Syllabus/Fall 1998
Course Title: Race and Ethnic Relations in the United States
Instructor: Alan L. Joplin
Semester: Fall 1998
Textbook: Strangers to these Shores: Race and Ethnic Relations in the United States/Fifth Edition. Vincent N. Parrillo, Author.
COURSE DESCRIPTION: An introduction to the principles of analysis, the dynamics of the community, culture and society. Emphasis is placed upon norms, status's, organizations, roles and their relationships in institutions. The study of dominant-subordinate relations, religion, ethnicity and gender as factors in the unequal distribution of power.
Ethnic and racial make up of the United States which encludes regional differences and the following topics:
1. Problems of minority groups.
2. Characteristics features of dominate and minority cultures.
3. Adjustment to the dominate culture.
4. Concepts of cultural pluralism.
5. Immigration movement in the United States. Refugees and policies regarding refugees.
6. Cultural heterogeneity and emergence of new cultural syntheses.
7. Ethnic and racial structures of the American people.
8. Problems of adjustment and assimilation.
9. Methods of solving inter group tension and antagonism.
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
To provide familiarity with the basic conceptual and theoretical frame-work for the analysis of racial, ethnic and minority group dynamics which students can apply to concrete problem settings.
To provide a socio-historical analysis of racial and ethnic relations in the United States. (Cross-cultural
analysis will be included).
To enhance the consciousness of the student with regard
to the on-going struggles for equality under our constitution.
To promote the spirit of free and open inquiry and honest
examination of the socio-historical dimensions of racial
and ethnic inter-group relations.
Text Description
Addresses basic conceptual, theoretical and methodological issues in the study of racial and ethnic relations. Basic concepts: Race, ethnicity, minority groups, prejudice, discrimination, stereotyping, ethnocentrism, racism (cultural and biological), power, nativism, etc., are carefully defined. Several leading theories of race relations are examined: assimilation theory, pluralism, migration contact theory. Units will conclude with a brief survey of United States immigration law and policy and its implication for inter group dynamics.
Because of the special relationship which Native American Indians and black Americans have historically sustained to the White Anglo Saxon Protestant core culture, they are given special treatment. Specific topics covered are: Native Americans, Slavery and its legacy, Jim Crow and the Civil Rights Movement.
Ethnic Groups and their relationship to the core culture are Included, along with discussions of Irish, Italian, Jewish, Hispanic, and Asiatic immigrants to the United States is a discussion of women and the elderly as minority groups.
Course Syllabus
Text Chapter and Internet Resources
Chapter 1: The Study of Minorities
Sociologist Louis Wirth's comment from a half-century ago on the chapter opener page speaks to the rights and liberties that all should enjoy. In the world community, through the United Nations, these have been formalized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
I'd like you to read this important document. What similarities do you find in it with the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution? Can you identify specific violations of it in the situation of minorities in the United States?
Chapter 2: Culture and Social Structure
Many organizations throughout the United States promote cultural heritage, much like the Ukrainian organization, PLAST, depicted in the photograph on page 39. I'd like you to explore one or two others who have set up web pages. Click on U.S. Subcultural Organizations and then select one or two groups that identify a racial or ethnic group BUT also have the word "American" after them. (Otherwise you are not accessing a U.S. subcultural group.) In what ways do these organizations keep ethnic vitality alive?
Chapter 3: Prejudice and Discrimination
In this chapter you read about the Affirmative Action controversy. I'd like you to read a provocative article on this subject by Stanley Fish, called "Reverse Racism, or How the Pot Got to Call the Kettle Black." Fish offer some interesting, impassioned arguments to make his case. What are they? Why do you agree or disagree with them?
Chapter 4: Dominant-Minority Relations
The dominant group, as you read on pages 108-109, frequently uses legislative controls to handle its concerns about immigrants or minority groups. Congress passed the Immigration Control Act of 1996 to address some of the concerns the public, particularly illegal aliens. If you would like to see the text of this legislation, click on the title.
Chapter 5: Northern and Western Europeans
One of the "old" immigrant groups is the Irish but, as you can see in the Appendix on page 592, ten of thousands of new Irish immigrants are still coming to the United States. As with virtually all immigrant groups with ethnic organizations to assist them, the Irish also receive a helping hand. If you will click on Emerald Isle Immigration Center, you will find one such organization. When you reach this site, then click on the "What's New" choice to learn about some of the current activities of this group.
Chapter 6: Southern, Central, and Eastern Europeans
The beginning of this chapter acquaints you with information about immigration by decades and major immigration acts passed in the past 115 years. If you will access the popular American Immigration Home Page, you will have the opportunity to access a great deal of interesting immigration information, including processing, ports of entry, settlement patterns, and treatment by other Americans at different periods in U.S. history.
Chapter 7: Native Americans
Lisa Mitten, a "mixed-blood Mohawk urban Indian" and librarian at the University of Pittsburgh, maintains one of the best web sites on Native Americans. If you click on Native American Resources, you will be able to access the home pages of many tribes and native organizations, as well as tribal colleges, Native Studies programs, native journals and newspapers, powwow and festival schedules, and general Indian-oriented home pages. Among these abundant links worth exploring, you can also find a fine introductory essay, "Native Americans and Environmental Issues," by David R. Lewis that will "flesh out" much of the material you have read in this chapter. To find it, click on "General Indian-Oriented Home Pages," then scroll down and click on "Native Americans and the Environment," then click on "introductory essay" near the top of the page. I warn you, as you scroll down to do this, you will be tempted to explore other links. This is a great site! Here you will find lots of resources for term papers and class discussion topics.
Chapter 8: East Asian Americans
One recently arrived group that has been widely studied and written about in numerous journals are the Hmong (pages 305-307) in this chapter. Interestingly, the Hmong also have their own home page and numerous links to other information about them. If you will click on Hmong Homepage, you will gain access to information about their history, experiences in the U.S., and learn how a fairly new U.S. ethnic group is using the internet to strengthen its ethnic community which is scattered throughout the country.
Chapter 9: Central and West Asian Americans
The Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) is a civil rights organization committed to defending the rights of people of Arab descent and promoting their rich cultural heritage. ADC, which is non-sectarian, non-partisan, is the largest Arab-American grassroots organization in the United States. It was founded in 1980 by former U.S. Senator James Abourezk.
Go to this site and look at its "Press Releases" and "Action Alerts" and read some of those items in detail to learn what are some of the current concerns. These could serve as a basis for a paper or discussion topic.
Chapter 10: African Americans
African Americans, like those in all minority groups, have different views on how to advance their group's status in society. In Nicholas Lemann's article, "Philadelphia: Black Nationalism on Campus," you will find college students at Temple and Penn offering decidedly different approaches.
What are these two approaches? What are the pros and cons of each? Do you think that one is better than the other? Why? Pages 366-368 discuss the highly controversial book, The Bell Curve, by Richard Hernnstein and Charles Murray. There are many articles on the internet about it, most of them highly critical. Return to your browser's top page and type in "www.yahoo.com" (without the quotes). Move your cursor to the search box, type in "Bell Curve" (again without the quotes). You'll get a good list of articles. Select two and compare their comments and arguments.
Chapter 11: Hispanic and Caribbean Americans
How large do you think is California's Latino population? Click on California Latina/Latino Demographic Data Book and you will get a quick, up-to-date answer.
I'd like you to explore the web a little and see what's out there offering information, support and assistance to the Hispanic American community Click on Latino/Hispanic Resources and then check out some of the links. What are you finding? Do you see some common themes or patterns? What groups are better represented than others? What are the primary resources offered?
Chapter 12: Religious Minorities
Syed Yusuf at the University of Idaho maintains a Muslim web page. If you go to it, you will find a list of news articles often not in the mainstream media that deal with problems in dominant-minority relations. Not all of them at U.S.-based, but nonetheless informative about Muslims suffering from prejudice and discrimination. In addition to other provocative readings he provides, if you click on Religious Denomination Memberships, you will see the U.S. and world statistics for the major faiths.
If you go to www.yahoo.com and search for abortion or school prayer, you will discover a good number of internet articles on both sides of these religiously-influenced controversial issues.
Chapter 13: Women in America
One of the best internet resources for this chapter is The Feminist Majority Foundation. Rather than giving you a specific assignment here, I'd like you to go to this site and make your own selection from their menu to learn more about a subject of specific interest to you. While there are many other choices, you might want to select "Feminist Internet Gateway," which will bring you to "Mediated Listings of the Best on the 'Net" with its specific subject headings. Wherever you go, read a little in that area so that you could share that information with others.
Chapter 14: The American Mosaic
Here's a little exercise that enables you to learn about
Census Bureau Projections for your state about net
immigration and race/origin group demographics in 1993
and 2020. Click on this link and scroll down to Tables
2 and 4 to find the data.
U.S. English,
If you click on Immigrant Assimilation, you will find three articles differing on this subject. Read all three. They're fairly short and painless. Which one do you agree more with? Why?
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
Topics for group research must be turned in by (Date). Class attendance is, of course, required. It is essential to performing well in this course. Topics for groups should come from the following list:
Family
Education
Political Institutions
Religion
Race
Grading Procedures: Your grade for the semester will come from the four areas listed below:
Participation/Letter grade given
Group Research Paper/Letter grade given
Personal Paper/Letter grade given
Tests/Letter grade given
Original file name: rfall98 - Revised October 10, 1997
