Deck 7: Racial Prejudice and Racial Discrimination

Question 1

The two categories of inequality are:

A) justifiable and unjustifiable
B) intrinsic and nonintrinsic
C) physical and metaphysical
D) prejudice and discrimination

Answer 1

A

Question 2

The two forms of prejudice are character-conditioned prejudice and:

A) fact-based prejudice
B) culture-conditioned prejudice
C) geographically conditioned prejudice
D) religion-conditioned prejudice

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Racial prejudice and racial discrimination are rooted in:

A) the reasoning process
B) irrational convictions
C) social contract
D) none of the above

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Which of the following does Paul Butler allege about police stop and frisk activity?

A) Almost all stops now involve minor misdemeanors such as drinking in public.
B) The Supreme Court has actually allowed police to stop black males if they show insufficient deference to the police.
C) Police stop blacks for acts that police ignore in white middle-class neighborhoods.
D) all of the above

Question 5

William Wilberforce was able to abolish the slave trade in:

A) America
B) Britain
C) France
D) Russia

Question 6

According to the textbook, theories of racism include all of the following except:

A) the mystical conception
B) the biological conception
C) the social and legal conceptions
D) the color conception

Question 7

The view that some human beings are born inferior represents the:

A) biological conception of racism
B) social conception of racism
C) legal conception of racism
D) mystical conception of racism

Question 8

Which of the following scholars justified the practice of slavery?

A) Socrates
B) Aristotle
C) Bentham
D) Rawls

Question 9

The biological conception of racism was strongly reinforced by:

A) Darwinist thought
B) Buddhist thought
C) Christian thought
D) none of the above

Question 10

The fallacy of racial morality is a belief suggesting

A) a tentative connection between skin color and religiosity
B) a weak connection between racial traits and ethical standards
C) a strong connection between racial traits and ethical standards
D) a strong connection between religion and morality

Question 11

Ridding ourselves of racial discrimination requires forces of reason, which can be broken down into two components: forces of knowledge and what?

A) forces of comprehension
B) forces of civility
C) forces of consciousness
D) forces of democracy

Question 12

An adverse judgment or opinion formed without examining the facts or before having sufficient knowledge best defines what concept?

A) prejudgment
B) prejudice
C) stereotyping
D) discrimination

Question 13

Cultivation of prejudicial attitudes primarily comes through repeated exposure to all of the following except:

A) influence of role models
B) indoctrination
C) propaganda
D) civic consciousness

Question 14

All of the following characterize those who harbor more prejudicial attitudes than others except:

A) less formal education
B) residing in a heavily populated area
C) taking less interest in civic affairs
D) receiving a smaller income

Question 15

Character-conditioned prejudice is particularly dangerous because:

A) it is found all segments of society
B) it is far more difficult to cure
C) it is exclusive to lower-income individuals
D) both a and b

Question 16

A core component of the social view of racism is the way in which individuals perceive and treat others. A key component of such perception and treatment is:

A) social stigma
B) social fortitude
C) laws
D) none of the above

Question 17

The book specifically mentions three Supreme Court cases involving discrimination based on race. Which of the following was not one of the cases?

A) Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857)
B) Strauder v. West Virginia (1880)
C) Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
D) Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

Question 18

Preferential hiring, quota hiring, and affirmative action have all been argued to be examples of what?

A) institutional racism
B) social institutions
C) reverse discrimination
D) equal employment practices

Question 19

Michelle Alexander, in The New Jim Crow, primarily makes what argument?

A) the criminal justice system conceals racism through speaking of crime and criminals instead of minorities and what they do
B) some people are assumed to carry certain traits that, if mixed with the traits of other races, will produce an inferior race
C) racism and slavery emanated from a common origin, one that was amoral regarding the possession of "inferior" human beings
D) none of the above

Question 20

All of the following are moral guidelines for understanding racism except:

A) racism is a mindless belief
B) racism is an artificial social label
C) racism is supported by religious doctrine
D) racism may reflect a character deficiency

Question 21

Justifiable inequality refers to unequal treatment knowlingly inflicted by institutions or individuals.

Question 22

Racial injustice and racial prejudice are rooted in convictions that can easily be reasoned away or legally suppressed.

Question 23

Contemporary racial injustice in the US is subtle, making it much more difficult to document or measure than in the past.

Question 24

Sociologists tend to limit the term prejudice to human interaction.

Question 25

Enhancing one's human understanding through formal education has been found to have no effect on prejudicial attitudes.

Question 26

Possession of culturally-conditioned prejudice is largely a function of normal socialization.

Question 27

The injurious treatment of persons on grounds rationally irrelevant to the situation is also known as discrimination.

Question 28

The fallacy of racial minority is a belief in the idea that there is a connection between racial traits and ethical standards.

Question 29

The overarching argument that the criminal justice as an institution is racist revolves around the use of legal terms to imply that minorities are responsible for a vast majority of criminal behavior.

Question 30

Alexander argues that one necessary step to reduce racism in the criminal justice system is to end the war on drugs.

Question 31

Address each of the four conceptions of racism and justify which one (or multiple) you believe best describes the origin of prejudicial ideologies in American society.

Question 32

Recall the charge of institutional racism (and criticism of that charge) placed on the criminal justice system by authors like Alexander (2012). Address both sides of this argument; this should include those who charge the system as well as criticism of that view. In doing this, make your own assessment of the side that has provided better support for their argument.

Question 33

This chapter covered the concept of reverse racism, which has seemingly surfaced in the wake of policies (e.g., affirmative action) instituted to correct past wrongs. Do you believe in the existence of reverse racism? Address both sides of the contemporary debate, including arguments for and against the existence of reverse racism.

Question 34

This chapter includes a section dedicated to uncovering why prejudicial attitudes pervade American society. Two specific types are uncovered: culture-conditioned and character-conditioned. Discuss the conditions under which both types arise, and address the solutions presented by the book. In addition to that, what other types of solutions might there be? Is formal education enough to completely modify a belief system?