Vincent ParrilloStrangers to These Shores

Chapter Three

Prejudice and Discrimination

Prejudice

• Prejudgment, … inadequate definition• Louis Wirth: “ an attitude with an emotional

bias”• Ralph Rosnow: “any unreasonable attitude

usually resistant to rational influence”– “ My mind is already made up, don’t confuse

me with the facts”

• May be either Positive or Negative– In minority relations, … usually negative

The Psychology of Prejudice

• Prejudice may develop from:– Imitation or conditioning (Conditioning)– Perceived similarity-dissimilarity (Cognitive)– Personality characteristics (Psychoanalytic)

• Three Levels of Prejudice (B. Kramer)1. Cognitive

2. Emotional

3. Action orientation

Cognitive Level of Prejudice

• Encompasses a persons beliefs, … perceptions of a group, – threatening or not, … inferior or equal, … seclusive or

intrusive, … in negative or positive characteristics

• Ethnocentrism: … a generalized rejection of all groups based on an ingroup focus

• Prejudice is a rejection of certain people based solely on their group membership– Or the possibility of social interaction

Emotional Level of Prejudice

• Based on the feelings that a minority group arouses in an individual

• Feelings may be based on stereotypes

• Emotional attitudes may be negative or positive

• Beliefs or feelings may be triggered by social interaction

Action-orientation Level

• A predisposition to engage in discriminatory behavior– Positive– Negative

Self-Justification

• Denigrating a person or group to justify maltreatment of them– We “rationalize” our treatment of others– Examples: Native Americans, … Slaves, …

Japanese, …

• Some sociologists believe it works the other way around– Subjugation occurs first then justification

follows

Authoritarian Personality

• T. W. Adorono’s studies (1950)

• Authoritarian Personality, correlated with harsh treatment as a child– F Scale (Potential Fascism)– Study using a “shock” generator to “teach”

• Frustration, the result of relative deprivation– A lack of resources, or rewards, in one’s

standard of living compared to others in the society

Authoritarian Personality Cont.• Scapegoating

– Blaming others for something that is not their fault

– Examples? …

Sociology of Prejudice

• Socialization– The acquisition of values, attitudes, beliefs,

and perceptions of ones culture or subculture– Includes Material and Nonmaterial cultural

elements– We “learn” to become prejudice and to

discriminate

• Jim Crow laws, … for example

Sociology of Prejudice Cont.

• Economic Competition– We tend to be more hostile towards others

who threaten our security, our livelihood– Economic competition and conflict breeds

prejudice– Negative stereotyping, prejudice, and

discrimination increase when competition for jobs increases

• Examples: Chinese, … Germans (John Dollard)• Both studies and historical evidence support this

position

Sociology of Prejudiced Cont.

• Social Norms– Sociologists suggest a relationship between

prejudice and a person’s tendency to conform to societal norms, (expectations)

• Social Norms form the generally shared rules defining “proper” behavior– Theorizes a direct relationship between the

degree of conformity and the degree of prejudice

• Explains prevailing attitudes but not their origin

Sociology of Prejudice Cont.

• Stereotyping– An oversimplified generalization by which we

attribute certain characteristics to a group without regard to individual differences

– Can be Positive or Negative, … Examples?

• Can become ingrained in our everyday thinking– Can serve to enhance or denigrate a group

• Once established, hard to eradicate, even in succeeding generations

Ethnophaulisms

• Ethnophaulism:– A derogatory word or expression used to

describe a racial or ethnic group– This is the language of prejudice– See picture on p. 87

• Examples of ethnopuhaulisms in text?

• Disparaging nicknames, … (. 87)

• Explicit group devaluations, …

• Irrelevant ethnic group nicknames, …

Sociology of Prejudice Cont.

• Ethnic Humor– Are ethnic, racial, gender jokes funny?

• One’s view of the group influences their reaction to the joke, comment

• Derogatory humor (jokes) about one’s own group

• The key to ethnic humor lies in both the joker’s and the audience’s attitudes

Sociology of Prejudice Cont.

• Perpetuation of Stereotypes– Discuss

• Influencing of Attitudes

• Advertising and prejudice

• Can prejudice be reduced?– Interaction, contact between people of

different racial and ethnic groups• May worsen, … ?• May improve, … ?

Discrimination

• Discrimination– Actual behavior, the practice of differential

and unequal treatment of groups of people • Racial, … religious, … ethnic, … others, …

• Five levels of Discrimination

• First: Verbal expression, … statement of dislike, … a derogatory term, …

• Second: Avoidance, … the prejudiced person takes steps to avoid social interaction with a group

Levels of Discrimination Cont.

• Third: Exclusion, … exclusion from certain jobs, … housing, … education, … etc.– De jure segregation, … segregationist laws– De facto segregation, … by social custom

• Fourth: Ethnoviolence, all forms of violence, … because of religion, … race, … ethnicity, …

• Fifth: Extermination, … massacres, .. Genocide, … pogroms, …

Prejudice & Discrimination• Prejudice can lead to discrimination and

discrimination to prejudice– Not certain one will follow the other

• Robert Merton (1949) Model describing prejudice and discrimination (Fig 3.1, p. 98)

• Nonprejudiced Nondiscriminator

• Non prejudiced Discriminator

• Prejudiced Nondiscriminator

• Prejudiced Discriminator

Social & Institutional Discrimination

• Social Discrimination:– Established patterns of social distance– Social disassociations, exclusionary patterns

• Institutional Discrimination: – Unequal treatment imbedded in institutional

rules, … and regulations– Entrenched in customs, … laws, … practices– Discriminatory patterns can exist in all

business, .. educational, .. religious, .. social, .. and government institutions

Affirmative Action

• Affirmative Action, origin:

• President Roosevelt, Exec. Order 8802, July 1941 ( pre WW II)– Defense contractors, … “not discriminate, …

race, … creed, … color, … national origin, …”

• President Kennedy, Exec. Order 10925, 1961– Take affirmative action, … treatment without

regard to race, … creed, … color, … national origin

Affirmative Action Cont.

• Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VII, Sec. 703– Seems to address the need for fairness, …

openness, … and color-blind opportunity– Bans preference by race, … ethnicity, …

gender, … and religion, … in business and government

• President Johnson Exec. Order 11246– Mandated employer affirmative-action to

correct existing deficiencies through specific goals and deadlines

Affirmative Action Cont.• Legislation in 1972 amended the 1964 Civil

Rights Act– Preference programs became the rule, …

through reserved minority quotas– Seen as reverse discrimination

• The Bakke vs. the U.C. Regents– U.S. Supreme Court ruled, … “quotas were

not permitted but race could be a factor in university admission

• Supreme Court in 1995, “race could not longer be the predominant factor… “

Has Affirmative Action Worked?

• Evidence of success has been mixed

• The Bakke decision has had little impact on the enrollment of African Americans and Hispanics in medical and law schools

• A considerable number of minorities and women have better jobs than they would have without antidiscrimination laws

Key Terms

• Affirmative action• Authoritarian personality• Three Levels of Prejudice• De facto discrimination• De jure Discrimination• Discrimination• Ethnophaulism• Jim Crow laws

• Prejudice• Scapegoating• Social Discrimination• Social Norms• Socialization process• Stereotype• Ethnoviolence• Institutional

Discrimination