C5: THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF RACE & ETHNICITY
Race and Ethnicity
Social Construction
Race and Ethnicity as Social Constructions
● Reading: “Optional Ethnicities: For Whites Only?” (Mary C. Waters)
The Consequences of Social Constructions
First Nations People in Canada
Prejudice and Discrimination
Immigration
Multiculturalism
● Reading: “Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism”
(Benedict Anderson)
Key Terms
Race and Ethnicity
● Race: social distinction based on physical/biological characteristics (e.g; hair texture, eyes, nose)
● Ethnicity: social distinction based on cultural differences (e.g; language, religion etc)
● Views of Race and Ethnicity
○ Essentialism
○ Social Construction
Essentialism
● Essentialism: view of race and ethnicity as natural and permanent
● Argues that some essential/inherent element makes a person part of a specific race/ethnic group
○ Each racial/ethnic group contains traits that have been carried from the past to the present w/
little/no change
● Ethnic groups and nationalists exist b/c they are based on:
○ Biological factors (e.g; similar appearance, skin colour etc)
○ Territorial location (region/country)
● Relies on kinship: members of an ethnic/racial group feel they share characteristics, origins,
(sometimes) blood r/s
● Problems w/ essentialism:
○ Sees race and ethnicity as fixed and permanent (our ideas of different ethnic groups/races
have changed e.g; idea of who falls under the category of “white” has changed)
Social Construction
● Developed by Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann (1966)
● Social Construction: all knowledge is created and maintained by social interactions
● Based on symbolic interactionist perspective (refer to C2)
● Social construction is a 2 step process:
○ Create categories and act on the basis of this information
○ Forget that we created these categories and think of them as natural and unchangeable (e.g;
days of the week)
Race and Ethnicity as Social Construction
Biological Factors & Social Construction - Questionable?
● Social constructionists argue that race and ethnic groups are not natural but created within society
(e.g; choice of societies categorising people based on skin is rooted in historical contexts - slavery
and colonialism)
, ○ Such focus on certain features highlights how different physical characteristics b/w racial
categories do not have biological roots
● All of humanity is 99.9% genetically similar
● Within-group variation > between-group variation (e.g; person can be categorised as black but have
lighter skin than a person categorised as white)
Optional Ethnicities
Reading: “Optional Ethnicities: For Whites Only?” (Mary C. Waters)
● Waters argues that white people in US are able to select the ethnic label they would like to
claim/claim no ethnic label at all
● White americans can choose to be seen as:
○ Hyphenated American (have ethnic label e.g; German American, Italian American etc)
○ American (no ethnic label)
● Claiming an ethnicity is symbolic
● Symbolic Ethnicity: individualistic label that has little cost for the individual
○ White people are able to celebrate in Oktoberfest, take up salsa dancing
○ BUT ignore other ethnic holidays and traditions
● Visible minorities do not have this freedom
○ No control over ethnic labels that are assigned to them by others
The Consequences of Social Constructions
Thomas Principal
● Developed by W.I. Thomas & D.S. Thomas (husband wife team)
● Thomas Principal: idea that social constructions have real consequences
● If people define situations as real, then they are real in their consequences (e.g; Toilet Paper Crisis
1973)
Racism
● Racism: organised system of race-based group privilege that operates at every level of society and is
held together by a sophisticated ideology of “race” supremacy
● Results in:
○ Privilege: includes white privilege
○ Sanctions include restrictions and limitations on people in certain racial categories
White Privilege & The Invisible Knapsack
● Peggy McIntosh (1988)
● Advantages of white privilege seen as an invisible knapsack
● Invisible Knapsack: an invisible package of unearned assets
First Nations People in Canada
First Nations - who are they?
● First Nations: Canadian term of ethnicity that refers to the Indigenous people who are neither Inuit
nor Metis
● Royal Proclamation (1763)
○ Recognised “Indian” nations or tribes and extended sovereignty over Indian people
○ Colonial governments had to respect Indian land
○ Resulted in many treaties b/w First Nations and Canadian government
● Indian Act 1876
○ Outlined whom the government deemed to be “Indian” and allowed it to regulate many
aspects of their lives
○ Government worked to assimilate First Nations people by restricting cultural practices
○ Examples of regulations:
■ Residential Schools
● First Nations children forced to leave families and attend
Race and Ethnicity
Social Construction
Race and Ethnicity as Social Constructions
● Reading: “Optional Ethnicities: For Whites Only?” (Mary C. Waters)
The Consequences of Social Constructions
First Nations People in Canada
Prejudice and Discrimination
Immigration
Multiculturalism
● Reading: “Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism”
(Benedict Anderson)
Key Terms
Race and Ethnicity
● Race: social distinction based on physical/biological characteristics (e.g; hair texture, eyes, nose)
● Ethnicity: social distinction based on cultural differences (e.g; language, religion etc)
● Views of Race and Ethnicity
○ Essentialism
○ Social Construction
Essentialism
● Essentialism: view of race and ethnicity as natural and permanent
● Argues that some essential/inherent element makes a person part of a specific race/ethnic group
○ Each racial/ethnic group contains traits that have been carried from the past to the present w/
little/no change
● Ethnic groups and nationalists exist b/c they are based on:
○ Biological factors (e.g; similar appearance, skin colour etc)
○ Territorial location (region/country)
● Relies on kinship: members of an ethnic/racial group feel they share characteristics, origins,
(sometimes) blood r/s
● Problems w/ essentialism:
○ Sees race and ethnicity as fixed and permanent (our ideas of different ethnic groups/races
have changed e.g; idea of who falls under the category of “white” has changed)
Social Construction
● Developed by Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann (1966)
● Social Construction: all knowledge is created and maintained by social interactions
● Based on symbolic interactionist perspective (refer to C2)
● Social construction is a 2 step process:
○ Create categories and act on the basis of this information
○ Forget that we created these categories and think of them as natural and unchangeable (e.g;
days of the week)
Race and Ethnicity as Social Construction
Biological Factors & Social Construction - Questionable?
● Social constructionists argue that race and ethnic groups are not natural but created within society
(e.g; choice of societies categorising people based on skin is rooted in historical contexts - slavery
and colonialism)
, ○ Such focus on certain features highlights how different physical characteristics b/w racial
categories do not have biological roots
● All of humanity is 99.9% genetically similar
● Within-group variation > between-group variation (e.g; person can be categorised as black but have
lighter skin than a person categorised as white)
Optional Ethnicities
Reading: “Optional Ethnicities: For Whites Only?” (Mary C. Waters)
● Waters argues that white people in US are able to select the ethnic label they would like to
claim/claim no ethnic label at all
● White americans can choose to be seen as:
○ Hyphenated American (have ethnic label e.g; German American, Italian American etc)
○ American (no ethnic label)
● Claiming an ethnicity is symbolic
● Symbolic Ethnicity: individualistic label that has little cost for the individual
○ White people are able to celebrate in Oktoberfest, take up salsa dancing
○ BUT ignore other ethnic holidays and traditions
● Visible minorities do not have this freedom
○ No control over ethnic labels that are assigned to them by others
The Consequences of Social Constructions
Thomas Principal
● Developed by W.I. Thomas & D.S. Thomas (husband wife team)
● Thomas Principal: idea that social constructions have real consequences
● If people define situations as real, then they are real in their consequences (e.g; Toilet Paper Crisis
1973)
Racism
● Racism: organised system of race-based group privilege that operates at every level of society and is
held together by a sophisticated ideology of “race” supremacy
● Results in:
○ Privilege: includes white privilege
○ Sanctions include restrictions and limitations on people in certain racial categories
White Privilege & The Invisible Knapsack
● Peggy McIntosh (1988)
● Advantages of white privilege seen as an invisible knapsack
● Invisible Knapsack: an invisible package of unearned assets
First Nations People in Canada
First Nations - who are they?
● First Nations: Canadian term of ethnicity that refers to the Indigenous people who are neither Inuit
nor Metis
● Royal Proclamation (1763)
○ Recognised “Indian” nations or tribes and extended sovereignty over Indian people
○ Colonial governments had to respect Indian land
○ Resulted in many treaties b/w First Nations and Canadian government
● Indian Act 1876
○ Outlined whom the government deemed to be “Indian” and allowed it to regulate many
aspects of their lives
○ Government worked to assimilate First Nations people by restricting cultural practices
○ Examples of regulations:
■ Residential Schools
● First Nations children forced to leave families and attend
