Table of Contents
Definition of Segregation
(noun) The intentional separation of two or more groups of people from each other.
Example of Segregation
- Segregated movie theaters, residences, schools, and water fountains in the South of the United States prior to the Civil Rights Movement.
Segregation Pronunciation
Syllabification: seg·re·ga·tion
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /seg-ri-gAY-shuhn/
- British English – /seg-ri-gAY-shuhn/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /ˌsɛgrəˈgeɪʃən/
- British English – /ˌsɛɡrɪˈɡeɪʃən/
Usage Notes
- Plural: segregations
- Desegregration or integration are the opposite of segregation.
- Also called separatism.
- A (noun) segregationist or (noun) segregator advocates in a (adjective) segregative manner to (verb) segregate people.
Related Quotations
- “Defenders of affirmative action see it, first, as a sensible response to our nation’s racial and ethnic history, especially for African Americans, who suffered through two centuries of slavery and a century of segregation under Jim Crow laws. Throughout our history, they claim, being white gave people a big advantage. They see minority preference today as a step toward fair compensation for unfair majority preference in the past” (Macionis 2012:341).
- “The long history of deliberate discrimination against racial and ethnic groups in America belies the American ideology of individual freedom and equality of opportunity. From the near genocide of Native Americans to the banishment of survivors to reservations, to the importation and enslavement of Africans, to the subsequent Jim Crow legislation that legalized racial segregation and unequal opportunity in the South, to exclusionary acts and discriminatory immigration quotas, to land displacement of Mexican Americans, to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, to current forms of residential, occupational, and educational discrimination against various minorities, the American experience has for many been more of an American Nightmare than an American Dream” (McNamee and Miller 2013:180).
Additional Information
- Word origin of “segregation” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
- Coleman, James S. 1966. Equality of Educational Opportunity. Washington, DC: U.S. Government.
- National Commission on Excellence in Education. 1983. A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform. Washington, DC: The Commission.
Related Terms
References
Macionis, John. 2012. Sociology. 14th ed. Boston: Pearson.
McNamee, Stephen J., and Robert K. Miller, Jr. 2013. The Meritocracy Myth. 3rd ed. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
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Cite the Definition of Segregation
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “segregation.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved April 23, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/segregation/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
segregation. (2013). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/segregation/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “segregation.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed April 23, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/segregation/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“segregation.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2013. Web. 23 Apr. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/segregation/>.