to destroy or ‘exterminate’ a people based on their race and/or ethnicity. See next slide for examples of Twentieth-Century Genocides. Slide 12 Structural Functionalist: • Racism supports in group biases • Groups that see themselves as alike are likely to unite strongly. • Davis-Moore Thesis • Inequality seen as functional • Inequality seen as dysfunctional • Functionalism suggests that racism supports in-group biases, causing groups that see themselves as alike to unite strongly. The ability of these groups to unite ties them together. In this way, self segregation helps immigrants and minorities. However, one latent or unintended and dysfunctional consequence of this self segregation is when societies limit the opportunities of minority groups and missing out on the strengths that could help improve society. Perhaps, if gang-age youth had more work or activity opportunities, they would be less likely to become involved in violent and criminal gang activity. • The Structural Functionalist perspective of the Davis Moore Thesis suggests that inequality is functional and that not everyone in society can and should be equal. Some have talents or characteristics that are more desirable and functional at a higher level, such as surgeons and scientists or at a lower level, such as bus boys or field workers. Certain folks are better suited for their positions in society than others. Society sorts individuals according to their abilities or characteristics in order for them to play out their particular role for society. This ensures that only the most qualified and talented get the higher status positions in society. • Dysfunctional because a society that practices discrimination fails to develop and utilized the resources of minority members. Furthermore, prejudice and discrimination aggravate social problems such as poverty, crime, unemployment, health problems, family problems, urban decay and drug use. Slide 13: Conflict • Competition over wealth, resources, power, and prestige • Racial threat to white well-being and cultural dominance • Racism potentially creates a willing “underclass” to provide cheap labor to the elites • Conflict theory deals with racial and ethnic divisions within society and shows how these divisions also relate to social class. • The powerful majority has a social economic interest in keeping racial and ethnic minorities in a subordinate position. • According to conflict theory, those with power often use it to dominate others. Factors such as lower wages, inferior education, and lack of access to public assistance keep many immigrants in subordinate positions. Business owners may be tempted to hire undocumented immigrant workers who are willing to work for a lower way. Slide 14 Symbolic Interactionism: • Inequality as a social creation • A result of human interaction • Stereotypes, beliefs, attitudes shape our reality • By changing what is acceptable in society, we change reality. • In the late seventies and early 1980s, smoking was allowed in doctor office waiting rooms and in most grocery stores. Today, it is not acceptable to smoke cigarettes in nearly any public space. Think about how the acceptance of smoking in public has changed with the ever-growing influx of research and awareness that second-hand smoke is harmful to human health. The reality of where smokers could engage in the habit of smoking has changed because it’s harmful effects are no longer publicly acceptable. • In regards to racism, prior to the Civil Rights Era of the 1960s, interracial marriage was against the law and a Black-American man could not marry a White-American woman legally. Although this sentiment is still practiced in some areas of the country, people of different races may now, legally, marry one another. Over the course of several decades, such marriages have come to be acceptable - therefore, changing the reality for many couples wishing to marry across the U.S. Slide 15 Feminist: • Focus on gender inequality • Inequality maintained by males in power • Inequality as a product of the patriarchal system in family, education, and workplace • From a feminist perspective, a racial prejudice against Black-American women has been to consider them as the stereotypical welfare recipient. • Also, Black-American women only earn approximately 69-cents on every $1.00 that a white male earns. Crime and Social Control Global Context: • • • • Crime is ubiquitous; there is no country where crime does not exist. Most countries have the same components in their criminal justice systems, police, courts and prisons. Worldwide, adult males make up the largest category of crime suspects. In all countries, the most common crime committed is theft, violent crimes are rare. United States: • One of the highest homicide rates. • One of the highest rape rates. • However, the overall crime rate in the United is decreasing. • The United States has the highest incarceration rates in the world costing more than $60 billion per year. • Between 1971 and 2002, the prison population increased 600% Transnational Crime: • Organized criminal activity across one or more national borders. • Chinese Triad – prostitution, drugs, organized crime activities. • Columbian Cocaine Cartels • Israeli Organized crime – ecstasy production in Netherlands • Worldwide sex trade • Terrorism FBI Index offenses: the FBI identifies the most serious crimes in the U.S. as index offenses: Violent Crimes: 1. Murder 2. Forcible rape 3. Robbery 4. Aggravated assault Property Crimes: 1. Burglary 2. Larceny/theft 3. Motor Vehicle theft 4. Arson 1 Vice Crimes: these are considered victimless crimes – they have no complaining party. Examples are: 1. Drug Use 2. Prostitution 3. Gambling 4. Pornography White Collar Crime: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Toxic waste disposal Pollution violations Dangerous products Health and safety violations Police brutality Business credit fraud Deceptive advertising Insider trading White Collar Crime Homicide Descrepancy 2003 Death by Homicide (violent crime) = 16,5000 2003 Death by White Collar Crime = 113,025 1. Structural-Funtionalist Perspective: • Crime is functional for society – supports an industry of social services, rehab centers, and law enforcement at International, Federal, National, State and local levels. In 2002, the criminal justice system cost approximately $90 Billion – leading to higher costs every year due to the privatization of the prison system (private sector increasingly supplies needed prison services). • Deviant behavior strengthens group cohesion – people come together to express their outrage at the criminal for his criminal behavior. Think of public hangings and beheadings. • Crime leads to social change – promotes community and social activism for creating public-private partnerships (such as CERT following 9/11) and social activism (some current activism in this country includes war protests, same-sex marriage/adoption rights, and father’s rights groups lobbying for favorable paternal custody laws and the 3-strikes law.). 2 Strain Theory (first structuralist funtionalist theory of crime that explains criminal behavior as a result of blocked opportunities.) • when legitimate means of acquiring culturally defined goals are limited by the structure of society, the resulting strain may lead to crime.. • Individuals develop ways (through crime) to adapt to the inconsistencies between means to achieve goals. • Everyone in society is socialized to achieve the same goals – but not everyone has the means by which to achieve those goals. • Conformity – individuals accept culturally defined goals (education, hard work) • Innovation – accepts the goals of society but rejects or lacks the socially legitimate means of achieving them. Innovation explains high rates of crime in uneducated and poor populations. • Ritualism – accepts a lifestyle of hard work but rejects the cultural goal of accumulating money and wealth. • Retreatism – rejects both the cultural goal of success and the means of achieving it. He withdraws or retreats from society and may become an alcoholic, drug addict, or vagrant. • Rebellion: Not only rejects both goals and the means to achieving those goals, but substitutes new goals and means – sometimes through social or political activism. Subcultural Theory: • Certain groups or subcultures in society have values and attitudes that are conducive to crime and violence. • Members and others who interact with these groups and subcultures may adopt the crime-promoting attitudes and values of the groups. Control Theory: • Tries to explain why all members of affected groups do not become criminals. • Suggests that individuals with a strong social bond with the social order constrains them from violating social norms. • Four elements of social bond: o Attachment to significant others o Commitment to conventional goals o Involvement in conventional activities o Belief in the moral standards of society 3 2. Conflict Theories of Crime • Deviance is inevitable whenever two groups have differing levels of power. • The more inequality in a society, the greater the crime rate. • Those in power define what is criminal and what is not. • Vagrancy – to penalize those who do not contribute to capitalist systems of work and consumption. • Laws protect the ruling class and punish the working class. • Tax laws – protect corporations and penalize the working people. • In a society where there is less gender inequality, there is less rape. 3. Symbolic Interactionist Perspective: • Labeling Theory: social groups create deviance by making rules whose infraction constitutes deviance. Individuals or groups who violate rules are labeled as deviant and as criminal. • Deviant Behavior: is a behavior that people have labeled as being deviant. • Primary Deviance: deviant behavior that is committed before the individual is caught and labeled as a deviant or a criminal. • Secondary Deviance: This type of deviance results from being caught and labeled. After the person is caught violating the law, he/she is stigmatized as a criminal. • Stigmatization often results in further deviant behavior because the person is denied normal opportunities for engaging in non deviant behavior. • Master Status: such labeling and stigmatization often results in the individual adopting that label as his “master status.” A Master Status is the primary basis by which a person is identified by others. What is my Master Status? What is your Master Status? What is the Master Status of a teen caught selling meth in his high school? • • • Differential Association: Through interaction with others, individuals learn the values and attitudes associated with crime as well as the techniques and motivation for criminal behavior. Being exposed to more favorable definitions for criminal behavior are more likely to engage in criminal behavior. Children who grow up seeing their children benefit from crime, are more likely to engage in criminal behavior. 4 4. Feminist Perspectives of Crime and Social Control Gender and Crime Females commit fewer violent crimes than males. 2003, males accounted for 77% of all arrests for violent crime males account for 82.2% of all arrests for property crimes monetary value of female involvement in theft, property damage, and illegal drugs is less than it is for males. e. However, the number of women in gang related crimes is growing a. b. c. d. Feminist Criminology: focuses on how the subordinate position of women in society affects their criminal behavior. a. Arrest rates for runaway females is higher than it is for runaway males. This is because females are more likely to runaway from physical and sexual abuse in their family homes. Girls runaway at higher rates than boys. b. A female in the U.S. is 5x more likely to be murdered than a female in Germany c. A female in the U.S. is 8x more likely to be murdered than a female in England d. A female in the U.S. is 3x more likely to me murdered than a female in Canada e. When an American female is murdered, it is most likely by an ex-boyfriend, husband, or other intimate. Feminist Perspectives on Crime • • • • • • There is no single feminist theory, but overall, feminist theory is a womancentered description and explanation of human experience and the social world. Is suggests that gender governs every aspect of personal and social life. The purpose of feminist theory is to end sexist oppression Argues that women and girls were routinely excluded from most studies and theories in criminology. Argues that if women and girls were included in some studies, they were gender stereotyped (black women’s behavior as a clear violation of what women are supposed to behave like – based on accepted white woman behavior and white male expectations). Feminists have identified the importance of examining childhood traumas such as physical and sexual abuse and neglect and how these place youth at risk of offending. Feminists also identify how intimate partner abuse puts women at risk of offending (in self defense or out of fear for her children’s safety or out of fear for her life). 5 • • • • • Feminist solutions for women’s prisons include the need to provide programs and opportunities to maintain contact between incarcerated women and their children – including housing for infants and small children within the prison structure. Feminists recognize that women and girls do not cause their sexual, stalking, and intimate partner abuse victimizations. They point out that to better guide men in discontinuing their violence and violating behaviors, the socialization of men and boys must change. The “War on Drugs” has contributed to the explosion of women inmates in the prison system. Women and girls who use drugs face harsher societal disapproval than drugusing men and boys. Women and girls are more likely to be introduced to drugs by their husbands and boyfriends. Boys are more likely to be introduce to drugs by other males Feminist Pathways: • Uses women and girls voices to determine “life course” events that place them at risk of criminal and deviant behavior. • Interviews women and girls about their lives, attempting to determine how or why they got to where they are. • Pathways attempts to give women and girls voice in explaining the link between childhood and adult events and traumas and the likelihood of criminal behavior and offending. • Example: Prostitutes were compared to normal or non prostitute populations. • Prostitutes reported more troubling sexual experiences including incestuous and coerced sex, lack of parental guidance, intercourse at a young age and few or no meaningful relationships with males. Why might these experiences predict future prostitution? a. the lack of parental monitoring and guidance leads to the increased likelihood of early and causal sexual intercourse. b. Young women and young girls learn that sex both adds to and detracts from her social status, with sex, she has a new found power over males, but if she is a virgin it makes her unacceptable to the majority of her youth culture. c. Rape and incest experiences are emotionally destructive and long lasting. 6 7