Racial-Ethnic Interaction

Around the world sociologist, in their studies of racial-ethnic relations, have found six fundamental ways in which dominant groups treat minority groups. The starting pattern of interaction is inhumanity/rejection up to humanity/acceptance. In that order it goes as: Genocide, Population Transfer, Internal Colonialism, Segregation, Assimilation, and Multiculturalism. Which group would you consider yourself to be in?

Genocide is when a group of dominance tries to destroy a group of minorities. In 1949, gold was discovered in northern California. In this particular area lived a large group of Native Americans. The white government wanted the gold, so to get what they wanted they put a boundary around the Native Americans. Slaughter came about and wiped out eighty percent of the Native Americans men, women, and children. Is Genocide something you could participate in? Some other examples of genocide would include Hitler’s attempt to destroy all Jews in Germany and the Hutus trying to destroy all Tutisis in Rwanda. Victims were unfortunately labeled as enemies, therefore assuming they deserved to die.

When a dominant group forces out a minority group, this is known as Population Transfer or Expulsion. There are two types: Indirect and Direct. Indirect transfer is when a minority group leaves voluntarily because the dominant group makes their like extremely miserable. Direct transfer is when the dominant group ousts a minority. This would be when the United States government relocates Native Americans to a reservation.

Conflict theorists explain Internal Colonialism as a dominant group exploiting minority groups. The dominant group does this to gain benefits, such as economic advantages. They would also manipulate their social institutions so they wouldn’t have access to society’s benefits. Slavery is a prime example of this. Segregation is frequently accompanied by segregation. This is when there is involvement in the separation of racial or ethnic groups. This keeps social distance between the dominant group and the minority group. Let’s look at an example from the book The Help. The minority groups, by law, had to use separate facilities such as the bathroom, schools, hotels, etc., from the dominant groups.

When a minority group is absorbed into the mainstream culture, this is known as Assimilation. The two types of assimilation are: permissible and forced. Permissible assimilation happens when the minority adopts the dominant group patterns, but at their own pace and in their own ways. Forced assimilation is when the dominant group doesn’t allow the minority group to take on their ways, such as speaking their language and practice their religion. For example, Russians were the dominant group before the fall of the Soviet Union. They required that Armenian children attend schools that were only taught in Russian. Armenian’s had to follow the Russian ways and not their own.

Lastly, we come to Multiculturalism. This is also known as Pluralism, which encourages the mixing of racial-ethnic variation. The minorities are allowed to participate in any social institutions, maintain their identities, be involved with politics, and much more. The best example for this is Switzerland. It is made up of four ethic groups, which lead their lives without clashing together. According to our book, the Swiss population lives peacefully in political and economic unity.

Do you think the U.S. should be more like Switzerland? If so, would it be possible at this point in time?