Many academics tend to lump "ethnicity and minority" concepts together and many texts use the terms interchangeably. Some others argue that it should either be "ethnicity" or "minority" that is studied. As I prepared this course, I talked with professors who hold positions in "Ethnic Studies" and/or "Minority" Departments of large Universities, and found a diversity of opinions even among them.

Not wishing to delete important information, I have chosen to present both ethnic and minority viewpoints (thus using the two sources) and let you, the student, make your own informed opinion.

But it is only fair that I give you my viewpoint concerning the matter. I am concerned that WASPS (White Anglo Saxon Protestants) may think that they do not belong to any ethnic groups. For example, I ask students in classes taught here in Utah if "Mormon" is an ethnic group. Much to my dismay, most think it is not. Yet the Mormon culture, especially as it is expressed in many places of Utah, very much qualifies as a distinct ethnic group. Superimposed upon this example are these considerations: not all Mormons are white, they occupy nearly every part of the SES (Social Economic Status) spectrum, and they themselves or their ancestors come from all over the globe---including Native American Indians.

It appears to me that every person, whether considered a "minority" or not, wears several ethnic "hats." Some of those hats include their "roots," both genetic and cultural, which may give their family distinct behavioral traits --even if they do not give them distinct minority status.

Moreover, minority status may, in turn, create changes (even if they are only temporary) in ethnic behavioral traits based upon the environment. I lived in Southeast Asia in a place where I very seldom saw other white people. I spoke the language, took in their customs and culture, visited their aborigine, and enjoyed my stay among them. But I held a minority status, based upon obvious physical characteristics, that I could not hide and, in speaking their language, I had too strong of an accent. My own behavior modified in respect to my lower standing in the community. My racial and ethnic backgrounds were a hinderance at times, and a help at other times, but it seemed that they were never neutral. I was constantly trying to gauge "being myself" versus "blending in with the populace."

In my opinion this complex diversity found in both ethnic and minority status roles is something to celebrate, rather than to try to dismiss. With the goal of helping you find rich reward in understanding "different" people, I ask that you carefully read both of the required texts and this guide (plus any outside material you may be able to come across). These readings will help you understand issues related to aging of the human family--enjoying the differences found among people.

Prejudice is the "inward" feeling of being superior over another group while discrimination is the "outward signs" (behavior) of contempt directed towards that group. It is possible to have a great deal of prejudice built up before discrimination bubbles over in some overt act (usually due to the societal norms discouraging such actions). The opposite is also true, an individual may take part in a discriminatory act (example: to show he "belongs" to his peer group) but have little actual personal prejudice.

Discrimination is found in all cultures in history, but to whom it is directed is greatly differs from culture to culture and from time to time. The outcomes of prejudice are also different in different lands and times. Ancient prejudice had little to do with skin color. As an example, if you were "sold into slavery" it did not matter the color of your skin, only the markings of your slavery (often a metal neck band that designated your position). You could be sold into slavery for many reasons, including having debt that you could not pay back. In some societies, you were allowed to "buy" your freedom and return to "decent society."

One very important concept of prejudice is that a label is attached to all of the individuals of a given group (the "lesser group" or often referred to as the "out-group"). Each and every person in the outgroup is assumed to have the "sub-human" characteristics of the label---and the definition of any individual in that group starts out with that "ascribed role." It is very hard to overcome such a societal label and the afflicted individual finds it cropping up in nearly every interaction with the "majority" society (even in simple things, like trying to buy groceries).

Yet the "majority" society (those holding power) are not necessarily the numerical majority in the society. One example of this is South Africa--the whites are, numerically, a small minority in the country but hold the majority power, thus leaving the blacks a minority in status. Another example is gender in the United States: women slightly outnumber men (about 51% of the population) yet men control the politics, religions, economics, and other aspects of the society. This means that women are the minority in status and often face discriminatory practices.

The majority, whoever they may be, define the minority as the outgroup, and this definition need not make any rational sense or be the product of anything the minority has done. In fact, it is very hard, if not impossible, to trace back the origin of any given prejudice. But as social scientists, we are always attempting to predict and explain, so we study what may be the causes.

One important study done in Chicago suggests that the minority is simply the last ethnic group to move to the city: since they have little money as they arrive in America, they have to live in the slums at first and they may have trouble with the language. These factors lead others to "fear that they are after our jobs" or that they might "bring in an Un-American way of life" and so they label the new-comers as deviants. Once labeled, the new-comers have a struggle ahead of them---until the next ethnic immigrant group arrives! Then the hottest prejudice is aimed more at the newest arrivals (even by the ones who came slightly before) and the city expands outwardly as each succeeding group moves out of the inner city slum neighborhood that the latest arrivals start taking over.

Another theory suggests that since biology became a science, it became easier for the power groups to "scape-goat" classes of people to make it easier to blame them for economic troubles. Once genetics came into being, for example, some in the majority decided that there existed a "genetic inferiority" in other races that could be exploited.

Discrimination often gets systematic (the norms of society rule that it should be so) and in India that concept is shown very clearly even today: A class of people have been labeled as "untouchable," and even the shadow of these people, should it fall on one "higher born," is "dirty" and will cause "ritualistic pollution" (leaving the need for special cleansing of the unfortunate well-born who had the shadow touch him).

However the labeling is accomplished, prejudice robs any society of the potential and the human capital of the group that they label as inferior. Discrimination goes further to victimize the minority and to lead the majority into a false sense of reality (they blame the minority for things the minority have nothing to do with, and thus miss the real cause for the problem).

Black Slavery, begun in the seventeenth-century, brought various West African peoples involuntarily to this country (as well as other countries). As in the Native American Indian saga, the transplanting of this population included incredibly high numbers of deaths as the captives were literally packed into slavery ships.

Catherine Albanese in America Religions and Religion, first edition, suggests that "While these peoples were many and diverse, their religious heritage included common elements." Two of these elements should be mentioned in this lesson: "a strong sense of community and communal responsibility" and "an equally strong tie with the ancestors." Though the practice in America was to break the slaves up geographically (so they would not be able to get together in their tribes), to disallow their speaking of their native tongue, and to otherwise "civilize them" (including changing their "pagan ways"), they still held these ethnic similarities.

"In America, blacks preserved a number of their religious customs and practices. More important in the long run, they continued to look at the world according to the religious categories that Africa had given them. They mixed ordinary and extraordinary religion in tales of Tricksters like Brer Rabbit and in the art of conjure. And as they encountered Christianity, a few blacks became Roman Catholics, but-after a slow start-the overwhelming number became Protestants. In the "invisible institution," these black Protestants created a religion of their own. They found sacred space in public praise houses or in secret hush harbors, and they filled sacred time with sermons, spirituals, ring shouts, and various other rituals. As converts who had been "struck dead" by the power of God, blacks both affirmed and overcame the involuntary condition of slavery to experience spiritual freedom". From: "America Religions And Religion" by Catherine L Albanese

These similarities, and the ones that they picked up from the slavery environment itself, contributed to the "coded communications" (many black hymns were coded messages of how to escape) that they used to help run the underground (the system that helped slaves escape to freedom). These similarities also helped to set the "black church," no matter what its denomination, as a culture and political center as it still is today.

It is not by accident that Martin Luther King, a great black leader in this country, was in the clergy. The clergy in the black church are also respected political advisors and often the go-betweens with the white culture. An Afro-American need not belong to the "black church" to have respect for the black clergy (neither does a white need to belong to that church to have respect to some of these great people).

Unlike other "immigrants" to this land, the Afro-Americans came involuntarily. They were not allowed to keep their native language or many of their native customs. Assimilation of their former cultures was denied in this land as they were deemed "unfit" and pagan. Simply put, these human beings were considered barbarians who had to be civilized under slavery--"for their own good".

Today there is a wonderfully healthy movement by Afro-Americans to capture understanding of their "roots" and the great cultures that spawned them. They are learning that many of the countries that they sprang from were great civilizations with proud histories. Perhaps this road to discovery will help blend into our land some great black history and ethnic traditions that we all have been denied these last three centuries.

From: "America Religions And Religion" by Catherine L Albanese

"...The Amish went to maintain the culture of the late 17th century, in which the group began. They invest the smallest cultural detail with religious significance. There is absolutely no separation between religion and the rest of our own culture for the Amish.

"Every thing that is done is attributed to a divine origin and given divine sanction. Various divisions within the Amish community have lead over time to the old order, or most conservative Amish, plus several smaller and more liberal groups. "At the heart of Amish culture and life is their desire to remain a part from the world, to turn their backs on all "worldliness". This separatism is understood as a divine mandate, based on the declaration in I Peter 2:9 that the people of God are to be a holy, separated, and a "peculiar" People.

"It is for this reason that the Amish reject everything that the average american takes for granted: automobiles, motorcycles and bicycles; television, radios, and stereos; jewelry, including wristwatches and wedding rings; clothing fads and fashions; education beyond the 8th grade; social security and life insurance; electricity, indoor plumbing, and telephones, to name only some. Thus, the boundaries between the Amish and the rest of the culture are drawn as sharply as they can possible be.

"Most of us probably recognize the Amish most quickly by their appearance. The men dress in very plain, black trousers, coats, and vests, with the typical low crowned and brood brimmed hat. Married men have beards and longish hair cut in a dutch bob. Young boys mirror the men in appearance, except that beards are not grown prior to marriage.

"The women and girls wear long dresses in plain, dark colors, with sparkling white aprons. Their hair, too, is worn in a typical Amish style, uncut and braided. Indoors, their hair is kept covered by a white shear cotton cap, while outdoors it is covered by a heavier bonnet. Capes are also worn out of doors. Young girls mirror their mirrors in appearance.

"Neither men nor women wear gloves, sweaters, sunglasses, or jewelry, and women use no cosmetics. The underlying principal is that anything that is worn must be functional and very modest. Clothing styles have remained virtually unchanged for the past 250, since the Amish belief that changes in style are worldly and reflect vanity and pride.

"The Amish community is based through and through on self help. If an Amish farmer is ill, he can count on his neighbors farming his land for him until he is again able to care for it, and he expects to do the same for them.

"Amish barn-raising, when nearly all the men and boys in the community gathered to rebuild a barn that has been destroyed, have become known nation wide. A substantial barn can be raised in one work day.

"The Amish won the right not to participate in the social security system. They feared that such government assistance would undermined their whole self-help attitude, which in turn grounds much of their community-centered value system. Families take care of their own old infirm members, with assistance from others if need be. For similar reasons, they do not buy life insurance.

"Most Amish families farm, and their whole way of life revolves around farming. As you may know, tractors are not used, with plows being pulled by horse. Other modern implements may be used, such as bailers, sprayers, and cultivators. As soon as they are old enough, sons follow their fathers into the fields and begin learning the Amish way of Farming. Amish farm products are wildly recognized as among the best. Farming is a religious occasion for the Amish, and nothing less then the best is good enough. In the peek seasons, women may help their husbands in the fields.

"Most of the years, the lives of the women and their daughters, as soon as their old enough revolve around homemaking. Without electricity, chores such as sewing, food preparation, and cleaning take longer. The Amish also won the right not to send their children to school beyond the eight grade, and to educate them at home if no Amish schools were available. They are not against education; they believe that all that is really necessary can be learned by eight grade and that further education simply alienates the young from the Amish way of life."

Though not required reading for this course, I would like to suggest an excellent book to help bring more depth to your study of ethnicity: Racial & Ethnic Relations, by Joe R. Feagin, 3rd Edition. It has a more thorough treatment on "Asians" than do either of your course texts and admits that even their treatment of the subject falls short of reality.

There is a problem that stems from our Western viewpoint of Eastern countries. We simply do not appreciate the tremendous diversity found there. In fact, many of our text books now talk about "Asians and Pacific Rim Peoples." That concept is mixing peoples scattered in and around the largest ocean on earth with people who live on the largest continent on earth! Numerically, that concept is mixing up the largest populations of the planet and stereotypical treating them as if they are all the same. If you ever live in that part of the world, you will find that this concept is not helping our relations with these countries (the "ugly American" is how it is viewed).

But a difference in basic philosophy of life between Eastern and Western cultures confuses many Americans and leads them to conclude that all "Asians" are just the same. The concept we hold dear in America is individualism. It is found throughout our literature and is held in high esteem. Consider it on one end of a continuum: some Americans, including some of wealth and position, hold tightly to this theme.

The other end of the continuum is group co-operation, which is more prized in Eastern countries than here. Some Asians, including hard-line socialists, consider the good of the commonwealth much more important that the good of the individual. Along the full "individual----group co-operation continuum," you will find a scattering of some people of each culture, but there will be a larger concentration of Westerners valuing individualism and more Easterners believing in sacrificing individualism for the good of the whole.

While many of us see both concepts as valuable and are flexible enough to see that circumstances may suggest one over the other at any given time, some people take a dualistic viewpoint: they suggest that one concept is always superior over the other; they may also deny that a continuum exists and that it is simply "them against us, and our way of life is the right one." This prejudice is called "ethnocentricity." All lands have some people who are extremely ethnocentric.

With this understanding, I am hoping that you can read the material that is available in your texts and allow yourself to enjoy the uniqueness of the several ethnic Asian roots that are mentioned. But I warn you that even our texts do not do justice to the rich diversity that exists. If you live long enough in any Asian country, you find yourself easily comprehending large differences not only between peoples of different countries, but also of different provinces of any one country!

That should not be a surprise to you when you contemplate "regional differences" found here in the States. We expect a "Southern drawl" in Bible-belt country but New Yorkers to talk fast and be tough. Even within a single state we note differences: Utah has its own "Dixie" yet the Wasatch front (Ogden to Provo) is a modern "megalopolis." We expect behavioral differences will be as we travel the state.

Then why should we think "all Asians are alike?" Look at a map of China alone and you will note, as the Chinese proudly point out, "every type of climate found on earth" and a huge diversity of many ethnic groups of peoples. Each country found in Asia and the Pacific Rim is delightfully diverse in ethnic groups.

When you consider an "Asian-American" try to embrace the tremendous diversity found in the roots of these people. When you consider the elderly Asian-American, try to remember that they are likely to be proud of their distinct ethnic roots and willing to share that richness with those who respect it.

From: "America Religions And Religion" by Catherine L Albanese

"The Puritans had always had an appreciation of God's hand in nature, and by early eighteenth century that appreciation had begun to assume political form...the Masonic lodges--as secret societies linked to the occult heritage of the colonies--were like a network of churches of the same denomination: they were one more way that bonds were formed between the various colonies before the war....So Freemasonry became a way to spread deism. Fifty-two of the fifty-six signers of the Declaration of Independence were Masons, and so were a majority of the members of the Continental Congress.

From: "RELIGION IN AMERICA" by JULIA Corbett

"The majority of Americans believe that their life will not end with their earthly deaths. About three-fourths believe in some form of life after death. While nearly all these people believe in Heaven -however they define it- only about 50% believe in Hell".

"..Finally, Christians do not believe that earthly death is the end of life. The faithful will be resurrected at the end of time and will live eternally with God. Some Christians believe that Heaven is an actual place. Others believe that eternal life is simply life with God."

From: "THE SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION" by BARBARA HARGROVE

"..The other time people are most likely to desire to attend religious ceremonies is for funeral rites. In the United States, as in many parts of the world, funerals have become mainly the business of specialists whose function is not specifically religious. Clergy serve as something like adjuncts to the morticians. Some religious groups have resisted this tendency, and during the past generation or so there have been a small trend in denominations formerly accustomed to services in a funeral parlor to stress once again the use of the church and a regular service of worship at such a time. Funerary specialists have countered by building chapels that look like churches, but which are devoted exclusively to the holding of funeral services. IN some cases they even expanded in use so that other quasi-religious ceremonies may be held there."

If you were able to go on campus at Weber State University, prior to his death, you could have taken a Sociology course from Dr. Daniel Gallego: one on ethnicity would have been best, but any would do as he worked racial and minority concepts into all of his courses.

He is himself of four distinct Hispanic roots and was born a "share-croppers" son. His life story is rich and he is very illustrious in helping students understand the diverse Hispanic heritages. I will try to paraphrase a story he shares:

When he was very young, he was isolated from seeing any other racial groups and did not know any skin color but brown. He says one day he was looking across the railroad tracks and caught glimpse of a person who seemed very ill due to very pale skin. He ran home and asked his mother about what he had seen. She told him that he had seen a "white" person, and proceeded to help him understand by telling him this story:

When God created man, He had a little trouble timing His oven just right. You see, He made some dough and formed the shape of man, then popped him into the oven. But He took man out of the oven the first time too early, and man wasn't fully cooked: those are "white people" my son.

On the second try, He left man in the oven too long and burnt him: those are "black people" my son.

But the third try He timed man just right and brought him out a perfect "golden brown:" you are that, my son.

This story and others that Dr. Gallego tells help students "wear someone else's moccasins" for a while and learn to appreciate other people. The story points out important socialization aspects including: children need to understand obvious physical differences that they come across and each person needs to have respect for who they are. Society will soon enough teach them "their place" --based upon the culture's prejudice.

Please understand that their are many ethnic groups among "Hispanic-Americans." Begin your understanding by considering the various countries that Hispanic-Americans may have immigrated from (too many Americans think that all Hispanics are really illegal aliens from Mexico). Like any other group of people, Hispanic-Americans include a full range of SES (professionals, politicians, actors, doctors, lawyers, laborers, and so on).

In Racial & Ethnic Relations, by Joe R. Feagin, 3rd Edition, he relates a California research project on "modern stereotypes" of Mexican Americans that found 25% of whites would not want to eat with "a Mexican" and "drunkenness and criminality" were considered traits of this group of people. Furthermore, 37% of whites agreed with the statement that "generally speaking, Mexicans are shiftless and dirty."

Dr. Gallego enjoys telling stories of how he, a full tenured professor at Weber, at times is stereotyped in the community. One such story is being mistaken for an illiterate "yard boy" when he works his around his own house! His wife is white and passers-by often assume she hired him to come over and pull weeds and cut the lawn. He also often runs into discrimination in simple things like going grocery shopping.

When considering Hispanic-Americans, please look beyond the stereotypical prejudice. They, like any other group of people, have much to offer our society. The elderly within this population are also rich with ethnic background that can benefit the rest of us. It is a terrible human tragedy to dismiss a human life based upon racial appearance or ethnic misunderstanding.

Ian Robertson in Sociology, 3rd Edition, discusses how race and ethnic relations may be accomplished in society "...ranging from harmonious coexistence to outright conflict." Quoting the work of George Simpson and Milton Yeager (1985), he defines six basic patterns: ALL of which have been found at one time or another in the United States. We are particularly interested, for this lesson, in pattern #4, "population transfer," and pattern #6, that of "extermination or genocide."

Native American Indians were not the only group subjected to population transfer, as Robertson points out: as late as 1972 in Uganda "...the entire Asian population was ordered to leave" despite the fact that they had lived in that country for several generations. But many Americans are unaware of the terrible nature of our own history as the Native Americans were moved to reservations.

Robert Lidneux, an artist, painted the "Trail of Tears," depicting the 16,000 Cherokees (4,000 of whom died in the transfer) who, in 1838, were forced to march from Carolina and Georgia to Oklahoma (a thousand miles). That, of course, is simply one example of the population transfers that occurred in our country. But the transfers did not go on without a fight. Pattern #6 brings in the motivation behind the conflict: extermination or genocide of entire Native American Tribes.

"The only good Indian is a dead Indian," is an unfortunate slogan still found in some old American movies played late at night. The stereotypes include blood-thirsty, godless hordes descending down upon helpless pioneer families. The concept of Indians scalping the white people while they are still alive invokes horror. But the scalping of white people actually was a "body count" method employed by the French and taught to the Indians in Colonial days.

If you study history, it would seem that much of the blood shed between the Natives and the Colonists was imported to these shores! Remember the traditions of Thanksgiving: the Indians literally saved the Colonists from perishing. Why do we not hold to that concept rather than the set of stereotypical trash that dime novelists made up to sell books during the "taming of the West?"

From: "America Religions And Religion" by Catherine L Albanese

"The ancient traditions of native Americans were diverse, as we have seen, but held many things in common. Their sense of continuity with the sacred world was expressed in beliefs regarding kinship with nature and in myths that reflected no break between the events of creation and the ordinary history of the people. For American Indians, the outer, material world was holy in itself, and so , too, was the inner world of dreams. Moving between the different worlds meant existence without firm boundaries. Hence, transformations occurred frequently, and holy beings were shapeshifters, able to assume new form or change the world around them. In all this, living in harmony with nature was great religious requirement, for the human world should correspond with the model nature provided".

Jesse Jackson was quoted in "Modern Maturity" (June-July 1992) as saying: "America is not like a blanket- one piece of unbroken cloth, the same color, the same texture, the same size. America is more like a quilt- many pieces, many colors, many sizes, all woven and held together by a common thread."

Unfortunately, there exists prejudice to gender, race, ethnicity, and age within our society. Discrimination, though illegal, still comes to the foreground at times. The LA riots were a forceful reminder that we as a people are not totally united.

Some people face a minority status in multiple ascribed roles they bear. Consider the "double jeopardy" of a woman of a non-white race. Consider the "triple jeopardy" when she becomes old. Can we, as a Nation, really afford to waste human potential through prejudice?

Throughout the course we have been studying the uniqueness of various groups, celebrating the diversity of the human family, and suggesting that all individuals become more "like themselves" or individually unique as they age. This, it has been explained, comes from the unique life experiences we all have and even more from the unique perceptions each person has of any given event.

These life experiences and life chances (usually limited by our economic status) impact our understanding and interpretation of life around us, especially in the world of health care.

Imagine yourself going into a hospital in a foreign land with strange words being used and even stranger requests being place upon you. That may be frightening to the point that you would rather not enter at all. Your body would react to that anxiety. To some extent, our hospitals and medical services are geared to the majority WASP ethnicity and are "foreign" to other ethnic groups. This may add to the ethnic health disparity that you have and will read about.