When ethnocentrism is present, it has the affect of having people sort out members of society by group lines, usually by using an easily identifiable characteristic (skin tone) into "us" and "them". But Noel cautions that ethnocentrism by itself is not enough to cause ethnic stratification. There exist historical examples of groups with ethnocentric beliefs that lived side by side in peace. A second condition cited by Noel that is needed for ethnic stratification is competition. Competition is where there is a struggle for scare resources which could include anything from land, labor, jobs, and housing to educational opportunities.
Different interests necessarily exist in different classes of citizens. If a majority be united by a common interest, the rights of the minority will be insecure. There are but two methods of providing against this evil: the one by creating a will in the community independent of the majority that is, of the society itself; the other, by comprehending in the society so many separate descriptions of citizens as will render an unjust combination of a majority of the whole very improbable, if not impracticable. The first method prevails in all governments possessing an hereditary or self-appointed authority. This, at best, is but a precarious security; because a power independent of the society may as well espouse the unjust views of the major, as the rightful interests of the minor party, and may possibly be turned against both parties.
Our society is divided along class, race, gender and other variations. There are different sociological theories to explain these social stratifications. Our society is in conflict with social order and equal opportunities for different social classes. We discussed structured stratification as a social pattern. It implies there are inequalities that are society rather than biological factors.
The idea of European superiority and dominance drove the social structure of the "new world", (consisting mainly of North and Latin Americas and the Caribbean). Because of this dominant racial ideology, the native peoples of both regions were often subjects of discrimination and oppression. The extent of their mistreatment differed, as in North America they were simply pushed aside or confined to a certain area to live, while in the Caribbean and Latin America they were forced into servitude and labor. The dominant racial ideology of Europeans also fueled the slave trade that was prominent in the time period of 1500-1830, which involved shipping African slaves to the the Americas to increase the productivity of the colonies. In both areas, slaves were basically property, bought, sold, and traded to do specific and often labor intensive tasks.
The Declaration of Independence has many ideals stated in it. The United States is a democratic republic and a model for many countries but the United States has not lived up to its ideals in the Declaration of Independence. In the Declaration of Independence it states that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness,” meaning that it doesn’t matter what your race is or what you look like, your rights can’t be taken away. “The rich and the poor are not so far removed from each other,” meaning that either if you are rich or poor, you aren’t going to be treated any different just because of how much money you have or don’t have. In the Declaration of Independence, it states that, “all men are created equal,” which means that it doesn’t matter what race you are, you are not to be treated any different than anyone else.
Justice is what is seen to be right and just by society and this means that society is catered for. However, an outsider does not conform with society so what they may think is just is different to society. These conflicting views mean that societies justice can be placed on the outsider. Outsiders are often isolated, they don't fit in or necessarily want to fit in . They often don't pick up on the nrules or cues society have to operate.
Centralized vs. decentralized governments are huge differences between these civilizations. Also geography, concept of good citizen, and emphasis on power of man are differences. Both Han and Athens saw social class distinctions as normal. They didn’t think having different levels of social class was anything but customary (document 2 and 3). In documents 2 and 3 you can easily tell that event the population is divided into social class going from the top of the class to the bottom.
AS 151 Lecture 2 1/20/11 * Ethinicity, race, class – how are they different? * Race does not exist in social sciences today, ethnicity means culture, people are different by culture and not by racial mix * Caste – The social class, you cannot change * Gender sex, a binary concept? * Continuous between the opposite sex * Foreign Born – immigrant * Culture - accent, vocabulary, language, religion, identity * Class is an economic basis, vertical concept, you can change the class position by education, marriage and other means * Hierarchical - social mobility, up or down * Global inequality - immigration * Inequality is intermeshed with ethnicity and gender * Nation, State, Nation-state
What does it mean to be culturally competent? Cultural competence can be defined in many ways but generally means to deliberately set out to develop an awareness of one’s own existence, sensations, thoughts and environment without letting those things have an overbearing influence on those who do not share the same thoughts or have different backgrounds. It also means obtaining, demonstrating and understanding other people’s cultures—accepting and respecting our cultural differences—and if necessary adapting our approach or care to be congruent with the other individual’s culture. This definition applies whether we are dealing with patients or clients or interacting with someone in the grocery store. There are no interpersonal interactions we should have in which we do not at least consider a cultural context.
As a result, this document can fail to accurately represent a culture, producing misleading data. - One major problem for deindividuation theory is that deindividuation can produce increases in pro-social behaviour rather than aggressive behaviour. - Deindividuation can also lead to a freeing of inhibitions rather than aggression - For example: Gergen et al – men and women were placed in either a lit room (control group) or a completely dark room (experimental group) - Participants who did not know each other were told that there are no rules about what they do together. Also told that after the study, they would not interact with each other. - Participants in the lit room – found the experiment a boring experience - Participants in dark room – First 15 minutes, participants in the dark room chatted idly.