Deck 10: Race and Ethnicity

Question 1

Based on how the concept of social race is defined in the United States, what is the best explanation of how it is used?

A) It is a physiological classification system.
B) It is a socioeconomic classification system.
C) It is a pseudobiological classification system.
D) It is a behavioral-based classification system.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

The tendency to judge the customs of others according to one's own cultural standards is called ________.

A) ethnocentrism
B) cultural relativism
C) the relativist fallacy
D) scapegoating

Answer 2

A

Question 3

What university's law school was the center of a 2003 Supreme Court ruling that universities may consider race as a part of its complex admissions process?

A) The University of California at Berkeley
B) Princeton University
C) University of Michigan
D) Harvard

Answer 3

C

Question 4

What is the current policy of the U.S. Census Bureau in requesting a respondent to identify his or her race?

A) The respondent is limited to identifying the single racial classification with which he or she feels most affiliated.
B) The respondent may identify no more than two racial classifications with which he or she feels most affiliated.
C) The respondent may identify no more than four racial classifications with which he or she feels most affiliated.
D) The respondent may identify as many racial classifications as he or she feels affiliated with.

Question 5

Following the Civil War, the southern states passed laws that prohibited blacks and whites from sharing the same schools, public facilities, and other forms of integration. What form of discrimination BEST describes these acts by southern officials?

A) individual discrimination
B) legal discrimination
C) de facto discrimination
D) de persona discrimination

Question 6

What contribution did T. W. Adorno make to understanding prejudice and discrimination?

A) He proposed the frustration-aggression hypothesis to explain prejudice.
B) He proposed the concept of the authoritarian personality as being a cause of prejudice.
C) He developed a typology of behavior based on whether or not a person is prejudiced and whether or not they discriminate.
D) He explained high unemployment rates among minorities using the split labor market and reserve labor force.

Question 7

What is the legal act that established affirmative action as a means to establish equality of employment opportunity?

A) Fair Labor and Employment Act of 1971
B) Ruffin vs. Commonwealth
C) the Civil Rights Act of 1964
D) Furman vs. Georgia

Question 8

Based on Robert Merton's typologies of discrimination and prejudice, what classification applies to a bigoted real estate agent who shows luxury homes to minorities in previously all-white neighborhoods only because the law demands, and he is fearful of the legal and civil consequences if he does not?

A) prejudiced discriminator
B) unprejudiced nondiscriminator
C) unprejudiced discriminator
D) prejudiced nondiscriminator

Question 9

When a group of Asian students sat next to Hector in the dining hall and then removed chopsticks from their back packs to eat their meal, Hector thought it was strange and peculiar. He commented to the other students at his table that he thought using chopsticks should be reserved for people living in China and that they were not a part of American culture. Which statement best describes Hector's behavior?

A) Hector should be classified as a prejudiced discriminator in Merton's typologies of behavior.
B) Hector was practicing ethnocentrism.
C) Hector should be classified as a prejudiced nondiscriminator in Merton's typologies of behavior.
D) Hector was practicing cultural relativism.

Question 10

What are the primary variables on which ethnicity is determined?

A) customs and lifestyles
B) level of education and income
C) skin color and hair texture
D) religion and political affiliation

Question 11

A population that differs from others in the frequency of certain hereditary traits is called a ________.

A) socially constructed race
B) biological race
C) psychological race
D) culturally defined race

Question 12

Race is to heredity and social construction as ethnicity is to ________.

A) intellectual capability and skills
B) religious affiliation and educational achievement
C) achieved status and social class
D) distinctive customs and lifestyles

Question 13

Based on Merton's typologies of behavior, which two typologies would be classified as "bigots"?

A) unprejudiced nondiscriminator and unprejudiced discriminator
B) unprejudiced discriminator and prejudiced nondiscriminator
C) unprejudiced nondiscriminator and prejudiced discriminator
D) prejudiced nondiscriminator and prejudiced discriminator

Question 14

What are the two changes in society that members of survivalist militia groups who are blatantly racist fear most?

A) government conspiracies and a minority takeover
B) a rise in social class among minorities and a rise in educational achievement by minorities
C) greater voting percentages among minorities and more minorities in the military
D) enforcement of affirmative action laws and more minority lawyers

Question 15

What significance did Ben Campbell play in the advancement of minority rights in America?

A) He was the first Hispanic appointed to the Supreme Court.
B) He was the first minority to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.
C) He was the first Native American elected to the U.S. Senate.
D) He was the first African American to be appointed to a presidential cabinet.

Question 16

Based on Robert Merton's typologies of discrimination and prejudice, what classification applies to a real estate agent who wants to show luxury homes to minorities in previously all-white neighborhoods but finds reasons not to because he or she does not want to lose future listings from members of these affluent white communities?

A) prejudiced discriminator
B) unprejudiced nondiscriminator
C) unprejudiced discriminator
D) prejudiced nondiscriminator

Question 17

Prior to the Civil War, Nat Turner led his fellow slaves in a movement to destroy their white oppressors. What form of behavior is such a minority reaction to dominant rule called?

A) avoidance
B) rebellion
C) forced assimilation
D) population transfer

Question 18

Which sociological perspective is most aligned with the concept of the split-labor market and reserve labor force?

A) the conflict perspective
B) the structuralist perspective
C) the functionalist perspective
D) the symbolic interactionist perspective

Question 19

Which phrase best describes how the U.S. Census determines racial classification?

A) It is a scientific process founded on the basis of heredity.
B) It is a matter of bureaucratic rationality.
C) It is a matter of private self-definition.
D) It is a matter of biological determinism.

Question 20

Based on the 2000 Census what is the LARGEST racial minority in the United States?

A) Latinos
B) Asian Americans
C) Native Americans
D) African Americans

Question 21

A process in which minority groups lose their distinctive identities and conform to cultural patterns of the dominant group is called ________.

A) pluralism
B) subjugation
C) assimilation
D) segregation

Question 22

What term applies to the use of skin color, hair texture, and other incidental biological traits to qualify race in a pseudobiological classification system?

A) biological race
B) physiological race
C) social race
D) psychological race

Question 23

What was the significance of the movie Birth of a Nation as it applies to dominant-minority relations?

A) It portrayed Mexican immigrants as "greasers" who crossed the border to murder, rape, and rob Americans.
B) It condemned black men for lusting after white women and presented African Americans as objects of ridicule.
C) It demonstrated how minorities, particularly African Americans, were instrumental in the American Revolution.
D) It debunked the notion of a superior race and led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Question 24

People who trace their ancestry to Africa constitute America's second largest racial minority.

Question 25

A euphemism for the forced expulsion of a minority group is called ________.

A) forced assimilation
B) population transfer
C) genocide
D) majority tyranny

Question 26

In the 2000 Census, approximately what percentage of Americans responded they were descendants of only one race?

A) 76 percent
B) 80 percent
C) 89 percent
D) 97 percent

Question 27

What is the most well-known neo-Nazi group in the United States?

A) United White Youth
B) Confederate Hammerheads
C) Ku Klux Klan
D) Aryan Nations

Question 28

What was the major thesis of the book The Bell Curve by Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray?

A) It demonstrated the success of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in raising the standards of African Americans.
B) Using charts, tables, and other data, it "proved" that blacks scored less than whites on IQ tests.
C) It advocated awarding points to minorities to gain admission to law schools and other graduate programs.
D) It established a minimum family income for all Americans based on the Poverty Index.

Question 29

In the Western Hemisphere, Brazil has the distinction of being the most race- conscious nation with distinctive social boundaries based on color.

Question 30

What is "ethnic cleansing"?

A) an effort by a minority group to be assimilated by the dominant group
B) minority group status that places it on the same level as the dominant group
C) prohibiting minority groups from engaging in dominant group activities
D) a campaign to eliminate ethnic and religious rivals

Question 31

Although northern states did not pass "Jim Crow Laws" or prohibit interracial activity by law, segregation was achieved simply because of tradition and because "it made sense." In view of this, how would a sociologist classify this form of discrimination?

A) de jure discrimination
B) legal discrimination
C) institutional discrimination
D) status discrimination

Question 32

What is the primary variable used to distinguish race in the traditional American system?

A) level of education
B) property and income
C) honor and prestige
D) skin color

Question 33

The racial minority called "the model minority" is the Hispanic American.

Question 34

Prejudice is to a preconceived judgment as discrimination is to ________.

A) an oversimplified idea
B) unequal treatment
C) a static opinion
D) a socially approved target

Question 35

What was the Cherokee Phoenix?

A) a high-speed transcontinental train
B) a rebellious Native American chief who defeated the 7th Cavalry
C) the first Native American Newspaper
D) one of the chapters in the National Congress of American Indians

Question 36

There are no pure races and race has no significant effect on human behavior.

Question 37

What form of dominant-minority group relation is illustrated by the murder of six million Jews by the Nazis in World War II, the slaughter in Rwanda, and the massacres in Serbia?

A) genocide
B) subjugation
C) segregation
D) pluralism

Question 38

What is a Tejano?

A) a Cuban Jew
B) a Texan with Mexican ancestry
C) a Californian who is directly a descendant of Spain
D) an illegal Puerto Rican

Question 39

The concept of social race is best defined as a pseudobiological classification system.

Question 40

What are the two most commonly listed Native American tribe affiliations as reported by the U.S. Census Bureau?

A) Cherokee and Navajo
B) Apache and Sioux
C) Cherokee and Sioux
D) Apache and Navajo

Question 41

Although the appropriateness of affirmative action has been debated in state governments and the Congress, it continues to be practiced throughout the United States.

Question 42

Sociologically, a category of people who are set apart for unequal treatment because of physical or cultural characteristics are called a[n] ________.

Question 43

Preconceived judgments about a category of people are called ________.

Question 44

Most social scientists believe that for much of U.S. history, the "melting pot" concept has largely been a myth.

Question 45

In the 21st century, white hate groups have declined to the point that they have almost disappeared from society.

Question 46

The American concept of race is objectively based on a combination of legal statutes and science.

Question 47

D. W. Griffth's Birth of a Nation was the first major Hollywood film to combat racism and debunk myths about African Americans.

Question 48

The concept of the authoritarian personality as being a cause of prejudice was advanced by ________.

Question 49

A population that differs from others in the frequency of certain hereditary traits is referred to as a ________.

Question 50

The anti-affirmative action bill passed by the state of California was called Proposition 209.

Question 51

When racial and ethnic groups cooperate while still retaining their distinctive identities and lifestyles it is referred to as subjugation.

Question 52

The extermination of a minority group may be unintentional and caused through ignorance or may be deliberate and systematic and a part of national policy.

Question 53

The dominant-minority group relationship that can be compared to a "tossed salad," where racial and ethnic minority groups cooperate while still retaining their distinctive identities and lifestyles, is assimilation.

Question 54

A category of people set apart from others because of distinctive customs and lifestyles and a "feeling of peoplehood" is a[n] ________.

Question 55

Although the statistic is slightly deceiving, the median household income of Asian Americans is higher than the median household income of whites.

Question 56

The minority group that has suffered the most at the hands of the dominant group in the United States is the Native Americans.

Question 57

In explaining prejudice, the term used to describe a weak, convenient, and socially approved target is "scapegoat."

Question 58

Whereas prejudice is an attitude, discrimination is an action.

Question 59

Prejudice is not the product of biological instinct but the result of the socialization process.

Question 60

African Americans have lost their position as being the largest minority group in America and are not expected to regain it.

Question 61

When one group of workers, which is usually a minority, is willing to do the same work presently done by another group for lower wages, it is referred to as a[n] ________.

Question 62

Define affirmative action and the progress that affirmative action programs have made in improving conditions for minorities in the United States.

Question 63

Unequal treatment of people because of their group membership is called ________.

Question 64

List and discuss the various forms dominant-minority group relations take in the United States.

Question 65

The two variables that Brazilians use to determine the concept of race are ________ and ________.

Question 66

Can someone be prejudiced without discriminating and can someone be discriminatory without being prejudiced? Defend your answer.

Question 67

Keeping racial and ethnic minorities unemployed by design so they can be immediately mobilized to do work cheaply during an economic boom and dismissed during a recession constitutes what conflict theorists call a[n] ________.

Question 68

What is a minority group? How is a minority group different from the sociological point of view? What are the qualities racial and ethnic groups use to determine that they are a minority group?

Question 69

Deliberate and systematic elimination of minority group members is called ________.

Question 70

Define and provide a brief description of the following dominant-minority group relations: cultural pluralism, assimilation, segregation, and genocide.