Chapter 1 Objectives:
By the end of this chapter, students should be able to:
- Define the concept of race as a social construct rather than a biological fact, and explain how racial categories are created and maintained through social, political, and historical processes
- Describe the theory of racial formation and analyze how it shapes perceptions of race, ethnicity, and justice in the United States
- Explain the development of “whiteness” and how the concept has historically functioned to create social and legal advantages for some groups while marginalizing others
- Identify examples of institutional racism within modern systems (education, housing, criminal justice) and discuss their cumulative impacts on racial and ethnic minorities
- Differentiate between privilege and anti-racism, and assess how privilege influences individual experiences, opportunities, and perspectives in justice contexts
- Evaluate how historical practices such as slavery, segregation, and disenfranchisement connect to contemporary inequalities and policies (e.g., the War on Drugs, felon disenfranchisement.
Chapter 2 Objectives:
By the end of this chapter, students should be able to:
- Define ethnicity and explain how it differs from race, focusing on cultural traditions, shared geography, and common language rather than physical characteristics.
- Explain the social construction of ethnicity in the United States and how self-identification interacts with governmental definitions and census classifications.
- Analyze the historical development of ethnic identity among major Latino groups in the U.S., including Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Salvadoran Americans, emphasizing how each group’s experience shaped its social and political status.
- Evaluate how U.S. institutions have categorized and treated ethnic groups through mechanisms such as segregation, poll taxes, census classifications, and immigration policy.
- Discuss ethnicity in contemporary contexts, focusing on immigration, assimilation, identity fluidity, and the ongoing negotiation of cultural belonging in American society.