Family Questions & Answers for Midterm Exam

Below are the family questions I accepted, with some editing. Remember these questions will be on the midterm exam coming up next Tuesday.

RED FAMILY (Lisa, Sheatial, Michael, Tim, Rachel) Earn 5 points + 1 bonus point

1. What is an ethnic group? And what is the most important distinguishing characteristic of different ethnic groups? (2pts)

ANSWER: An ethnic group is one that shares a cultural tradition and has some degree of consciousness of being different from other such groups. The most important distinguishing characteristic is language.

2. An important aim of the eugenics movement was to maintain racial purity. Why was this misguided? (1pt)

ANSWER: because "races" have been mixing forever and they continue to mix. We are all essentially mongrels.

3. What "paradigm shift" did biological anthropologist, Alan Goodman, advocate in the opening of part 1 of the video series? (1pt)

ANSWER: rejecting the notion of race as a valid biological distinction among humans.

4. How did the practice of "blockbusting" by real estate agents encourage residential segregation? (2pts)

ANSWER: Encouraging white flight when blacks began moving into an area by notifying white homeowners when a black family moved in and encouraging them to sell.


GREEN FAMILY ( Michaela, Jennifer, Jamar, Ross, Nathan) earn 5 points + 1 bonus point

1. What is the difference between prejudice and discrimination? (2pts)

ANSWER: While both often grow out of competition between groups of people, prejudice involves attitudes or beliefs while discrimination involves actual actions or practices.

2. Identify any TWO of the four ways that prejudice is learned? (2pts)

ANSWER: Any two of the following: (1) authority figures; (2) media images (especially negative portrayals of minorities); (3) negative experiences with members of a different racial or ethnic group; (4)discrimination.

3. Briefly explain the meaning of "the white man's burden" and its significance in the history of race relations. (2pts)

ANSWER: "The white man's burden" is the idea, which was popular during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, that it is the duty of white Europeans (and Americans) to "civilize" the non-white world. This belief was used to justify taking the land of non-white peoples and imposing European culture and Christianity on them, as in the case of British and French colonies in Africa.

4. In the Bakke case, what did the court see as the principal flaw in the University of California - Davis Medical School's affirmative action program? (1pt)

ANSWER: that it used a QUOTA system, rather than goals or targets.
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That's all folks. See you Tuesday.