Sociology Now, Census Update

WHAT DOES AMERICA THINK? 277

slightly or strongly. Almost 80 percent of Black respondents disagreed strongly, as

opposed to 45 percent of White respondents. Only about 11 percent of respondents

agreed strongly.

CRITICAL THINKING|DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Why do you think 10 percent of black respondents agreed that White people should be allowed
   to keep Black people out and that Black people should respect that right? Do you think those
   same individuals feel that Black people should be able to keep White people out of their
   neighborhoods?


2. How do you think responses to this question would differ by social class? By geographical
   region? How would you explain those potential differences?


3. Seventy-five percent of respondents disagreed with White-imposed neighborhood segregation.
   What percent of respondents do you think would have disagreed had this survey been given in
   1850? In 1950? Explain your answers.

8.2 The Melting Pot

This is based on actual survey data from the General Social Survey, 2004.

Some people say that it is better for a country if different racial and ethnic

groups maintain their distinct customs and traditions. Others say that it is bet-

ter if these groups adapt and blend into the larger society. Which of these views

comes closer to your own?The responses to this question were split almost in half.

Slightly more than 50 percent of respondents thought it was better if groups adapted

and blended into the larger society. White respondents (55.4%) were more likely to

think that than were Black respondents (52.8%), and those who identified as other

race were least likely to feel groups should assimilate (45.7%).

CRITICAL THINKING|DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Why do you think there were only very small differences in responses by racial classification?


2. In many areas of the world, the question of assimilation and group difference leads to
   civil war and even genocide. Why do you think that does not happen in the contemporary
   United States?

3 Go to this website to look further at the data. You can run your own statistics and crosstabs
here:http://sda.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/hsda?harcsda+gss04

REFERENCES:Davis, James A., Tom W. Smith, and Peter V. Marsden. General Social Surveys
1972–2004: [Cumulative file] [Computer file]. 2nd ICPSR version. Chicago, IL: National Opinion Research
Center [producer], 2005. Storrs, CT: Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, University of Connecticut; Ann
Arbor, MI: Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research; Berkeley, CA: Computer-Assisted
Survey Methods Program, University of California [distributors], 2005.