Transcript Discrimination & Prejudice

Imagine
Discrimination v.
Prejudice
What’s the difference?
 Discrimination
actions
 Prejudice
usually involves
refers to attitudes
2 types of discrimination
1.
Legal discrimination
 Upheld by law
 Examples:
 Apartheid (South Africa)
 Plessy v Ferguson (separate but equal)
 Brown v Topeka Board of Education
(desegregation)
 Affirmative Action
2 types of discrimination
2.
Institutionalized Discrimination
 An outgrowth of the structure of a society
 Self-perpetuating
 Can occur when the society takes legal steps
to end discriminatory practices
 Example
 Police forces used to have height
requirements, but these were deemed by
courts to discriminate against women,
Latinos, and other individuals.
 Racial profiling
Prejudice
Prejudice starts with a stereotype
 Stereotype

– An oversimplified, exaggerated or unfavorable
generalization about a group of people
– Example:
 All Irish people are hot-tempered drunks
 Others?
Prejudice

Self-fulfilling prophecy
– A prediction that results in behavior that
makes the prediction come true
– Example:
 If a teacher doesn’t think a student will learn, that
teacher is less likely to push that student. Then the
student won’t learn; therefore, proving the teacher
correct.
 The “I can’t” attitude almost always leads to a selffulfilling prophecy
Prejudice

Racism
– The belief that one’s own race or ethnic group
is naturally superior to other races or ethnic
groups.
– It has been used as a justification for slavery
and genocide (even immigration laws in US)
Merton’s Patterns

Active Bigot
– Prejudiced and openly discriminate
– Example:
 KKK

Timid Bigot
– Prejudiced but is afraid to discriminate
because of societal pressures
Merton’s Pattern

Fair-weather liberal
– Not prejudiced but discriminatory anyway
because of societal pressure
– Example
 The southern white restaurant owner during
Jim Crow who felt in his heart that inequality
between the races was wrong, but who still
refused to service blacks for fear of being
burned out by other whites
Merton’s Patterns

All-weather liberal
– Not prejudiced and does not discriminate