Man : Black or White (Prejudice)

Prejudice

Prejudice and discrimination have been prevalent throughout human history. Even a tiny amount of prejudice in our hearts can prove disastrous to our ultimate of human fates and future well being. In practice, however, many people may be unaware of or blind to their own prejudices or lack proper understanding of how to deal with them.

        Prejudice is the inflexible and irrational attitudes and opinions held by members of one group about another individuals or groups because of their cultural, religious, racial, or ethnic background. By definition, it is the characteristic of a person who supports his kinsmen or relatives even for wrong or unjust causes.

Prejudice is often accompanied by fear, ignorance, or hatred, as well as attempts at psychological bolstering or even real-world gaining of status by building attachment to an in-group and trying to separate oneself from out-groups. More recently, disadvantaged groups now also include those based on gender, age, and physical disabilities.

Prejudice and discrimination are deeply imbedded at both the individual and societal levels. Attempts to eradicate prejudice and discrimination must thus deal with prevailing beliefs or ideologies, and social structure.

The sources of prejudice

Sociologists and psychologists found that prejudice emotions lies from subconscious attitudes that cause a person to rid off their feelings of inadequacy by targeting this inadequacy onto target group.

Scapegoating —unfairly blaming others —attributing complex anxiety and uncertainty to certain people: “These people are the source of all my problems.” Social research shows that prejudice is fundamentally related to low self-esteem. By hating certain groups (in this case, minorities), people are able to enhance their sense of self-worth and importance.

It is a learned behavior. The internalization of prejudice starts with parents and, later, teachers--the formation of attitudes within children. The media and social institutions solidify this prejudicial attitude, giving them social legitimacy. "Eradicating" prejudice is an enormous task, since prejudice is learned.

The most common types of prejudice are those based on race, gender, sexual orientation and disability.

1. Socialization.

Prejudices elucidates from parents to children. The media—television, movies, and advertising—enhanced the demeaning images and stereotypes about prejudice, such as ethnic minorities, women, HIV, the disabled, and the elderly.

Social scientists have also identified common social factors may contribute to the presence of prejudice and discrimination: If someone has an accent (either regional or foreign), you may find yourself inadvertently thinking they're lower class, less educated, incompetent, etc.

2. Conforming behaviors.

Prejudices to conform to the views of families, friends, and associates, rejecting to conforming may lead to losing social support.

You believe that stereotypes are often based in truth – that is how they become stereotypes in the first place.

3. Economic benefits.

Needs for economic benefits have significantly increased the prejudice due to direct competition for jobs. Whereby, economic and social stress also increased.

You believe that some ethnicities or cultures are inferior to others. If a group of people is experiencing problems, they most likely brought it on themselves.

4. Authoritarian personality.

Human personalities also contribute to beliefs of prejudice especially those with stereotypical thinking and projection based on unconscious fears. People with an authoritarian personality demands rigidly conformity, submit without question to their superiors, reject those they consider to be inferiors, and express intolerant sexual and religious opinions. The authoritarian personality may have its roots cause in parents who are unloving and a harsh disciplinarians. The child then learns to control his or her anxieties via rigid attitudes.

5. Ethnocentrism.

Ethnocentrism evaluating others’ cultures by based on biased one's own cultural norms and values. A suspicion of outsiders, cultures with beliefs ethnocentric tendencies, a stereotypical thinking. If you find yourself invited to a neighborhood or gathering that mostly has people of a different race or culture, you feel nervous, are more cautious with your belongings, etc.

6. Group closure.

Group closure whereby groups have a clear boundaries about and between themselves and others. Refusing to marry outside an ethnic group is an example of how group closure is accomplished.

If you see a mixed-race or mixed-culture couple, you feel discomfort, you look down on them, or you feel anger, etc.

7. Conflict.

In order to hold onto their distinctive social status, power, and possessions, privileged groups are sees that no competition arises from minority groups. The powerful may even be ready to resort to extreme acts of violence against others to protect their interests. As a result, members of underprivileged groups may retaliate with violence in an attempt to improve their circumstances.

If a woman or minority is in a leading position, you question if he/she got the position through affirmative action, illicit favors, or other means besides pure merit.

The Impact of Prejudice

Human can suffer from a climate of prejudice. Prejudice creates social and emotional  tension and can lead to fear and anxiety and occasionally hostility and violence. Undermining self-esteem and self-confidence of those being ridiculed and warrant them to be unaccepted and unworthy. Destroying their self esteem and beliefs system and becoming depressed, socially withdrawn and hapless.

Need to deal diversity in a positive way. Prejudice is learned process from tender age acquired from parents, other children and people and institutions. Being aware of the differences among people, characteristics like appearance, language and names, of religious and cultural distinctions as well. To the extent, to define and identify themselves through their understanding of these personal differences.

As youngsters these individual distinctions, are heard, accepted and simplified into stereotypes about others. Not only they will develop distorted views of the youngsters and adults in daily life, may start to denying and overlooking the common, universal human values and traits. As a result, intolerance may develop where there should be friendship.

1. Difficulty Performing Tasks

• Victims of prejudice, or those who perceive they are, may have difficulty focusing on tasks and making clear decisions, an effect which can linger after the incident. Researchers at the University of Toronto Scarborough studied individuals' reactions to negative stereotyping; many people found it hard to concentrate or were even aggressive. An individual's ability to turn his full attention to a task is impaired; a victim of prejudice is placed at a disadvantage in academic environments, for example.

2. Exclusion

• Prejudice excludes people in many ways. For example, an employer might be prejudiced against a certain ethnic group, and would therefore be less likely to accept job applications and would look more favorably on candidates from another ethnicity. A mental health deprivation might being excluded from certain social activities, perceiving as dangerous.

3. Internalization

• Over a period of time, a victim of constant prejudice begins to believe that he deserves the abuse or problems he encountered, and are right to treat him in such a way. Believing negative comments and self-stigma. This belief can, in turn, lead to further problems, as the individual is likely to suffer from poor self-esteem and may even fall into depression.

4. Withdrawal into Group

• Prejudiced behavior against a particular group can cause members to retreat further into the security provided by the group mindset. Ceasing trying to interact with members of other groups; viewing the only people who will be their friends as others of their own group, and withdraw all other social contact. This sense of belonging can be comforting, but ultimately it creates an "us vs. them" distinction, which is not healthy for anyone.

5. Difficulties in Group

• As victims of prejudice retreat into their own groups, their own individual personalities begin to collapse, and they are left with group attitudes for fear of ostracism. This can cause 
• . For example, a religious person who encounters negative attitudes towards religion may begin to question the religious community way of life within religious and immediate family.

Solutions to prejudice

For decades, sociologists have looked to ways of reducing and eliminating conflicts and prejudices between groups:

• Self-esteem hypothesis, where  appropriate education and higher self-esteem, will shy away belief of prejudice
• Contact hypothesis, bringing together members of different groups so they can learn to appreciate their common experiences and backgrounds.
• Cooperation hypothesis holds that conflicting groups need to cooperate by laying aside their individual interests and learning to work together for shared goals.
• Legal hypothesis is that prejudice can be eliminated by enforcing laws against discriminative behavior.
•  

To date, solutions to prejudice that emphasize change at the individual level have not been successful. Unprejudiced human can, under specific conditions of war or economic pressure can become highly prejudiced against their perceived “enemies.” Desegregation or integrating schools have witnessed the formation of ethnic cliques and gangs that battle other groups to defend their own identities.

Changes in the law have helped to alter some prejudiced attitudes. Without changes in the law, women might never have been allowed to vote, attend graduate school, or own property. Laws per se do not necessarily change people's attitudes but can increase antagonism toward minority groups. Sociologists speculate that one reason prejudice is still around is the fact that these conditions rarely coincide.

Multicultural education, constitute the mainstay of educational efforts to eliminate prejudice. Emphasizing on civil rights, immigration policies, and mandates for legal approaches to alleviating the effects of prejudice and discrimination. The need to enhance a more closely relationships where feelings of love can be fostered and strengthened.  

Finally, cooperative learning, or learning that involves collaborative interactions between human, while surely of positive value to human, does not assure reduction of hostility between conflicting groups. Cooperation is usually too limited and too brief to surmount all the influences in a person's life.

Extract excerpt from

Cliffnotes.com

Will C. van den Hoonaard

Simon Fuller, eHow Contributor