Review Questions

  1. The opening paragraph of this chapter offers a corollary to two themes from Chapter 4: dominant– minority group relations change as the subsistence technology changes. How does the material in this chapter illustrate the usefulness of that idea?
  2. Explain paternalistic and rigid competitive relations and link them to industrialization. How does the shift from slavery to de jure segregation illustrate the dynamics of these two systems?
  3. What was the Great Migration to the North? How did it change American race relations?
  4. Explain the transition from rigid to fluid competitive relations and explain how this transition is related to the coming of postindustrial society. Explain the roles of urbanization, bureaucracy, the service sector of the job market, and education in this transition.
  5. What is modern institutional discrimination? How does it differ from traditional institutional discrimination? Explain the role of affirmative action in combating each.
  6. Explain the impact of industrialization and globalization on gender relations. Compare and contrast these changes with the changes that occurred for racial and ethnic minority groups.
  7. What efforts have been made on your campus to combat modern institutional discrimination? How effective have these programs been?