Chapter 4

Summary:

Chapter 4 touches on America's growing racial and ethnic diversity, and details various aspects of life for the country's minorities.

Immigrants

The author talks about the changing face of the U.S.' immigrant population. Compared to a little over one hundred years ago, the percentage of the population of foreign birth has decreased (from 15% in 1900 to 9% in 2006); the places of origin for emigrants since that time has changed as well. Whereas in the early days of the country's history the overwhelming majority of non-native citizens came from Europe, the immigrants of today are largely based in Latin America (and Asia). Americans' perceptions of immigration (both legal and otherwise) have varied over the years. Some people extol its virtues--e.g. the benefits of having foreign-born scientists, engineers, and IT people available to fill positions for which U.S. citizens are un(der)qualified--while others cry foul when discussing its (perceived) problems, like low-skilled workers taking more than their fair share of welfare, reducing the standard of living, and how they have oversaturated the nation's school systems.

Race, Ethnicity, Inequality

Benokraitis writes about both minority groups and the dominant group in the United States, and discusses race, ethnicity, and the discrimination one might encounter based on those characterizations. Race is seen as a social construct, and groups people together based on such arbitrary markers as skin color and other physical attributes. An ethnic group, on the other hand, is comprised of people who choose to identify with a particular nation or culture (e.g. religion, language, and customs). Those who share similar cultural and physical characterizations are said to be of the same racial-ethnic group. An affiliation with any of the aforementioned categories can be the basis for prejudice or discrimination. The author mentions the 'naming' issue for minorities; people use such terms as Hispanic/Latino; colored/black/negro/etc.; and American Indian/Native American interchangeably. The author describes some commonly misused terms related to minority/dominant culture: racism is the belief in a racial group's superiority; discrimination describes behaviors that people do to treat people unfairly, based on race, ethnicity, etc.; prejudice is the attitude that causes one to prejudge someone of another race/ethnicity, usually in a negative manner.

Minority Families

Chapter 4 tells of the differing structures of various minority groups in the U.S. For different peoples like Native Americans, African-Americans, and Latinos, the author delves into such topics as health and economics; gender roles; segregation; strengths; values; and family structures. Asian Americans, for their part, deal with the realities of being seen as the 'model minority.' Benokraitis makes mention of the growing trend of interethnic and interracial relationships, and the reasons behind its increasing visibility.

New/of interest info:

I found the section about Americans' changing ideas about immigration to be interesting. The book mentions that depending on the issues of the day, immigration's importance varies among the populace. It seems that whichever problem in the country is most salient at any given time, this is what becomes the issue that people feel is most troubling (even when in may, in fact, not be). The book gives the example of 53% of Americans supporting the deportation of illegal immigrants in 2006, but shortly after the economic turmoil in '07/'08, people put home foreclosures, the poor economy, and other issues at the fore of their collective mind.

Question:

How big of a role do businesses/the government play in (illegal) immigration; how much, if any, culpability should rest on each of them for their policies (e.g. NAFTA, hiring undocumented workers, etc.)?