Transcript Theories of Prejudice and Discrimination

Theories of Prejudice and
Discrimination
• Prejudice, Racism, and discrimination
– Prejudice – widely held negative attitudes toward a group
(minority or majority) and its individual members
• Involves a generalization based on biased or insufficient information
• Based on strong emotions, therefore they are difficult to change
• Ex. – Asians being good at Math
– Racism – an extreme form of prejudice that assumes
superiority of one group over others
– Discrimination – treating people differently based on
ethnicity, race, religion, or culture
• Ex. – avoiding social contact, denying positions, blocking access,
killing
Hate Crimes
– Hate crime – a criminal act
motivated by prejudice
• Functionalists – members of a
group are bolstering their sense
of unity against a common
enemy
• Conflict – the victim is
somehow threatening the
person’s livelihood or selfinterest
• Symbolic – labeling
Stereotypes
– Stereotype – a distorted,
exaggerated, or
oversimplified image
applied to a category of
people
• Ex – all brawn, no brain
Functionalist Perspective
– By fostering prejudice, a dominant group can
create a feeling of superiority over minority
groups.
– This can strengthen its members’ own selfconcepts.
– For the majority culture, functionalists can see
positive aspects of discrimination
Conflict Perspective
– Majority uses prejudice
and discrimination as
weapons of power to
control a minority.
– Different minorities tend
to view one another as
competitors rather than
as allies in their struggle
against the majority
Symbolic Interactionist Perspctive
– Gordon Allport’s 2 stages of learning prejudice
• Pregeneralized learning period – children overhear
parents make racist or prejudiced statements, but they
have not yet learned to separate people by race or ethnic
group
• Total rejection stage – children are able to use physical
clues to sort people into groups. If children repeatedly
hear parents malign a minority, they will reject all
members of the group
– Language can reflect prejudices
• In Anglo culture, many terms that include black are
negative
– Blackball, blacklist, black market, black eye
– Self-fulfilling prophecy - an expectation that leads to
behavior that causes the expectation to become
reality
• Ex. – kids being told they are smart or stupid
continually, child being told all you will ever be is
a criminal
Minority Groups in the United States
• Institutionalized Discrimination
– unfair practices that grow out
of common behaviors and
attitudes and that are a part of
the structure of society
– Ex – public school’s with large
numbers of minority students
are more likely to be located in
large urban areas, not wealthier
suburbs.
• Hidden Unemployment –
unemployment that includes
people not counted in the
traditional unemployment
categories
African American
– Largest racial minority group in America
– Barriers to African American assimilation
• Skin color and physical features
• Limited upward social mobility for many generations
• Barely 50 years of constitutional equality
– Average income levels
• About 64% of that of whites
• The average African American family holds less than ¼ of the wealth of the
average white family
– Job market
• Almost twice as likely as whites to work in low-level service jobs
• Jobless rates are double those of whites
• About 1/3 teenagers are unsuccessfully looking for work
– Advances
• Professional and technical occupations have increased 128% since 1960s
• 2 times the managers or officials since 1960
• Increase in government representation
Latinos
– One of the fastest growing minorities in the U.S.
– Largest minority group in U.S.
– Over 60% of Latinos in America are of Mexican
decent
– Each group came to the U.S. under different
circumstances
– Education
• Over 50% have completed high school
– Average income is greater than African Americans,
but lower than non-Latino whites
• Native Americans
– Just over 2,000,000 in total population
– Fewer Native Americans graduate from high school than
any other major minority group
– Lowest annual income of any minority group
– About ¼ live on reservations
– Gaming facilities are helping improve life
• Asian Americans
– About 4 % of total U.S. population
– Face severe persecution early on
– Have became successful by using the education system
for upward mobility