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33. How can the majority and minority groups be defined in the US?
In sociology and in voting theory, a minority is a sub-group that is outnumbered by persons who do not belong to it. Minority only makes sense in the context of a unified society or group. This can be used to refer to people of a different language, nationality, religion, culture, lifestyle or any characteristic, provided these people are accepted as part of the referent group.
In recent decades the term minority has taken on a new meaning among the politically correct, being used to refer to a group with which they perceive to be worthy of special preferential treatment. For instance, while numerically women outnumber men in most societies, they can be said in politically correct terms to be a minority, given their claim of inferior treatment compared to men.
A majority is a sub-group that outnumbers non-members in any particular group, or, in the politically correct sense of the word, has traditionally higher social status, e.g. white male Protestants in the USA.
The majority of the 296 million people currently living in the United States descend from European immigrants who have arrived since the establishment of the first colonies. Major components of the European segment of the United States population are descended from immigrants from Germany (23 percent), Ireland (16 percent), England (13 percent), Scotland, The Netherlands and Italy (6 percent), with many immigrants also coming from Scandinavian or Slavic countries. Other significant immigrant populations came from eastern and southern Europe and French Canada; few immigrants came directly from France.
Likewise, while there were few immigrants directly from Spain, Hispanics from Mexico and South and Central America are considered the largest minority group in the country. Other ethnic minority groups: African Americans (many of whom are descendants of the enslaved Africans brought to the U.S. between the 1620s and 1807),Asian American population (most of whom are concentrated on the West Coast), the aboriginal population of Native Americans, such as American Indians and Inuit.
34. Comment on the politically correct use of the vocabulary when speaking about ethnicity and race in the US.
Political correctness is the alteration of language to redress real or alleged injustices and discrimination or to avoid offense. The term most often appears in the form politically correct or PC, and is generally used mockingly or disparagingly. One stated aim of politically correct language is to prevent the exclusion or the offending of people because of their differences or handicaps.
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When used this way, it often targets advocates of certain forms of identity politics, including gay rights, feminism, multiculturalism and the disability rights movement. The use of "gender-neutral" terms to describe occupations ("fire-fighter" instead of "fireman," "chairperson" instead of "chairman," etc.), for example, might be referrred to as "political correctness" to characterize its proponents as overly sensitive or even coercive.
In the United States over the course of one hundred years, blacks became Negroes, then became blacks again, then became Afro-Americans, then became African-Americans (the current term). In the meantime, the term "colored" came into and went out of usage, while the related term "people of color" came into usage later on.
Eskimo, a word that has long been viewed as pejorative by the people it refers to, has increasingly been replaced by more specific terms (for example, Inuit, Yupik, and Aleut).
Indians became Native Americans or Indigenous People in the United States. American Indian and Amerindian are also gaining popularity. Similarly, they became known in Canada as First Nations or aboriginal peoples.
Caucasian (used in place of White). People of Color (used to describe people of certain ethnicities, including Whites of Hispanic origin).
35. What designations are there for different generation groups in the US?
Woodstock generation – in 1969 there was a huge rock-music festival in the field which could be attended by a lot of people (hippies)
Baby Boomers – people who were born during 1945-1964 – the period of increased birthrate
Xers – the nowadays population
36. What people are called "baby-boomers"? Baby boomers –people who were born during the period of increased burth rate – 1945-64. As is often the case with a large war, the elation of victory and large numbers of returning males to their country triggered a baby boom after the end of World War II in many countries around the globe, notably those of Europe, Asia, North America and Australasia.
37. Comment on the word "Wasp".
38. WASP - a white person of Anglo-Saxon ancestry who belongs to a Protestant denomination.
WASP is an acronym which stands for White Anglo-Saxon Protestant. The term is generally considered to have been coined by E. Digby Baltzell as a convenient shorthand in his 1964 book The Protestant Establishment: Aristocracy & Caste in America. (An E. B. Palmore is also credited with defining it in a 1962 journal article.)
It should be noted that the term is tautological, as all Anglo-Saxons, by definition, are "white". Also, strictly speaking, it does not apply to many, perhaps even most people called "WASPs", as they are not descended from Angles, Saxons, or members of closely-related tribes.
The term, as used in the United States, generally describes a class of wealthy whites with ties to colonial America, who often have a certain amount of social standing and may or may not be part of the Establishment. The Northern European denominations of Christianity probably encompassed by the WASP idea include Episcopal (Anglican), Presbyterian, Lutheran, Methodist, Congregationalist (Puritan), Dutch Reformed, Quaker, Northern Baptist and Southern Baptist, et al.
In contemporary use, the term is usually used to denote wealthier, educated Protestants, often in the context of high society, prep school, or Ivy League-level college educations. The term, when used this way, is most often applied to the New England and the Northeast. Also: preppy.
Preppy is a term in the popular vocabulary, traditionally used to describe the characteristics of patrician, White, Anglo-Saxon Protestants (usually with some personal or familial connection to New England; e.g. WASP) who attend or attended major private, secondary preparatory schools. These characteristics include particular subcultural speech, vocabulary, accent, dress, mannerisms, etiquette, and general way of being.
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