Understanding Race, Ethnicity, and Minority Groups in Sociology

Race: A Sociological Perspective

Since ancient times, humans have attempted to group people into racial categories based on physical characteristics, such as skin color, hair texture, and body structure. Scholars have traditionally placed people into three racial groups:

• Caucasoids (Whites): Characterized by fair skin and straight or wavy hair.
• Mongoloids (Asians): Defined by yellowish or brownish skin and folds on the eyelids.
• Negroids: Characterized by dark skin and tightly curled hair.

However, in reality, people within each racial category possess a wide range of skin colors and hair textures. Sociologists view race from a social perspective. In social terms, a race is a category of people who share inherited characteristics and whom others perceive as a distinct group. For sociologists, hair texture and skin color are not the primary issues.

Ethnicity: Cultural Identity

Ethnicity refers to the set of cultural characteristics that distinguishes one group from another. It consists of people who share a common cultural background and a common sense of identity. It is generally based on cultural characteristics such as:

• National origin
• Religion
• Customs
• Values

Ethnicity and race refer to two separate sets of characteristics. While ethnicity is based on cultural considerations, some ethnic groups are also racially distinct. For example, African Americans are viewed as a racially distinct group in the USA.

Minority Groups and Social Power

Sociologists recognize that those who hold power in a society may place an arbitrary value on specific characteristics. The privileged position of the dominant group is often gained at the expense of minority groups. Sociologist Louis Wirth identified a minority group as a group of people who, because of their physical characteristics and cultural practices, are singled out and unequally treated. Group members view themselves as subjects of collective discrimination.

Defining Minority Status

Minority status is not related to group size, but to the group's unequal standing in society. For example, in South Africa during the second half of the 1900s, whites made up only 15% of the population but held dominant power.

Characteristics of Minority Groups

To be considered a minority group, a group must exhibit all of the following characteristics:

• Membership is an ascribed status (e.g., physical traits).
• Strong bonds and a sense of group loyalty.
• The practice of endogamy (marriage within the group).

Exhibiting only one or two of these traits is not sufficient to be classified as a minority group.