SOC 205 - Racial and Ethnic Relations

Credits: 5
LEC hours per week: 5
Focuses on intergroup race and ethnic relations with a social-historical emphasis. Students explore how race and ethnic identities are developed; theoretical perspectives on assimilation and pluralism; prejudice and discrimination; the creation of subordinate groups; and historical and contemporary issues. Problems and possible solutions of majority-minority relations are examined.
Course Outcomes:

Describe the social historical evolution of race relations in the United States.
Critique the historical social constructions of race.
Illustrate key concepts and analyze dominant theories of race and tehnic relations in the field of sociology.
Analyze and explain contemporary asymmetries among race and ethnic groups.

Course Topics:

What is a minority group?
Race, ethnicity, dominant-minority relations
Prejudice, discrimination, ideological racism, and institutional discrimination
Assimilation and pluralism
Evolution of dominant-minority relations in the United States (contact situation, subsistence technology)
The situation of white ethnics
The situation of African-Americans (slavery, segregation, modern institutional discrimination and modern racism)
The situation of American Indians (conquest, tribal survival)
The situation of Latino Americans (colonization, immigration, ethnic enclaves)
The situation of Asian Americans (ethnic enclaves, anti-Chinese campaign, anti-Japanese campaign, internment, model minority)
New Americans (current immigration)

Course Attribute(s): Diversity, Social Science