Chapter 4: Racial and Ethnic Families

1. Summary

Chapter 4 examines how American families are changing in terms of racial and ethnic composition. Although there has been a decrease in the number of foreign-born U.S. residents, there are many illegal immigrants that come into the U.S. every year. The chapter discusses the mixed thoughts on whether or not immigration is beneficial or harmful for America. Some believe immigrants make positive contributions because they fulfill jobs for low wages that American-born workers find least desirable. However, others believe that immigrants have caused the standard of living in the U.S to decrease and taken jobs away from US citizens. Many had unsettled feelings about the unequal distribution of expenses caused by the fact that immigrates pay fewer taxes than regular taxpayers yet reap the benefits of many government services. The chapter introduces many minority groups and distinguishes that racial groups deal with specific physical characteristics while ethnic groups pertain to distinct national origins or cultural heritage. Racial-ethnic groups are combinations of groups in which people have both distinctive physical and cultural characteristics. Many racial, ethnic, and racial-ethnic groups are targets of a significant amount of racism, prejudice, and discrimination. The distinction between racism, a set of beliefs, prejudice, an attitude, and discrimination, a behavior is noted with a discussion about minorities being more vulnerable to such unfair treatment/beliefs/attitudes because they have less power and resources than dominant groups.

After introducing general facts about the growing diversity of the United States population and how minorities are treated today, the chapter goes into detail about African American families, American Indian families, Latino families, Asian American families, and Middle Eastern families. These families all have diverse structures and values. African American families are more likely to have parents who both work outside the home and participate in household tasks. As black families have displayed strong ties and determination to overcome racism/discrimination, parents typically utilize racial socialization for the purpose of raising their children to develop pride in their descent. Many African American families must come to terms with the influences that come from living in high poverty neighborhoods and the negative impact of an absent father. Despite these issues, African American families have coped very well with many struggles pertaining to their racial-ethnic group. American Indian families are a prime example of assimilation into U.S society impacting lifestyles; many American Indian languages are now lost. Caring for children and others is very important to the family; emphasis is put on teaching the children to show respect. American Indian families define a three-stage life cycle stressing the importance of caring for others, being cared for, preparing to care for, and assuming the care of someone. In many American Indian vocabularies there is no distinction between blood relatives and relatives by marriage, so aunts, uncles, and especially elders are considered close family members who are important in providing care and support for the family. Unfortunately, American Indians must deal with a high rate of alcoholism and suicide because of the struggles many endure while dealing with cultural stresses. Nevertheless, their caring behaviors and relational bonding way of life, has become a strengths that helps them cope with the constraints they face in American society.

Latino families are very diverse. Many Latino children may live with relatives instead of their parents because some immigrants depend on others to support their family until they have successfully adapted to the economic and political society in America. Latino men are often negatively stereotyped as being excessively masculine. Men and women are usually following traditional family roles, with men being the breadwinners and women being homemakers. Latino women have been stereotyped for their self-sacrificing behavior, passivity, and their role as a mother. The strength and support of an extended family provides the emotional and economic support needed for Latino families to overcome the battles of acculturation, such as abuse and economic exploitation. In addition, parental socialization enables the family to become resilient and adaptive; similar to African American families Latino children develop ethnic pride. Asian American families vary in size, but are more likely to be extended than nuclear patterns. Most families follow Confucianism, in which the men are the head of the household and women are subordinate and must obey them. Like American Indians, Asian Americans stressed care giving and respectfulness. Securing a good education for children is top priority to Asian Americans parents who often sacrifice their personal needs in the interests of their children and in return, the child must respect and obey their parents. As the Latino, Asian Americans stress close family ties. Asian Americans are very successful educationally and economically, which often causes them to be stereotyped and undergo many constraints because they are often labeled as a “model minority.” Asian American parents often help children overcome discrimination and stress by providing support and encouraging children to remain in school. The last racial-ethnic group the chapter examines is Middle Eastern families. Middle Eastern families believe the “normal” family is one that has children in a two-parent household; divorce is looked down upon and marriage is the key to a family unit. Marriages are often arranged. Like Asian Americans and Latino’s, family is essential. Most families, like Latinos, take on the traditional roles of men as the breadwinners and women as domestic workers who obey their husbands. Children are socialized based on gender; girls have more restrictions than boys when it comes to dating and curfews; they are expected to remain virgins until they are married. In addition, children are encouraged to marry within and associate with their ethnic group. Middle Eastern families have undergone a tremendous amount of discrimination since the 9/11 attacks; however, they have learned to be resilient and deal with prejudice and discrimination by holding onto close family ties, maintaining a strong ethnic identity, and utilizing extended families for more support.

The chapter concludes by discussing the growth of multiracial diversity caused by the increase in racial-ethnic intermarriages. It explains that more interracial marriages occur because they are more publicly accepted than in the past. Plus the fact that today’s workplaces are more diverse so more multiracial relationships are formed which often lead to marriages.  Two other reasons for the increase are a shortage of eligible same race mates and the fact that racial-ethnic groups who frequently interact with other ethnic groups are more likely to marry interracially.

2. What was interesting/what did you learn:

I found the section on why racial-ethnic intermarriages are becoming more common very interesting. I never really thought about how segregated our world was in the past with people only marrying within their racial-ethnic groups. But, after reading about the four main reasons families are changing in terms of racial and ethnic composition it really gave me an insight into how society affects changes in the family. The two greatest causes of societal impact were the changing attitudes of the public and proximity. As societal beliefs and values change, a greater acceptance of racial-ethnic intermarriage occurs. In addition as societal norms change and more and more people attend school or work to succeed, proximity factors in because a person’s social circle expands and relationships grow with more people often resulting in marriages outside of a smaller group. Today almost all schools and work environments are diverse with a variety of racial-ethnic groups; we see these people all the time and don’t just associate with our own racial-ethnic groups; we socialize and mix together and tend to forget about the differences our individual group holds. With greater public acceptance and greater exposure to diversity in our daily lives, an increase in attraction to different racial-ethnic groups occurs. I think as more and more foreign-born people migrate into the United States, half our population will identify as more than one race in the future.

3. Discussion Point:

The section on immigrants and whether or not they are harmful or beneficial to the country really caught my attention. I have always thought having immigrants in the United States provided our country with a lot of advantages. Mainly because I reason that many immigrants provide us with many of the resources we need today to survive. Many immigrants do hard labor jobs that a larger number of American-born citizens find undesirable and refrain from holding; like jobs which include farm hands, operators, fabricators, and laborers.  If immigrants were not allowed to hold these jobs, there would be a decline in the labor force and crops would be left to rot in the field. My questions are: should immigrants be denied the right to work or are they too much of an asset to society to do so? Are immigrants good for the American society or are they undermining the economy and making the unemployment rates for American-born citizens even higher? Is their lack of skill really causing a decrease in the standard of living or are they increasing it by providing such resources like farm and construction labor?