People are not born prejudiced. “It is something that is learned". It can be learned in the same way other attitudes and values are learned, primarily through association, reinforcement and modeling. For example, children may learn to associate a particular ethnic group with poverty, crime, violence and other negative things” (2006 Anti-Defamation League). Also, prejudice in “children may be reinforced by listening to derogatory ethnic jokes, especially when others laugh along or think they're cool”. Lastly, children may simply imitate the prejudices of their older family members and popular friends. Prejudice is to pre- judge. “Prejudice is a baseless and usually negative attitude toward members of a group. Common features of prejudice include negative feelings, stereotyped beliefs and a tendency to discriminate against members of the group”. (Kendra Van Wagner) Therefore, people are not born prejudiced but it is something learned by family, friends, peers and the media. There are many different types of prejudice. The three that are most current in the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee are racism, sexism and socioeconomic prejudice.
Racism is a big problem in many people’s lives. Throughout history, many groups and cultures have been significantly affected by racism. African Americans are an example of a group of people who have suffered the effects of racism. In 1867 the “Ku Klux Klan, was founded as a secret organization terrorized the African Americans and the black population at large. The group indulged in brutally murdering the black community and anyone socially advocating their cause. In the Southern states, the Colfax and Coushatta massacres in 1873 and 1874 were just some of the many brutal assaults launche...
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...r job is a profession. Subsequently, they have nicer houses and may come from a family with money. These socioeconomic differences lead to multiple problems and conflicts.
Therefore, the world is a very prejudice place. Everyday people are dealing with racism, sexism, socioeconomic prejudice and other related problems. People are not born being prejudiced, it is something that is learned depending on a multitude of factors, such as their race, sex, living conditions, economic situation and education.
Works Cited
Anti-Defamation League, 2006- http://www.adl.org/education/miller/q_a/references.asp
Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
Kendra Van Wagner - http://psychology.about.com/od/pindex/g/prejudice.htm
Megaessay, 1- http://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/12799.html
Prashant Magar,3, 5/19/2009 - http://www.buzzle.com/articles/racism-against-african-americans.html
Racism is evident in the book To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Throughout the story whites are constantly challenging blacks, and vice versa, because blacks want to be seen as equals and not as a lesser race.
Prejudice can be defined as any preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience, 2. Harm or injury that results or may result from some action or judgment, and due in part to the first Amendment, which gave all Americans the right of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition, many Americans believe they have the right to verbally judge whomever and whatever they seem fit, to no extent. However these same American underestimate the impact prejudice can have on a person’s body and mind because as we all know prejudice grows. Prejudice can also affect all phases of life: the past, the present, and the future. Maya Angelou said, “ Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible.
How can the word “equality” be defined? Is there actually a definition which everyone can agree with? “The quality of being the same in quantity, measure, value, or status”; that is the explanation any dictionary may provide. The problem is, no one has the same way of applying this definition to the real life, and people have different perceptions of what equality really means. In Harper Lee’s novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird”, this idea of looking at equality from different points of view is one of the main themes and situations presented. Narrated by a young South American girl in the 1930’s, this book explores the several cases in which one can view the rest of the world as something beautiful, while others can opt to say it all looks dark and hateable. This innocent girl, Scout, faces many situations involving racism, classism, fear of the unknown and various types of prejudice which make a great impact on her life and teach the reader countless life-lessons.
Racism obstructs a person 's innocence making them feel as if they are held guilty for their race. As one author 's says, “Race doesn 't really exist for you because it has never been a barrier. Black folks don 't have that choice” (GoodReads). She simply implies that race of a non-black person does not matter because it’s the only race that is conflicted with. Black people, in the early 1800s until the late 1980s, were judged solely based on their race. Two authors relate their characters on racism and how the white community obstructed the significance of their black characters. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, she introduces a fictional town, in which the white community shows inconsideration towards the blacks. Lee focuses on one
Prejudice in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. Works Cited Missing In today's society men, women and children experience prejudice. their lives, either as victims themselves or being guilty of using prejudice towards others due to differences between them. Prejudice is a preconception of a person based on stereotypes without real facts and discrimination based on gender, age and skin colour.
Racism was a very large part of society in the south during the 1930’s. Many colored people were thought of as less than their peers. Whites were considered better than African Americans were, and almost every white person accepted the unjust judgment. Racial discrimination hit hard in the south. Many of the characters in To Kill a Mockingbird were impacted by racial discrimination, including Calpurnia, Scout, and Tom Robinson and his family.
In an article for The Atlantic titled “The Workforce is Even More Divided by Race Than You Think,” Derek Thomson looks at workforce participation and wages by sex and race. He finds that regardless of sex or participation in the workforce, race takes precedence in determining how much workers make: "White men and women out-earn black men and women, who themselves out-earn Hispanic men and women, among full-time workers—even though Hispanic men have the highest participation rate" (Thomson). The reason for this, Thomson explains, is the accessibility to higher wage jobs, with whites and Asians having a much denser presence in jobs such as construction managers, CEO’s, physicians, surgeons, and software developers, whereas blacks are more likely to work as security guards or bus drivers, and Hispanics are more likely to work as maids, house cleaners, or in landscaping jobs. A central dynamic behind this is the difference in level of education between races: “Blacks and Hispanics, who make up about one-quarter of the workforce, represent 44 percent of the country’s high school dropouts and just 15 percent of its bachelor’s earners.”
Despite great strides made by congress in order to pass non-discrimination bills, there are still people that experience racial prejudice. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the author, Harper Lee, makes racial prejudice a central topic. Harper Lee takes her readers back to the 1930’s in the fictional town of Maycomb in which there is a divide between blacks and whites: black people are prejudiced against white people, and white people are prejudiced against black people. She uses characters like Jem and Scout, who are kids, to show how they can become a victim to racial prejudice, and this experience consequently ruins their innocence. Through Jem and Scout’s tumultuous and racially-charged coming of age experience, Harper Lee suggests that racism can destroy a child’s innocence.
“Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible.” -Maya Angelou. Preconceived opinions and unreasonable thoughts are what determine one’s actions and path in life. Everything one does and is surrounded by develops some kind of prejudices in one’s mind and therefore resolves how people act in certain situations. Prejudices are the causes for discrimination and as people have developed unfavorable stereotypes from past experiences, this greatly affects decision making and creating a more ideal society for people of all kinds to thrive in. Prejudice, or judging and making decisions based on personal experiences force people to draw rash and hostile conclusions about people who fall into
Racism presents itself in many ways in the town of Maycomb. Some are blatant and open, but others are more insidious. One obvious way that racism presents itself is in the result of Tom Robinson’s trial. Another apparent example is the bullying Jem and Scout had to endure as a result of Atticus’s appointment as Tom Robinson’s defense attorney. A less easily discernible case is the persecution of Mr. Dolphus Raymond, who chose to live his life in close relation with the colored community.
In the book West Side Story by Arthur Laurents there were many prejudices. Prejudice is a favoring or dislike of something without just grounds or before sufficient knowledge. There were prejudices in West Side Story that had to do with the types of people, their races and sex. Sometimes prejudice can be in small doses and can be meaningless, other times prejudice can be very serious and cause death.
“Prejudice is a learned trait. You’re not born prejudice; you’re taught it” –Charles R Swindoll. The novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is about a young girl named Scout who lives in a world filled with prejudice. There are many instances and types of prejudice in the novel. A man named Tom Robinson was convicted for doing a crime he never did because of the color of his skin. To this day, Tom would have never been tried because the evidence assuredly shows he is not guilty. One only becomes prejudice if you are taught it from other prejudice people. Harper Lee shows this idea throughout her novel through her characters, dialogue and theme.
Prejudice meaning pre-judging someone and having an unwarranted bias occurs often in today’s society and has been around since the beginning of time. Prejudice can effect people’s decisions and have an unfair impact on society. The text ‘To kill a mocking-bird’ written by Harper Lee and the movie ‘Philadelphia’ directed by Jonathon Demme explore this idea thoroughly.
This explains that prejudice is learned through direct instruction, modeling, and social influences. Children are extremely susceptible to learning this type of behavior. They learn and develop values and beliefs from peers, family, friends, teachers, media, and others. Socialization is vital key to the development of a kid. Prejudice is a social norm of a group in which some individuals live. Socialization is how people learn this social norm of prejudice. Prejudice acquisition is an important role that parents play in. The kind of relationships that parents have toward members of outgroups is dependable. Children can grow into their parent’s prejudice attitudes just by observing them. Since the United States is becoming very diverse, it is crucial for children to “get along” with people from various backgrounds and know how to effectively respect and communicate with differentiating
Prejudice is a word that is used to describe people who categorize others into groups based on their skin color, race, or religion. I am reading a book in my English class. In this book, there are many misunderstandings and stereotypes, but one of the things in it is prejudice. There are many examples of prejudice in the book that relate to how people use it in our society. Prejudice is something that everyone has and can never get rid of it. In the book called, To Kill A Mockingbird, which is the book I am reading, prejudice is all around and you have to deal with it or just not be prejudiced to anyone so they won’t say anything to you. No matter what you do, there will always be someone who is prejudice and won’t stop. The book also shows