The essentialist perspective - correct answer -racial categories represent clear and
unchanging differences
-differences are absolute and immutable
The constructionist perspective - correct answer -Race and ethnicity are socially
defined
-categories and meaning can change over time( political factors can change how we imagine these
categories over time)
6 Official racial categories - correct answer 1. American Indian or alaskan native
2. Asian
3. Black
4. Native Hawaiian or other pacific islander
5. White
6. Other race
true or false:Historically in the U.S race is categorical - correct answer true
Double Consciousness - correct answer two identities that Americans experience.
They see themselves as Americans (positive), but also through the prospective of whites (negative).
Melanin - correct answer -give skin its color/pigment
-purpose is to protect from the harmful effects of the sun (sunburn, skin cancer, ect.)
Why is more melanin produced at lower latitudes? - correct answer -more sun
exposure by the equator which means you need more melanin to protect you, which equates to darker
skin
, Medical conditions associated with vitamin D deficiency (associated with less melanin aka lighter skin
color) - correct answer -rickets, osteomalacia
Why is the correlation between skin color and latitude not perfect? - correct answer
Outside factors such as diet, cloud cover, ect.
How did cultural selection play a role in changeover from dark to light skin in Europe? - correct answer
If a parent had to chose, they would nourish a lighter skinned child more because they were thought to
be stronger/ taller.
What does the author mean when he says near the equator, "black is beautiful" - correct answer
-lower risk of skin cancer
True or False: In ancient world, race was a major focus of ones identity - correct answer
FASLE- the major focus of identity was associated instead with kinship and religion
True or false: Classification into ethnic group was absent from the ancient world - correct answer
True-unequally ranked categories based on physical traits did not exist)
Racialist views - correct answer emerged during the European age of exploration
(1500's and 1600's)
True or False: White servants and black servants lived in harmony during the colonial period (even
married and ran away together) - correct answer True
what happened when the slave system was formalized? - correct answer whites
were given token privileges (a psychological wage) creating a divide between the races
psychological wage - correct answer psychological benefits rather than material
resources
ex:whites being given token privileges in order to create social passivity " I may be poor but at least I am
not black"