Sociology › Section K · Race and ethnicity › Topic K.1

Racial, ethnic, and minority groups

Race, ethnicity and minority status are three of the most powerful labels a society hands out, and in everyday talk they blur together. Sociologists keep them apart, because each one points to a different thing: perceived physical difference, shared culture, and unequal power.

In this topic

  • Three labels, three questions
  • Race as a social construction
  • Categories change across time and place
  • Ethnicity: shared culture
  • Symbolic ethnicity and pan-ethnicity
  • Minority and dominant groups
  • Five features of a minority group
  • Worked example: sorting the labels
  • Worked example: the multiracial jump
  • Common mistakes to avoid
  • Key takeaways

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