Racial Prejudice Issues - Essay Example

Racial Prejudice This paper will define and discuss the terms that are related to our social and psychological attitudes and beliefs about others. Itwill focus on prejudicial attitudes that are based on irrational and false beliefs. Though prejudice may be positive, such as when a parent is biased about their childrens talents, this paper will use only the negative outcomes of prejudice. Terms will generally be described in relation to Racism, though they are just as applicable to gender, age, religion, or any other identifiable group. It would be the same if you substituted the word woman, Jew, or paraplegic for the word Black or Asian A stereotype is an exaggerated belief, image or distorted truth about a person or group — a generalisation that allows for little or no individual differences or social variation. Stereotypes are based on images in mass media, or reputations passed on by parents, peers and other members of society. A prejudice is an opinion, pre-judgement or attitude about a group or its individual members. A prejudice can be positive, but in our usage refers to a negative attitude. Prejudices are often accompanied by ignorance, fear or hatred. Prejudices are formed by a complex psychological process that begins with attachment to a close circle of acquaintances or an "in-group" such as a family. Prejudice is often aimed at "out-groups." Discrimination is behaviour that treats people unequally because of their group memberships. Discriminatory behaviour, ranging from slights to hate crimes, often begins with negative stereotypes and prejudices. Stereotyping results in the formation of Prejudice. Stereotype: All black males listen to Rap music that advocates violence. Prejudice: Black men scare me because they have such a large potential for violence Prejudice results in Discrimination. Prejudice: Black men scare me because they have such a large potential for violence Discrimination: Id rather hire a white worker because I dont want violence in the workplace. Sources of Prejudice Though most people feel that they are not racist, almost everyone has some form of racist attitude. How could they not know it? Racism can be Explicit, where it is outward, easily recognisable, and generally acknowledged. The segregation and discrimination if the US South in the 1950s was a form of explicit racism. It left little doubt that it existed and those that supported it did so openly. Racism may also be Implicit. These are the unconscious feelings we have and react to that result in prejudicial behaviour and discrimination without our conscious knowledge. We may get a sudden sense of fear if we board an aeroplane and see an Arab passenger aboard, or be fearful when we are followed by a young minority male at night. Our sub-conscious is reacting to the stereotypes that are ingrained in our mind. This is not a conscious rational decision to be prejudice, and the fears are unrealistic. The stereotypes and attitudes that create prejudice come from a variety of sources that we encounter everyday. They may come from our family, our friends, the workplace, the media, or a personal experience. They have in common the fact that they all create an unrealistically exaggerated image, fear, or distorted myth about a group of people. Where do these Stereotypes and Prejudices come from? Generally speaking there are two types of groups, the In-group (the one you are in) and the Out-group (any other identifiable group that you are not a member of). Most prejudice results from a distorted image of our own in-group or an irrational judgement about an out-group. Our relationships with these groups give us our Social Identity. Conformity: Conformity is our desire to be like everyone else in our group. It gives us a secure sense of belonging and a sense of being accepted. However, when we conform to a group we also conform to many of their attitudes that we may not consciously agree with. Example: John joins a health club because they have superior equipment. He works out regularly and makes friends with the members who are overwhelmingly white and somewhat prejudiced against blacks. He begins to wear the workout fashions of the group and picks up their slang. The club is Johns In-group. Though John is not a racist and believes in equality, he does not ask his black friend to join the club because he knows how the other members feel about race. His fear of rejection by this group has resulted in his conformity and ultimately led to his implicit prejudicial attitude. Out-group Homogeneity: This is a belief that every member of an Out-group has the same personality, qualities, and values as all the other members in the group. Out-group homogeneity is the basis for the racist statement: If youve met one black, you have met them all. Example: A black male is fired from your workplace for sleeping in the warehouse during work hours. The next day, you notice your black co-worker has not been at his desk for over an hour. You assume that hes also lazy and is probably back in the warehouse asleep. In fact, he has been in a production meeting with the management team. In-Group Bias: This is a tendency to favour ones own group through an exaggerated sense of superiority or a self-serving need for recognition. People will tend to believe that the group they belong to is superior. They may disparage another group based on this bias. When the group that they associate with is heavily based on race or gender, this can result in racism or sexism. Example: A study indicates that a well-respected medical school accepts an overwhelming number of white students and almost no minorities. The white staff at the school discredits the study and contends that they treat all applicants equitably and only accept the best students. However, the interviews are given by the white staff who is biased toward their own race and this results in higher scores for whites. They did not set out to be racist, but In-group bias tipped the scale in favour of the white candidates and penalised the blacks. Categorisation: Categorising the world simplifies it for us and makes it manageable. It is using a generic term that can define all members of a group. By having a category, we can recognise and manage the group with a limited amount of information. Example: People often group other people by the most visible and identifiable characteristic. Often, this is all we can know about them. We place all Asians in one category because we can recognise them as being from Asia. We couldnt group people that we dont know by shoe size or sense of humour. Once we have them categorised, we assume that they are also alike in attitude, personality, and intelligence. Distinctiveness: This is similar to categorisation, except we group by some distinctive physical attribute that they have. It may be a piece of clothing or mannerism. Anyone wearing a Turban is grouped with all other Turban wearers, and we assume they all have the same emotional and personality makeup. Example: We know a young lady that dresses very sexy, wears tight fitting short skirts, and works as a prostitute. We see another lady on the street that is dressed the same way (a different race, age, and ethnicity) and assume that she is also a prostitute. We have made a prejudicial judgement about someones lifestyle based on Distinctiveness. Attribution Errors: These occur when we fail to account for the social situation and pressures that affect someones behaviour. When we view a persons behaviour we assume that it is their personality and we give little credit to the influence of the social situation. Example: Melissa is in your class and she is usually quiet, aloof, and indifferent toward you. You believe that Melissa is anti-social and does not like people. However, Melissa is an average student who must work very hard to maintain her grades. In the classroom she maintains her focus and seriousness. At home, she is warm, talkative, and has many good friends. Your initial mis-judgement of Melissa was an Attribution Error. Effects of the Media Vivid: If an event is portrayed as extremely pronounced, colourful, or violent, we will more greatly associate it with the group involved and give it an exaggerated sense of importance and an unrealistic estimation of its frequency of occurrence. If an unusually gruesome crime is played on the news that was committed by a Haitian immigrant, there will be an over reaction against Haitians, and we will feel that Haitians are out of control and on a killing spree. Frequency: Playing the same news story repetitively creates a sense that the rate of occurrence is greater than it actually is. Personality traits Our own personality can cause us to act in a prejudicial fashion when we become frustrated and look for someone to blame. Low self-esteem forces us to look for someone outside ourselves as the source of our failure. We naturally look to a member of a group that we are biased against. We may also turn to this when we are frustrated and have not learned how to deal with our anger. Often, these feelings result in Displaced Aggression. We seek to take our anger out on someone, and once again we seek out someone that we have a preconceived bias against. Example: Arab terrorists fly an aeroplane into a major high rise building. The people attacked, due to a Nationalistic Attitude, are outraged and in their frustration they attack an Arab country that they have had previous disagreements with. The country goes to war, not with the terrorists, but with an out-group that in the countrys frustration was distinctively identified by being Arab. This was a case of displaced aggression. In very intense situations such as 9/11, nationalistic attitudes can exaggerate the bias we already have. The heightened anger and frustration can cause displaced aggression to bring tensions and harm to innocent people. All we knew about the hijackers was that they were Arab. This was a distinctive group that we could direct our racism toward. If they had all worn the same shoe size, it is doubtful that people with size 10 feet would have been at risk. But because they were distinctive, an out-group, stereotyped prejudice was allowed to flourish. That it was vivid and subject to media frequency only increased the potential for violent racism against innocent victims. Racism is getting less pronounced than it was in the past. Anyone who does not believe that should visit Selma Alabama in 1950. Or visit Mississippi in 1850. Or visit London in 1800. However, any racism is bad racism and better is not good enough. The danger in the problem is that the racism we face today is often Implicit and not acknowledged. It works its way into institutions, practices, and processes without any one acknowledging that they are racist. And because it can be insidious, many do not even realise it. That is the danger of the racism we face today. Read More