Review Questions

  1. How do the cases reviewed in this chapter illustrate the importance of the contact situation and subsistence technology? How do modernization and industrialization affect group relations?
  2. For each case study in this chapter, list the racial and cultural characteristics of the dominant and minority groups, the nature of the contact situation, and the type of competition that motivated the construction of minority status. What common patterns do you observe? How do the patterns relate to the concepts used throughout this text?
  3. Switzerland, Hawaii, and Brazil are often cited as examples of multigroup societies that are relatively harmonious. How accurate are these characterizations? Are there any common characteristics of their contact situations that might help account for the relative harmony?
  4. Compare the development of dominant–minority relations in Brazil and the United States. What important differences and similarities can you identify? How do these differences and similarities affect contemporary relations?
  5. What does this chapter say to you about the prevalence and persistence of minority inequality, prejudice, and racism? Will there ever be a time when the nations of the world are free of these problems? What would have to happen to achieve this peace?