Prejudice And Discrimination Research Paper

872 Words2 Pages

Discuss the factors that contribute to prejudice and discrimination and identify some techniques for reducing the development of prejudice and discrimination.

• In order to discuss the factors that contribute to prejudice and discrimination, we need to discuss what are the differences between two. Prejudice is when an individual holds an unsupported and often negative stereotyped attitude about a member of a particular social group. On the other hand discrimination is when a prejudicial attitudes cause members of a particular social group to be treated differently than others in situations that call for equal treatment. What makes people behave this way? It seems that many prejudices are passed along from parents to children in a form called …show more content…

Media also perpetuate prejudice, which includes televisions, advertisement, social networks, and movies. These types of media spread demeaning images and stereotypes about assorted groups, such as ethnic minorities, women, gays, lesbians, the disabled, and the elderly. Another factor that contributes to prejudice and discrimination is Conformity. Basically engaging in discriminatory behavior because others in your group are doing so, usually for approval or to be like others; Ethnocentrism, or the tendency to value one’s cultural norms and values over others. Another contributor is “Us versus them”. This is the tendency to divide people into those who are part of your in-group and those in the out-group. One more factor that contributes to prejudice and discrimination is Institutional Racism. What would be a technique in order to reduce the development of prejudice and discrimination? First would be getting to know and socialize with members that are of the “out-group”. Instead of noticing differences they can notice their similarities within each other, this is called “contact hypothesis”. Another way to reduce the two would be Legal enforcement on anti-discrimination laws. Lastly would be …show more content…

It can be difficult to distinguish the two mainly because they are so often mentioned in the same context. Prejudice is an attitude; it’s an attitude toward people from another group and in line with social psychology. An individual that is prejudiced usually don’t act on their attitude. As a result, an individual can be prejudiced towards a certain type of specfic group but not discriminate against them. Discrimination on the other hand is the actions, which are mainly considered negative, towards a group of people, especially on the basis of social class or sex. Discrimination can be controlled and in some cases eliminated however the prejudicial attitude that is responsible for the discrimination cannot be so easily controlled or eliminated. Their are factors that contribute to the two and are a key to understanding how to deal with such causes. There are about four main factors that contribute to prejudice and discrimination and they are Socialization, Conformity, Us versus Them, and Institutional racism. Other factors that I obtain from an outside source were “Socialization, Conforming behaviors, Economic benefits, Authoritarian personality, Ethnocentrism, Group

Open Document