Language And Discrimination

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Hes Language and Discrimination Introduction There are many types and forms of discrimination. Two of the most common forms of discrimination are wage inequality and unequal hiring practices. There have been several studies that have shown minority groups suffer from decreased wage earnings. Most type of wage discrimination is hidden by the fact that it tends to occur in lower-paying positions and involves minorities who may not feel empowered to file a discrimination lawsuit or complain (Wikipedia, Economic Discrimination, 2011). While wage, sexual gender, racial, ethnic, and employment discrimination are major offenders of one’s moral rights as a citizen, language discrimination is the least known type of discrimination. It is the silent type of discrimination. This could be because most minorities are uneducated and feel threatened if they complain. Language discrimination occurs when a person is not treated the same because of their native language or other characteristics of that person’s speech. One example of this would be when the employee does not speak English and it is company policy. The employee may be susceptible to language discrimination when his or hers primary language is something other than English or they are not treated as well as other employees. Another example of language discrimination is when an employee is informed that he or she does not qualify for a position because of a lack of English proficiency. Outside of civilian employment, language discrimination also occur s when a person is denied access to businesses or government services because they do not speak English (Legal Aid Society, 2011). Closely associated with Language discrimination is racial discrimination. Racial discrimination is the difference that exists between individuals based on real and perceived racial differences. It still exists in the military
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