Theories of Prejudice and Discrimination Prejudice Racism and

Theories of Prejudice and Discrimination • Prejudice, Racism, and discrimination – Prejudice – widely held negative attitudes toward a group (minority or majority) and its individual members • Involves a generalization based on biased or insufficient information • Based on strong emotions, therefore they are difficult to change • Ex. – Asians being good at Math – Racism – an extreme form of prejudice that assumes superiority of one group over others – Discrimination – treating people differently based on ethnicity, race, religion, or culture • Ex. – avoiding social contact, denying positions, blocking access, killing

Hate Crimes – Hate crime – a criminal act motivated by prejudice • Functionalists – members of a group are bolstering their sense of unity against a common enemy • Conflict – the victim is somehow threatening the person’s livelihood or selfinterest • Symbolic – labeling

Stereotypes – Stereotype – a distorted, exaggerated, or oversimplified image applied to a category of people • Ex – all brawn, no brain

Functionalist Perspective – By fostering prejudice, a dominant group can create a feeling of superiority over minority groups. – This can strengthen its members’ own selfconcepts. – For the majority culture, functionalists can see positive aspects of discrimination

Conflict Perspective – Majority uses prejudice and discrimination as weapons of power to control a minority. – Different minorities tend to view one another as competitors rather than as allies in their struggle against the majority

Symbolic Interactionist Perspctive – Gordon Allport’s 2 stages of learning prejudice • Pregeneralized learning period – children overhear parents make racist or prejudiced statements, but they have not yet learned to separate people by race or ethnic group • Total rejection stage – children are able to use physical clues to sort people into groups. If children repeatedly hear parents malign a minority, they will reject all members of the group – Language can reflect prejudices • In Anglo culture, many terms that include black are negative – Blackball, blacklist, black market, black eye – Self-fulfilling prophecy - an expectation that leads to behavior that causes the expectation to become reality • Ex. – kids being told they are smart or stupid continually, child being told all you will ever be is a criminal

Minority Groups in the United States • Institutionalized Discrimination – unfair practices that grow out of common behaviors and attitudes and that are a part of the structure of society – Ex – public school’s with large numbers of minority students are more likely to be located in large urban areas, not wealthier suburbs. • Hidden Unemployment – unemployment that includes people not counted in the traditional unemployment categories

African American – Largest racial minority group in America – Barriers to African American assimilation • Skin color and physical features • Limited upward social mobility for many generations • Barely 50 years of constitutional equality – Average income levels • About 64% of that of whites • The average African American family holds less than ¼ of the wealth of the average white family – Job market • Almost twice as likely as whites to work in low-level service jobs • Jobless rates are double those of whites • About 1/3 teenagers are unsuccessfully looking for work – Advances • Professional and technical occupations have increased 128% since 1960 s • 2 times the managers or officials since 1960 • Increase in government representation

Latinos – One of the fastest growing minorities in the U. S. – Largest minority group in U. S. – Over 60% of Latinos in America are of Mexican decent – Each group came to the U. S. under different circumstances – Education • Over 50% have completed high school – Average income is greater than African Americans, but lower than non-Latino whites

• Native Americans – Just over 2, 000 in total population – Fewer Native Americans graduate from high school than any other major minority group – Lowest annual income of any minority group – About ¼ live on reservations – Gaming facilities are helping improve life • Asian Americans – About 4 % of total U. S. population – Face severe persecution early on – Have became successful by using the education system for upward mobility