Prejudice and Discrimination Flashcards
Prejudice
a belief about a specific group; prejudgement; usually negative
Prejudice leads to discrimination
Discrimination
an action which is unfair treatment
A landlord will not rent his empty apartment to a same-sex couple.
Discrimination
A manager at a technology company doesn’t think that older people are very interesting, and that they are always “living in the past”.
Prejudice
When he is picking people for his intramural team, he doesn’t choose the new student in the school because he doesn’t trust people from “that country”.
Discrimination
Sam doesn’t think that people with physical disabilities are capable of playing in sports, or even ever interested in sports
Prejudice
A doctor will not accept new patients in his practice who are obese as he does not believe the government should pay for “people’s own bad choices”. He can’t say this of course, but when an overweight person asks if there is room at his clinic, he says he’s not taking new patients.
Discrimination
A manager thinks that women are not as career-oriented as men.
Prejudice
Causes of Prejudice
Learned
Competition
Frustration/Aggression
Ignorance
Learned Theory
Learned behaviours that individuals acquire through socialization
Competition Theory
The key reason some people come to distrust other groups is because economic competition
Aggression Theory
People are constantly looking to put the blame on others for their shortcomings - especially financially
Ignorance Theory
When we refuse to learn about another cultural group or befriend someone of another culture, we remain unaware of how other cultures function
