Race and ethnicity
In addition to gender and social class, race and ethnicity are further ways of categorising people in society into groups. As with the other way of categorising groups, very often one group holds more power than others, which can lead to discrimination towards the less powerful groups.
Race
Race is a way of categorising people based on the way they look. The traditional categories of race are Caucasoid (white), Negroid (black) and Mongoloid (Asian and Native American). However, both Negroid and Mongoloid are now considered offensive, so it's best to avoid using these words! We can also see one of the big problems with the idea of race immediately. These groupings fail to account for all types of people. For example, people from Greece are white, but they are very similar to people from Turkey. People from Turkey are similar to people from Saudi Arabia, who are similar to people from Afghanistan, who are similar to people from Pakistan, who are similar to people from India. So, are Indian people "white"?
The problem is that there is no obvious way to say where the line is between one race and another. In fact, many scientists argue that race does not exist, biologically at least. This does not mean the idea of race can be ignored. Although race may not be real biologically it is definitely real sociologically. People do see others as being different, and treat them differently, based on factors such as skin colour. For example, race was used as an excuse for slavery in the US until 1865. Sociologically, race can be defined as categorisation based on physical traits society thinks are important. So, the colour of a person's skin, or the shape of their eyes might be used to categorise them as a particular race. However, there may be no genetic basis for these groups. For example, people in Africa and the native Aborigines from Australia are considered "black" because of their skin colour, but they have no more genes in common than either group does with white European people. Likewise, there is some evidence that North East Asians (Japanese, Korean, Chinese etc.) and South East Asians (Thai, Vietnamese etc.) are two very different groups of people, despite having eyes which, to Europeans at least, look similar.
Ethnicity
While race is based on biological traits and differences in physical appearance, ethnicity is based on culture. Groups like the Ainu in Japan would be considered a separate ethnicity. Ethnicity includes the country you or your parents come from, the language you speak, your religion and and cultural traditions. Everybody has at least one ethnicity (you could have more if your parents are from different ethnic backgrounds). So if we talk about ethnic food, we just mean food which is from a different culture to our own. From a European or American perspective, Japanese food is just as ethnic as Thai or Vietnamese food.
Racial and ethnic discrimination
Unfortunately discrimination based on race and ethnicity is common around the world. Racial discrimination is called racism. We do not have an equivalent word for ethnic discrimination, although xenophobia (from Greek xeno - strange, and phobia - fear) is used to refer to discrimination based on the country somebody is from. In the UK and US recently there has been an increase in discrimination towards Muslim people, which has been called Islamophobia.
Discrimination can be in the forms of explicit or implicit biases. An explicit bias is when a person is aware that they discriminate against another group. Although this might have been very common during the days of slavery in the US, most people today would not admit to discriminating, and would probably be very upset if you said they were racist! However, implicit biases are still common. The study mentioned when talking about workplace discrimination is one example of implicit bias. Other studies have shown people see a black man as more of a threat than a white man, even if they do not see themselves as having any racial bias.
Lesson 8 reading
Article 8a - Japan's hidden caste of untouchables
Article 8b - Indian Castes and Feudal Japanese Classes
Article 8c - Under ‘Abenomics,’ rich thrive but middle class on precipice
Article 8d - ‘Freeters’: free by name, nature
In addition to gender and social class, race and ethnicity are further ways of categorising people in society into groups. As with the other way of categorising groups, very often one group holds more power than others, which can lead to discrimination towards the less powerful groups.
Race
Race is a way of categorising people based on the way they look. The traditional categories of race are Caucasoid (white), Negroid (black) and Mongoloid (Asian and Native American). However, both Negroid and Mongoloid are now considered offensive, so it's best to avoid using these words! We can also see one of the big problems with the idea of race immediately. These groupings fail to account for all types of people. For example, people from Greece are white, but they are very similar to people from Turkey. People from Turkey are similar to people from Saudi Arabia, who are similar to people from Afghanistan, who are similar to people from Pakistan, who are similar to people from India. So, are Indian people "white"?
Ethnicity
While race is based on biological traits and differences in physical appearance, ethnicity is based on culture. Groups like the Ainu in Japan would be considered a separate ethnicity. Ethnicity includes the country you or your parents come from, the language you speak, your religion and and cultural traditions. Everybody has at least one ethnicity (you could have more if your parents are from different ethnic backgrounds). So if we talk about ethnic food, we just mean food which is from a different culture to our own. From a European or American perspective, Japanese food is just as ethnic as Thai or Vietnamese food.
Racial and ethnic discrimination
Unfortunately discrimination based on race and ethnicity is common around the world. Racial discrimination is called racism. We do not have an equivalent word for ethnic discrimination, although xenophobia (from Greek xeno - strange, and phobia - fear) is used to refer to discrimination based on the country somebody is from. In the UK and US recently there has been an increase in discrimination towards Muslim people, which has been called Islamophobia.
Discrimination can be in the forms of explicit or implicit biases. An explicit bias is when a person is aware that they discriminate against another group. Although this might have been very common during the days of slavery in the US, most people today would not admit to discriminating, and would probably be very upset if you said they were racist! However, implicit biases are still common. The study mentioned when talking about workplace discrimination is one example of implicit bias. Other studies have shown people see a black man as more of a threat than a white man, even if they do not see themselves as having any racial bias.
Article 8a - Japan's hidden caste of untouchables
Article 8b - Indian Castes and Feudal Japanese Classes
Article 8c - Under ‘Abenomics,’ rich thrive but middle class on precipice
Article 8d - ‘Freeters’: free by name, nature
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