6.12 Glossary

Affirmative action: to remedy past discrimination by taking positive steps to increase the number of qualified members of underrepresented groups in college and employment but who had been excluded because of their race or gender.

American dream: the belief that anyone can achieve economic prosperity through hard work (Lamont, 2019).

Capital: the resources or traits held by an individual that have social value or influence.

Capitalism: an economic system based on market competition, private property, and the pursuit of profit.

Colonization: the process where people migrate and settle, displacing the people who already live in a geographic area.

Cultural capital: soft skills or how well someone fits into a given social setting.

Discrimination: differential treatment toward social group, that is usually negative.

Dominant group: groups that hold a privileged position in society, and use legal and illegitimate means to maintain its advantaged position.

Economic capital: material assets (income and wealth) that can be used to generate more money.

Economy: the system used to produce, sell, and consume goods and services. 

Education: the formalized approach of teaching knowledge, skills, and culture.

Equality: each person receives the same thing.

Equity: each person gets what they need.

Gender: the behaviors, attitudes, and presentation of self as feminine or masculine.

Hidden curriculum: the unwritten rules, norms, values, and other aspects of culture informally taught in schools.

Inequality: each person gets different things based on the interaction of talent, group membership, and how those are valued in a society.

Internal colonialism: geographic areas reserved for Indigenous people within a nation that a dominant group intentionally underdevelops, economically exploits, or both.

Meritocracy: the idea that rewards (e.g., prestige, status, income, wealth) are given based on personal merit (e.g., credentials, hard work, soft skills) (Yair, 2011).

Minority group: any group placed in an inferior position by the dominant group.

Patriarchy: a system by which men’s interests are prioritized, and men have the most power and status in society.

Prejudice: a person’s feelings about the group, which are likely informed by stereotypes about the group.

Race: social and political categories of people based on assumed physical, biological, and ancestral characteristics.

Racism: the social practice of applying differential and usually substandard treatment to some groups due to the ideology that some groups are inferior due to their racial category (see Fields & Fields 2012/2014).

Refraction framework: schools can reproduce inequality, make inequality worse, and reduce disparities but that schools do not affect all groups in the same ways.

Settler colonialism: settlers (or colonists) replace the Indigenous people, make them dependent on the settlers, or both (Steinmetz, 2014).

Sex categorization: assigned at birth (and even before birth) based primarily on an infant’s external genitalia.

Sexism: prejudicial attitudes and discriminatory behaviors directed toward individuals or groups based on their perceived sex or gender.

Social capital: people’s connections with others (who they know) and their influence over others (Wallace & Wolf, 1999).

Social class: a form of stratification based on the relationship between a person’s characteristics such as educational credentials, resources including income and other capital, and occupation or placement in the labor market (see Wright, 2015).

Status: a social or legal position in a social system.

Stereotype: specific, oversimplified beliefs about social groups that are usually harmful.

Stratification: the systematic and unequal distribution of power, status, and resources.

Symbolic capital: the status linked with membership in a social category, which a person can use to claim other forms of capital (economic, social, and cultural) (Turner, 1998).

Systemic racism: the practices, policies, and procedures that are entrenched within social institutions which disadvantage people because of their perceived race.

White privilege: the advantages White people receive because of their whiteness.

White supremacy: a social system which views White people as naturally superior to other racial groups.