University of Mississippi

SOC 101

Reading 25

“Racialization, Flexible Ethnicity, Gender and Third-Generation Mexican American Identity”

Jessica M. Vasquez

1)The author of this study refers to the term “flexible ethnicity.” What does she mean by this?

1. 1. Today, people are of so many mixed races that we can be flexible in what we call them and how we refer to their heritage.
   2. It refers to the idea that we can navigate different racial terrains and can be an “insider” in more than one ethnic group.
   3. There are very strict boundaries about ethnic identities, and we have to be very careful in how we relate to and call people in terms of their cultural heritage.
   4. With a larger percentage of people engaging in inter-racial marriages, there is much more elasticity about racial designations than ever before.

2. Vasquez refers to whites as having a “symbolic ethnicity.” What does she mean by this?

1. 1. Whites are free to practice any elements of their ethnicity without detriment or negative consequence.
   2. Whites today have so little clue about their ethnic backgrounds that they can choose whichever symbol the like to represent themselves (or no symbol at all).
   3. Whites use symbols, such as crosses or stars, to show their ethnic backgrounds.
   4. Because of white privilege, whites are actually less able to express their ethnic backgrounds than people of color because they may be laughed at.

3. In discussing monoracial men, especially of Mexican origin, Vasquez claims that Mexican-Americans distance themselves from new immigrants. Why?

1. 1. They feel that stereotypes that are associated with new immigrants will apply to them as well.
   2. Most Americans cannot tell the difference between people of Mexican descent who have been here for generations with new arrivals.
   3. Most Americans who see people with dark skin assume that these people are foreign and unauthorized.
   4. All of the above.

4. Which of the following is a problem when “multiple passing” occurs?

4. 1. It creates a type of human traffic jam where people can no longer distinguish one ethnicity from another.
   2. It can lead to cross-discrimination, where a minority group member may suffer from discrimination intended for different minority group.
   3. It can lead to intra-discrimination, where members of the same minority group, but different generations, treat each other poorly.
   4. It can mean that a person of one minority group has too many labels applied to them so that their identity is lost.
5. According to this article, what is a problem that can occur when monoracial women get married?

1. 1. Before they were married, they could get by without people knowing their racial heritage.
   2. After they get married, some of the advantages they received in society may be taken away from them.
   3. These women can be “outed” for their racial heritage and it can change how other people relate to her.
   4. All of the above.

6. What was the way in which many of the multiracial women in this study were conceived in terms of their sexuality?

1. 1. They were perceived as being virginal, very Catholic, uptight, and not sexually interested.
   2. They were perceived as being exotic, erotic, and sexual in ways that monoracial women are not.
   3. The multiracial women in this study did not note any difference in how people treated them sexually as compared to the monoracial women they knew.
   4. None of the above.

7. In the example of Jillian Rosenberg from this study, which best describes how she was treated in society?