Finally, the paper will evaluate two strategies to overcome social biases. Social biases are harmful and can cripple interactions between individuals. Prejudice is a negative attitude focused on a particular group based solely on generalizations that derive from erroneous or sketchy information. (Hackman&Katz, 2010). Prejudice is adverse opinions derived from a stereotype against an individual or specific group.
This assignment I will outline the concept of an unequal society, in addition I will include prejudice, stereotype, labelling and discrimination. In today’s society a population of individuals are treated unequally or is an individual contributing to unfair treatment, in which they are treating them differently due to their race, gender, social class, sexuality or beliefs. In addition In the UK there is a major gap between the rich and the poor, society is divided and the rich share together and leave the poor with little stash left over. Also social inequality is also identified as when opportunities, different social position or rewards are unequal. Prejudice is when an individual is judged by aspects which do not relate to them at all.
He describes self justification as denigrating a person or group to justify maltreating them. Many people need reassurance that their actions are just and that the ends justify the means. For this reason people tend to look for flaws in their victims. Little things that make their victims seem inferior, a threat to others, and dissolute; by making this connection to their victims they in turn make their own actions of prejudice just, right and moral. This is how Parrillo specifies it: Some philosophers argue that we are not so much rational creatures as we are rationalizing creatures.
Ethnocentrism promotes conflict within diverse cultural environments, and can cause an intense atmosphere of disdain for anyone that is considered to be in an inferior group (Sociology Guide-A students Guide to Sociology, 2014). An extreme example of ethnocentrism is the Nazi’s plan in the extermination of the Jews because of their desire to be the only “pure race”. Ethnocentrism and its effects have often been the cause of war, conflict, hate, and social injustice. 3. Define emigration and immigration.
According to Merriam-Webster Prejudice is defined as (1) a preconceived judgment or opinion or (2) an adverse opinion or leaning formed without just grounds or before sufficient knowledge. (Merriam-webster) They also define discrimination as (a) the act, practice, or an instance of discrimintaing categorically rather than individually or (b) Prejudiced or prejudicial outlook action or treatment. (Merriam-Webster) These two concepts differ yet are similar. While both prejudice and discrimination require a minority party there are some differences. Prejudice is an outlook on a race or culture where as discrimination requires an action against a minority.
Racism: Othello and LWT Film One of the main overarching themes in both Shakespeare’s original play of Othello and the LWT modern film appropriation is of racial discrimination. During the Elizabethan era, which is the context that the original play is set in, black people were considered to be alien to white society and were thought to be driven by passions and emotions instead of reason and intellect as white people were thought to be. They were believed to be imbalanced and dangerous and were hence labeled second-class citizens. Othello is a moor and is therefore an exceptional example of the discrimination black people received during this era, however is an unusual instance due to his high rank in the army. Throughout the play, animal imagery such as “an old ram”, “Barbary horse” and “beast with two backs” is used to describe Othello, which portray the racist attitudes held by society of the time and highlights the belief that black people were animalistic and therefore acted on emotions, lacking rational thought, like animals.
Discuss the factors that contribute to prejudice and discrimination and identify some techniques for reducing the development of prejudice and discrimination. Prejudice and discrimination have been prevalent throughout human history. Prejudice has to do with a negative attitude held by a person about members of a particular group, while discrimination refers to behaviors directed differently against people because of prejudice toward the social group they belong to. Prejudice is the attitude and discrimination is the behavior that can result from the attitude. Discrimination can be controlled by laws, but the prejudicial attitude can’t be easily controlled.
When people start judging other individuals based on a set of characteristics on a person’s membership of a social group is considered an attitude of prejudice. For example a person may hold a prejudice on a certain race, gender, nationality, socioeconomic status or ethnicity. Prejudice mainly involves two components of an attitude which are behavior and being affective. This means that people will judge in accordance of the behavior of a certain group, but also will contact elicits an emotional response which in this case is being affective. Some of the well known types of prejudice are: racism, sexism, classicism, homophobia, religious prejudice, and sometime stereotypes.
Racism and prejudice are interchangeable terms; the former is defined as one’s feeling of cultural and racial advantage over other cultures and races. In other words, one becomes a racist if he or she displays actions or live by ideologies out of the feeling of superiority. Whilst most people claim to be not racist, everyone is guilty of having been committed some forms of prejudice in one way or another. Helms has classified five statuses of racial identity construction model: conformity, dissonance, immersion-emersion, internalization, and integrative awareness (62). Conformity takes place when one sees his or her own race as inferior and learns to identify with the dominant and superior race, such as the White Americans.
In “Causes of Prejudice,” Parrillo would like his audience to see that knowing the differences between the social and psychological perspectives will give a deeper understanding of inter-group relations and the rise of prejudice. These differences branch out into several categories that encapsulate an individual and may or may not be just cause for this insidious behavior towards a group or an individual. The psychological path is noted as being on four levels within an individual’s mien: prejudice, self-justification, personality, and frustration. The sociological approach is geared towards exploring behavior from within a group setting as opposed to an individual’s specific demeanor. His examples prove that there is more than one cause for prejudice and that we must take all of these into account to fully understand how prejudice can come about.