This document discusses various forms of discrimination in American society such as racial, gender, religious, and disability-based discrimination. It provides details on discrimination faced by specific minority groups like African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, Asian Americans, Muslims, women, and LGBT individuals. It also outlines some key laws and court cases that have aimed to remedy discrimination like Brown v. Board of Education and affirmative action policies.

1. CHAPTER 4.
DISCRIMINATION IN AMERICAN SOCIETY

2. DISCRIMINATION
 Disparate treatment (economically, psychologically, normative-cultural) of a
person or population due to falling within a specific category
 Economic – when the dominant group discriminates to maintain their economic
and political advantages
 Psychologically – reflecting a person’s own frustration on a group weaker than
theirs by blaming them for their own misfortunes
 Normative-cultural – when individuals hold prejudicial views and attitudes due to
their personal socialization or strong societal pressure to conform

3. DISCRIMINATION
 Forms of discrimination:
 Racial (includes “colorism” – based on skin tones)
 Gender
 Sexual Orientation
 Religious
 National Origin, culture or tribal
 Class and caste
 Political
 Characteristics like disability, age and appearance

4. RACISM
 Refers to discrimination against and prejudicial treatment of a racially
different minority group
 Institutional Racism – refers to policies and practices that contribute to the
systematic disadvantage of members of certain groups
 By 2050, whites will be 50% of U.S. population – due to low birth rates in
whites and high immigration rates

5. MINORITY MIDDLE CLASS
 No official figure to denote a middle-class lifestyle
 What is middle class? Opinions differ $25,000 - $140,000
 How America is Killing the Middle Class

6. AFRICAN AMERICANS/BLACKS
 Currently 17.9% of the population (45 million); expected 27%grow
to 74.5 million by 2060
 Poverty levels on the rise in the AA community. 27% nationally in
2015.
 Compare to 10% of whites
 Single AA mothers were the poorest
 College degree makes a slight difference due to high debt and
lower wages
 Less family members with resources to borrow from

7. AFRICAN AMERICANS/BLACKS
 AA also suffer from a wage gap due to discrimination, jobs in
vulnerable sectors of the economy, lower rates of overall
unions/union memberships and the erosion of worker rights
 Two factors are attributed to the lack of advancement of college
educated AA:
 1. Decline during the 1980s in the number of public sector jobs usually
filled by AA men (read: lack of diversity in government)
 2. Failure to have access to managerial and supervisory responsibilities

8. AFRICAN AMERICANS/BLACKS
 AA twice as likely as Hispanics to end up in state of federal/state
prison; 5x higher than whites
 4x more likely than whites to end up murdered
 Infant mortality rates were 11.1 per every 1,000 births, more than
twice of Whites
 Low birth weighs were high
 AA men were 7x more likely to be diagnosed with HIV/AIDS than
Whites
 AA women 20x more likely than White women

9. AFRICAN AMERICANS/BLACKS
 In housing, AA are more likely to be renters than whites
 Ownership rate 42.1% for AA compared to 44.5% for Hispanics and
72.3% for Whites
 In education, high school graduation rates were about the same
for AA and Whites

10. HISPANICS
 Largest minority since 2002. 55 million in 2015. Population
expected to swell to 102.6 million in 2050.
 Latinos are Spanish-speakers from Central America, South America
and the Caribbean. Hispanics includes all Spanish-speakers,
including Spain
 Mexicans are 67% of Hispanics in the U.S.
 Median income for Whites is $60,256 versus $42, 491 for Hispanics

11. NATIVE AMERICANS
 Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA)
 There are 562 Native American tribes. The largest are Navajo, Cherokee and
Sioux.
 Native Americans classified as a person that has ¼ or more of NA
blood
 Self-identification, meaning person must come forward to be tested
 2% of the U.S. population (5.2 million people)
 Poorest group in the U.S.
 Not granted citizenship until 1924; no right to vote until 1940

12. NATIVE AMERICANS
 “Quiet Crisis” – NA population suffers from extremely high
unemployment, substance abuse, and school drop out rates
 Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978
 Placed child placement decisions to each tribe’s tribal council
 NA families get priority in adoption and care of NA children
 Indian Self-Determination Act of 1975
 Emphasized tribal self-sufficiency, self government
 Established independent health care, education and welfare services

13. ASIAN AMERICANS
 25 Asian-Pacific subgroups in the U.S.
 Largest is Chinese (2.7 million), the Filipino (2.4 million) and Japanese (1.1
million)
 Fastest growing racial group between 2000-2010 at 43%
 Asian Males boast highest average income in the U.S. Although a vast
majority of the Asian U.S. population live in poverty
 “Model Minority” – seen as hard workers and because of their
educational achievements
 Cause of stress and depression for portions of the population

14. IMMIGRANTS AND IMMIGRATION
 Majority of undocumented immigrants are from Mexico (52%)
 23% from other Latin American countries: Honduras, Guatemala, and El
Salvador
 2/3 of immigrants live in Texas, Florida, California, Illinois, New York and
New Jersey
 Immigrants make up 13.1% of the U.S. population
 Largest immigrant group are Asians (40%)
 Mexicans make up 14%

15. IMMIGRANTS AND IMMIGRATION
 Immigrants help the economy by:
 1. By filling an increasing share of jobs
 2. By taking jobs in labor-scarce regions
 3. By filling the types of jobs that Americans do not want to do
 Immigrants fill low-skill, blue-collar, or service jobs

16. IMMIGRANTS AND IMMIGRATION
 Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986
 Grants legal status to undocumented immigrants who were in the United
States continuously since 1982 or who had worked in agriculture
 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of
1996 (PRWORA)
 Disentitled most legal immigrants from welfare services – including food
stamps, public assistance, and SSI
 Only immigrants entitled to benefits were now citizens or had worked for
over 10 years in the U.S. and paid into Social Security or veterans of the U.S.
Army
 Allowed states to deny Medicaid coverage

17. IMMIGRANTS AND IMMIGRATION
 USA Patriot Act of 2001
 Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools
Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001
 Gives more law enforcement and investigative power to the United States
Attorney General and to Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).
 Enhanced Border Security Act of 2002
 Mandated the use of biometrics screening in U.S. visas.
 Required fingerprints to be collected at all U.S. embassies and
consulates

18. IMMIGRANTS AND IMMIGRATION
 Homeland Security Act of 2002
 Created the Department of Homeland Security
FEMA, Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, Transportation Security
Administration, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, U.S. Coast Guard,
U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement, U.S. Secret Service
 Added one cabinet position to assist the president with homeland
security matters

19. MUSLIMS IN AMERICA
 Muslims living in the U.S. are more likely to be poor and live in
segregated high-crime areas
 Perceived to be on purpose due to cultural norms and not being able to
speak English
 Sharia Law – Muslim rule to settle civil disputes as well as family, financial
and commercial conflicts.
 No enforceable authority; solely voluntary
 Male-dominated decisions that tend to discriminate against women

20. WOMEN AND SEXISM
 Sexism – Beliefs and practices that assume that men and masculinity are
superior to women and femininity that result in hostility, prejudice,
and/or discrimination on the basis of sex
 Occupational boundaries – ex. Women in combat roles in the military
service or being kept out of industry normally viewed or dominated by
men
 Professions like construction or masonry
 Also, OB give rise to the wage gap

21. WOMEN AND SEXISM
 Domestic Violence is the willful intimidation, physical assault, battery,
sexual assault, and/or other abusive behavior as part of a systematic
pattern of power and control perpetrated by one intimate partner
against another.
 It includes physical violence, sexual violence, threats and
emotional/psychological abuse.
 25% of women surveyed said they were raped and/or physically
assaulted by an intimate partner
 Only 1/5 of all rapes, ¼ of all physical assaults and ½ of all stalking
against women are reported to police

22. WOMEN AND SEXISM
 Violence Against Women Act of 1994 designed to improve
support for the victim by enabling a more rapid and comprehensive
response by police, prosecutors and judges.
 Mandated nationwide enforcement of protective orders and penalties
for violating those orders.
 Batterer loses the right to own a firearm, even if a misdemeanor is
charged
 It increased funding for battered women’s shelters
 Made offenders pay restitution to their victims

23. WOMEN AND SEXISM
 The Feminization of Poverty term coined by Diana Pearce (1978)
to state that poverty was becoming a female phenomenon as
women made up a larger portion of the economically disadvantage.
 Cause of the Feminization of Poverty include:
 Divorce, wage gap, low-paying jobs, lack of skills and education, lack of
daycare and inability to work.
 Public Transfer Programs (public assistance and/or public insurance) help
women disproportionately
 Ex. SS – women wages are lower or they work less, SS entitlement will be less

24. WOMEN AND SEXISM
 Title XX Social Services Block Grant (1970) largest federal
program for child care services. Provided funding to states to enact
program to help families and single mothers.
 1990: Congress approved additional funds to help families with
child care costs and help states improve quality and supply of
child care services

25. WOMEN AND SEXISM
 Family Medical Leave Act of 1993 requires public employers and
private employers with 50 or more employees to offer job-
protected family or medical leave for up to 12 weeks to qualifying
employees who need to be absent due the employee’s illness
(including maternity related) or need to care for a sick relative
 This leave is unpaid
 Leave also given to expecting/new fathers

26. WOMEN AND SEXISM
 Title VII of 1964 Civil Rights Act – prohibits sexual harassment in
the workplace.
 Sexual harassment – unwelcome sexual behaviors, including
jokes, teasing, remarks, questions, and deliberate touching and/or
pressure for sexual favors and sexual assault

27. LGBT ISSUES
 Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr Hate Crimes
Prevention Act
 Expanded Federal authority to investigate and prosecute hate crimes
 Includes victim’s actual and perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender
identity or disability
 First federal law to protect transgender persons
 Expands cooperation between State and Federal LE

28. LGBT ISSUES
 Obergefeld v. Hodges – June 2015
 Required all states to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples
 Required all states to recognize same sex marriages from other
jurisdictions
 Declared same sex marriage bans unconstitutional in those states
where it was banned and constitutional in those that had it
 54% of Americans supported marriage equality at the time

29. REMEDYING DISCRIMINATION
 Brown v. Board of Education – Supreme Court ruled that
separate but equal facilities in education were inherently
unequal, and that segregation hindered the educational
and mental development of black chidren
 Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education – mandated
court-ordered busing to achieve racial integration of school
districts with a history of discrimination

30. REMEDYING DISCRIMINATION
 Affirmative Action - an active effort (as through legislation)
to improve the employment or educational opportunities
of members of minority groups or women
 Special consideration given to women, racial minorities, and
members of other historically excluded groups