Global Issues: Prejudice

Prejudice

Did you know?

▪ The word "prejudice" comes from the Latin roots "prae" (in advance) and "judicum" (judgment), which essentially means to judge before. When we "pre-judge" someone, we make up our minds about who they are before we actually get to know them. Prejudices or "pre-judgments" are not based upon actual real-life interaction with a person or group it is often born of stereotypes and forms the fertile soil of discrimination.

For instance, a person may hold prejudiced mentally towards a certain ethnic group or gender etc. (e.g. sexist).

▪ The word ‘stereotype’ comes from the French adjective ‘’stéréotype’’, which itself comes from the Greek στερεός (solid) and τύπος (type). The earliest example in the Oxford English Dictionary of this usage is from a 1922 essay by Walter Lippmann in the journal Public Opinion: “A stereotype may be so consistently and authoritatively transmitted in each generation from parent to child that it seems almost like a biological fact.”

For instance, a person may stereotype a certain group of people, by the pre assumption based on some members of that group etc.

▪ The word ‘’Discrimination’’  from the Latin ‘’discrīminātus’’, which means literate to separate, can be considered the culmination of both previous terms, it is the behavior or action to make a distinction in favor of or against an individual, a group of people or something (being also most of the time negative) especially based on sex, race, social class, etc.

 For instance: a person might discriminate another by their different way of dressing. 

▪ The effects of social norms on prejudice: 

According to McLeod, S. A. (2008) on Prejudice and discrimination, Minard (1952) investigated how social norms influence prejudice and discrimination. The behavior of Afro-descendants and Caucasian miners in a town in the southern United States was observed, both above and below ground. (Read more)

▪ Affirmative Action

 An Affirmative action is an action or policy favoring those who tend to suffer from discrimination, especially in relation to employment or education; it is also known worldwide as a positive discrimination. Thinking like that it would be right to affirm that this kind of attitude or policy is for the best, isn’t it? Not so fast…

Ten myths about affirmative action:  In recent years, affirmative action has been debated more intensely than at any other time in its thirty-year history. Many supporters view affirmative action as a milestone, many opponents see it as a millstone, and many others regard it as both or neither, as a necessary, but imperfect, remedy for an intractable social disease. Here are some of the most popular myths about affirmative action, along with a brief commentary on each one. (Read more)

▪ Social media prejudice

Is it possible to be preconceived while networking, when we are comfortably set in our couches using smartphones or even during games online? Sadly but indeed it is. The social networking site as we probably know very well today, such as facebook, Instagram, twitter and many others, are formed by human beings, and being imperfect as we are, any tool we possess has the potential of being used as a tool for prejudice.

‘’Social networking as we know creates an "echo chamber" in which a network of like-minded people share controversial theories, biased views and selective news, academics found.
This means that any bias held is simply repeated back to them unchallenged and accepted as a real fact.’’ Says a study by The Telegraph journal. (Read more)

There is also a study about human behavior with and without social Medias: The study compared crowd-sourced and social media recruits to in-lab participants.  Check it out!

▪ Different types of prejudice

Different kinds of prejudice lead to different forms of discrimination. (Read more)

▪ Unconscious bias

Are you preconceived in any way? Do you know what unconscious bias is?

Find out at the videos below.

▪ Prejudice Consequences

Prejudice affects the everyday lives of millions of people across the globe. Prejudice held by individuals unnaturally forces on others who are targets of their prejudice a false social status that strongly influences who they are, what they think, and even the actions they take. Prejudice shapes what the targets of prejudice think about the world and life in general, about the people around them, and how they feel about themselves. Importantly, prejudice greatly influences what people expect from the future and how they feel about their chances for self-improvement, referred to as their life chances. All of these considerations define their very identity as individuals.

Conheça a Alpha Idiomas