SOC100H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Krahn People, Cultural Assimilation, White Privilege

• School: UTSG
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC100H1
• Professor: Lorne Tepperman

Document Summary

Human races are more alike than different; scientists reject the essentialist view of race. Continuum of physical features among humans, but race is uncorrelated with intelligence, morality, industry etc. where links are socially constructed. Visible minorities losing acceptance in canada because it : reinforces a problematic belief that whiteness is not visible, may promote stigmatization of certain (non-white) groups. Despite many deep similarities, people continued to celebrate superficial differences. Racial and ethnic identities have proved more resistant to change than early sociologists had ever imagined. Marx expected class identities to replace ethnic identities, especially in the minds of class-conscious workers. The survival of ethnicity would have also surprised emile durkheim and max. To maintain these differences, people perform symbolic acts of differentiation. Ethnicity (like gender) is a performance , not an essential quality. Ethnicity refers to perceived social and cultural characteristics people are believed to share.