Gordon Allport Components of Prejudice Prejudice Biased often

Gordon Allport

Components of Prejudice • Prejudice – Biased, often negative view of a group; includes belief structure about the group and behavioral expectations of the groups • Stereotype – Set of rigid beliefs, positive or negative, about the characteristics or attributes of a group – An extension of our predisposition to categorize – Problematic when rigid and overgeneralized • Discrimination – Overt behavior targeting a person because they belong to a particular group – Occurs even in the absence of Prejudice (due to socialization)

Three Types of Oppression • Individual • Most visible in media • Overt acts like hate crimes (Mathew Sheppard, James Byrd) or hate groups (KKK) • Majority of individual instances are subtle, unintentional • Institutionalized Oppression • “Any institutional policy, practice, or structure in governments, businesses, unions, schools, churches, courts, and law enforcement entities by which law decisions are made as to unfairly subordinate persons from marginalized groups while allowing dominant groups to profit from such action. ” • Cultural • “The individual or institutional expression of the superiority of one group’s cultural heritage over another group’s and its imposition on marginalized groups”

Allport’s Scale of Prejudice and Discrimination • Antilocution • Hate speech (dehumanization) • Jokes about Muslim, Irish, Jewish, Black, GLBT, Latina/o, Asian-American, Native American, women, etc. • Seen as “harmless, ” “just a joke, ” “freedom of speech” but creates climate which allows for more severe acts to occur • Avoidance • Members of a majority group actively avoid members of marginalized groups • Harm is not intended but is done through isolation

SOCIAL DISTANCE Marriage in my family Be my friend Be my neighbor Be employed in place of work Become citizen in my country Visit my country Exclude from country

Allport’s Scale of Prejudice and Discrimination • Actively targeting marginalized person • Denying opportunities for housing , jobs, education, etc. • Physical Attack • Doing physical harm to members of marginalized group • Includes hate crimes, vandalizing, lynching, etc. • Extermination • • Attempt to massacre entire group of people Indian Wars to kill Native Americans “The Final Solution” for Jewish population “Ethnic Cleansing” in Bosnia

Extermination Physical Attack Discrimination Avoidance Antilocution