S2 Topic 2 - Prejudice and Discrimination Flashcards
What is prejudice (3)
- holding of derogatory social attitudes/beliefs…
- expression of negative affect…
- or display of hostile/discriminatory behaviour…
…towards members of a group on basis of their belonging to the group
What are the problems with prejudice? (3)
- leads to dehumanization
- leads to discrimination
- leads to violence and genocide
Distinguish between discrimination and prejudice (2)
Prejudice - irrational opinion formed about a person or group in advance without sufficient knowledge, facts or reasons
Discrimination - unequal treatment of a person because of their belonging to a certain group
Which are some of the groups targeted by prejudice and discrimination? (5)
gender, race, ethnicity, social class, sexual orientation
Explain the concepts of the glass ceiling and glass cliff (2)
Glass ceiling - barrier that prevents women and other minorities from attaining top leadership positions
Glass cliff - tendency for women to be appointed to precarious leadership positions associated with a high probability of failure and criticism
In what ways has life improved in terms of prejudice? (3)
- Decrease in blatant sex discrimination
- Gender discrimination is illegal in some countries
- Sexism is socially unacceptable
How does ageism affect the elderly?
- treated as worthless and powerless members of society
- denied basic human rights
- their special needs are ignored
Name 3 milestones reached in terms of homophobia
- APA removed homosexuality from the list of mental disorders
- progressive liberalization of attitudes towards same sex relations
- legalization of same sex marriages in Malta
What are 4 offenses commonly done against members of the LGBT community?
- Bullying
- Denied jobs
- Denied appropriate healthcare
- Violence and harassment
How is discrimination seen against disabled people? (3)
- seen as incompetent
- people are uneasy in their presence
- patronizing behaviour
What are covert ways in which prejudice and discrimination are expressed? (3)
- Reluctance to help minority groups improve their position in society
- Tokenism
- Reverse discrimination
What is tokenism? (2)
- publicly making small concessions to a minority group to deflect accusations of prejudice
- making a small positive act as a justification for declining to engage in larger positive acts
What is reverse discrimination?
publicly being prejudiced in favour of a minority group in order to deflect accusation of prejudice against that group
What is a stigma?
group characteristics that mediate a negative social evaluation of people belonging to the group
Distinguish between visible and concealable stigmas
Visible - makes the experience of prejudice inescapable
Concealable - can allow people to avoid prejudice
Distinguish between controllable and uncontrollable stigmas (2)
Give examples for each (2)
Controllable - membership is perceived to be volitional and therefore, escapable - hence results in more extreme discrimination
e.g., many view obesity as controllable identities
Uncontrollable - membership is perceived to be involuntary and inescapable - hence results in less extreme discrimination
e.g., being physically disabled is not that person’s choice
What are the psychological effects of prejudice and discrimination? (3)
- internalized sense of failure, lack of motivation
- attributional ambiguity
- self-fulfilling prophecies
What is attributional ambiguity?
the difficulty in determining whether a negative experience is due to discrimination
Explain the frustration-aggression hypothesis
Why is it wrong in reality? (2)
- aggressive behaviour is caused by frustration and frustration always leads to aggression
Reality:
- frustration is not necessary nor sufficient for aggression
- reductionist approach
What is displacement in terms of prejudice?
aggression is displaced on a weaker group when the target group is too powerful to be aggressed against
Explain the authoritarian personality (2)
a personality syndrome originating in childhood that predisposes individuals to be prejudiced
brought about by autocratic and punitive child-rearing practices
What is dogmatism? (2)
- close mindedness which predisposes people to be prejudiced
- resistance to belief change in light of new info
What is right-wing authoritarianism? (3)
- dogmatism
- punitive attitudes toward questioning and defecting
- desire for strong authority figures
Explain the Social Dominance Theory
people who desire their own group to be superior to outgroups accept myths that legitimize hierarchy and discrimination and reject egalitarian ideologies
Explain the Belief Congruence Theory (2)
- similar beliefs promote liking and social harmony and confirm the validity of our own beliefs
- prejudice is an individual’s reaction to perceived lack of congruence to belief systems
