Prejudice and Discrimination

1. Prejudice and Discrimination

2. Prejudice v. Discrimination • Discrimination is an action- unfair treatment, directed against someone • can be based on: age, sex, race, physical appearance, clothing, sexual orientation, religion, etc. • when the basis of discrimination is someone’s perception of race its known as racism • Prejudice is an attitude- a prejudging of some sort, usually negatively

3. Learning prejudice from association • We learn prejudice from the people around us • Sociologist Kathleen Blee interviewed women who were members of the KKK and Aryan Nation: • Most women were recruited by someone who already belonged to the group • Some learned to be racist AFTER they joined the group • Racism not always the cause, sometimes the result of membership

4. Far-reaching nature of Prejudice • Psychologist Eugene Hartley asked people how they felt about several racial and ethnic groups • Included ones that were made up • Found that people who disliked real racial and ethnic groups also said they disliked the fake ones • Shows that prejudice doesn’t depend on negative experiences with others • Also shows that people who are prejudice against 1 racial also tend to be prejudice against others

5. Internalizing Dominant Norms • People can learn to be prejudice against their own groups • A national survey of black Americas conducted by black interviewers found that African Americans think that lighter-skinned African American women are more attractive than those with darker skins

6. Individual and Institutional Discrimination • Individual discrimination- the negative treatment of 1 person by another • Primarily an issue between the individuals • Institutional discrimination- discrimination that is woven into the fabric of society • Examples: Home Mortgages and Car Loans and Health Care

7. Home Mortgages and Car Loans • Race and ethnicity is a significant factor in getting a mortgage • Banks argue that it might look like discrimination but “the truth is whites have better credit histories” • Research was done and even when applicants were identical in income and credit, African Americans and Latinos were 60% more likely than whites to be rejected • Discrimination is built into the country’s financial institution

8. Health Care • White patients are more likely to receive certain surgeries or tests than African Americans and Latinos • Physicians don’t intend to discriminate

9. Intergroup Relations • Genocide • First people label a group of people as inferior and somehow less human • Makes it easier to justify killing and still retain a good self-concept • Population transfer • Making life miserable so that the minority groups leave voluntarily- indirect transfer • Expulsion of minority- direct transfer

10. Intergroup Relations • Internal Colonialism • The way in which a country’s dominant group exploits minority groups for its economic advantage • Segregation • The separation of racial or ethnic groups • Allows the dominant group to maintain social distance from the minority

11. Intergroup Relations • Assimilation • The process by which a minority groups is absorbed into the mainstream culture • Forced- refuses to allow minority to practice religion, speak language, etc • Permissible- allows minority to adopt the dominant group’s patterns at its own speed • Multiculturalism • Permits or encourages racial-ethnic variations