Giles and Giles define an ingroup as being “a social category or group with which you identify strongly” while on the other hand, an outgroup is “a social category or group with which you do not identify.” (142). The idea of ingroups and outgroups perpetuates the idea of the outsider and systematically forms oppression, especially in the United States. These social categories can be divided by race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, etc. Each group has its own distinct language, customs, and holidays that differentiate them from one another. In my SOC 101 class we learned how this can be identified as their culture – a collection of ideas, values, practices, and material objects that hold significance to the society it pertains to. One specific example used in the reading was the quote by Osama Bin Laden, “The world has been divided into two camps. One under the banner of the cross and another under the banner of Islam.” (143). I related this back to one of our previous sections, groupthink, where one of the symptoms involved includes stereotyping the opposition as being evil, immoral, or wrong.
One example from the reading about having multiple cultural identities was about a person who values their Korean ethnic heritage and is also a proud American citizen. In some situations, this is possible, however in other situations it is not. The reading describes how Korean Americans are often surprised when visiting Korea when locals only see them as being American. This is not solely the case for Korean Americans but for everyone who has multiple cultural identities. This reminded me of a quote from the movie ‘Selena’. “Being Mexican-American is hard. We gotta prove to the Mexicans how Mexican we are and we gotta prove to the Americans how American we are. We gotta be more Mexican than the Mexicans and more American than the Americans at the same time.” One of the ways in which someone is able to identify who is an authentic member or who is an imposter is language and their ability to speak it fluently, with/without an accent. Many times, people unfairly discriminate against immigrants telling them to speak English because we are in America. This can lead to many children of immigrants losing their ability to speak their native languages because they are not taught as young children.
I thought your example about Korean-Americans really speaks to the issue of ingroups and outgroups. The problem with this terminology is that people feel alienated from their own identity when they don’t fit the stereotype perfectly. This can have a number of negative cultural affects, including like when you mentioned immigrant children not learning their native language.
I really like your example from Selena, because although I cannot relate to it, I really see how it can be true in today’s society. Being a part of the American in-group but not being white or easily assimilating into it is super hard and those who have a hard time fitting in have to prove themselves so much more than anyone else.