The student will be able to:

1. Identify the cultural, political, historical, and institutional factors affecting the social construction of race and ethnic relations.
2. Differentiate concepts, such as prejudice, discrimination, segregation, assimilation, and pluralism.
3. Analyze the cultural and institutional factors involved in race and ethnic relations, relating the macro-level to the micro-level.
4. Compare and contrast the experiences of groups that have been historically marginalized, particularly groups defined by ethnicity and race.
5. Analyze intersections of race and ethnicity with gender, class, and other locations of identity.
6. Identify and analyze patterns of racial and ethnic interaction.
7. Identify, compare, and contrast the experiences of major racial and ethnic groups.
8. Examine majority-minority group relations, including issues, such as power and privilege.
9. Evaluate debates on current socio-political racial and ethnic issues, such as affirmative action, immigration policies, criminal justice policies, and the future of race and ethnic relations.
10. Analyze the interrelationship among race, ethnicity and social class.
11. Cite classic and contemporary research studies focused on race and ethnicity.
12. Understand poverty and welfarism in relation to race and ethnicity in the U.S.A.
13. Analyze social planning required of the State affecting educational, political and economic opportunities for racial and ethnic minority groups.
14. Cite the issues facing states and the nation when minorities become the majority.

1. Introduction
   1. What is race, ethnicity and racism?
   2. Definitions of minority groups, prejudice and discrimination
   3. Definitions of diversity, multiculturalism, stratification
   4. What are the roots of racial and ethnic prejudice and discrimination in the U.S.A.?
2. Historical and demographic influences
   1. African-Americans and slavery
   2. Asian-Americans: the railroads and the opium wars
   3. Hispanic/Latino-Americans: indigenous Mexican-Americans and Puerto-Rican and Cuban immigrants
   4. Native-Americans: the indigenous peoples
3. Theories explaining racial and ethnic relations
   1. Assimilation paradigm (melting pot)
   2. Colonization paradigm (ghettoization)
   3. Conflict paradigm (Marxism)
4. Social change and the 1960s revolution
   1. Civil Rights Movement and the rise of "Black Power"
   2. Social processes and change: responses from the majority
   3. Balkanization of racial and ethnic groups
   4. Public policy and change
5. Legal and social issues affecting race and ethnic relations
   1. Civil Rights Act of 1964 amended
   2. Affirmative Action and the Office for Civil Rights
   3. Supreme Court cases ameliorating discrimination
   4. Federal vs. state challenges: California cases
   5. I.N.S. decisions
   6. Welfare reform in the 1990s
   7. Reverse discrimination and its meaning
6. Educational, political and economic changes
   1. Social policy planning for the 21st century
   2. Multiculturalism to diversity: what is "equality"?
   3. Technology and the culture "wars"
   4. The meaning of "access"
   5. Year 2000 Census: counting is "being counted"
   6. When the minority becomes the majority: what happens?
7. Race and ethnic relations today
   1. African-American perspective
   2. Hispanic/Latino-American perspective
   3. Asian-American perspective
   4. Native-American perspective
8. Globalization and race/ethnic relations
   1. Multiculturalism as interpreted by corporations
   2. Interracial and interethnic competition
   3. Infrastructural changes and conflict
   4. Have basic U.S.A. values changed forever?
9. Accommodation: what are the gains and losses for minorities?
   1. Is total inclusion possible?
   2. Balkanization: impact on peoples of color and white ethnics
   3. Has race/ethnicity and class merged with the overriding issue of class?

Not applicable.

Class discussions
Active learning exercises
Oral presentations
Critical essay(s)
Examinations or quizzes

Lecture
Discussion

Andersen, Margaret L., and Patricia Hill Collins. Race, Class, and Gender: An Anthology. 2019.

Desmond, Matthew, and Mustafa Emirbayer. Race in America. 2020.

Healey, Joseph F., and Andrea Stepnik. Diversity and Society: Race, Ethnicity, and Gender. 2019.

1. College level readings from primary and secondary sources
2. College level writing assignments based on primary and secondary source reflection and/or analysis