9.12 Glossary

Assimilation: the process by which in-group and out-group members become more culturally alike.

Asylum seekers: like refugees (fleeing persecution), but their new country has not yet decided whether they will be allowed to stay as refugees, sent to another country, or sent back to their country of origin.

Birthright citizenship: extending citizenship rights due to anyone born in the United States or to U.S. citizen parents outside of the United States.

Color-blind racism: involves ignoring racial differences and conflict and is more subtle compared to overt racism.

Colorism: a preference for lighter skin tones, which results in prejudice and discrimination toward people with darker skin tones.

Color line: the basis for legal or cultural segregation of people by race.

Ethnicity: is based on sharing a common culture.

Expulsion: forced displacement occurs when the dominant group uses persecution, violence, or other extreme measures to make a subordinate group leave the region.

Genocide: the systematic destruction of people based on their group membership with the goal of eliminating the entire group. 

Immigrant: an individual who leaves their home country and moves to a different country.

Implicit bias: having a view in favor of or against a social group without having awareness of holding the view.

Institutional racism: racism that is part of the social structure through laws, policies, and norms.

Legal citizenship: (or political citizenship) citizenship obtained by lawful permanent residents after meeting certain requirements.

Overt racism: obvious and usually explicit racism such as using racial slurs or inflicting violence on members due to their race or ethnicity.

Pluralism: the condition whereby governments allow diverse groups to maintain their cultural identity.

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

Racial microaggressions: intentional and unintentional everyday slights, insults and indignities directed towards people of color (Sue et al., 2007).

Racial socialization: how children and adults learn and are taught about how to make sense of race.

Racial steering: the practice whereby real estate agents steer home buyers toward and away from a neighborhood on account of their race. 

Racialization: ​​the process by which something that was not initially considered in racial terms becomes associated with race (Omi & Winant, 1986/2015).

Redlining: the discrimination where banks would systematically deny mortgages to people seeking to buy a home in an area populated by Black people.

Refugees: individuals who have been granted protection in another country because their lives and safety are at risk in their own country.

Scientific-Racism: the pursuit of science (and pseudoscience) to identify biological or genetic differences between racial groups to justify and preserve  racial inequality.

Segregation: the physical and social separation of different groups, but it typically does not involve complete separation.

Social citizenship: (or cultural citizenship) the feeling of belongingness as a member of a nation.

Sundown towns: communities with rules that did not allow Black people to live or stay the night there.

Unauthorized immigrants: (or undocumented immigrants) are individuals who enter a country outside of legal points of entry, or who enter legally but then remain in the country beyond the authorized period.