STUDY UNIT 15: Prejudice, discrimination, racism, stereotypes, displacement, and scapegoating Flashcards
explain what prejudice is
The word “prejudice” comes from the
word “prejudge”. To judge means to form an opinion of something or somebody,
and the prefix “pre-” means “before”. To prejudge therefore means to form an
opinion before one has gathered the evidence needed to make that judgement.
Being prejudiced is therefore nothing more than a baseless opinion
discuss discrimination
To discriminate literally means to make a distinction. In the sense of the word,
we all discriminate every day of our lives, since we distinguish between good
and bad, correct and incorrect, clever or lack thereof and so on. What is morally
indefensible, however, is to discriminate between people according to some
irrelevant criteria
what makes a person racist
A person is a racist if he or she
believes that the behaviour of other people can be explained because of their
race or skin colour. If somebody says that members of a particular group are
inferior or superior, intelligent or lack thereof, selfish or unselfish, because “it
is in their blood”, in other words, it is part of their biologically given nature, that person is a racist. The same applies if a particular group of people believe
they are superior to others because they belong to a particular race. Besides
being insulting, racist statements are almost invariably wrong, since it has
never been proven that the various “racial” groups differ temperamentally or
in their innate ability.
what is institutional racism
Institutional racism consists of policies
that appear to have nothing to do with race or race consciousness but still
have the effect of limiting the opportunities of certain groups and providing
more opportunities to other groups
what is cultural racism
“cultural
racism” applies when minority groups are not allowed to practise their own
culture and are thus excluded from institutions.
what is stereotyping
A stereotype is a worn-out,
overused idea. The word literally refers to making printing plates using a mould
called a stereotype (Harper & Collins 1992:321). So stereotyping is thinking
that simply reproduces old ideas, just as a metal mould reproduces the same
form repeatedly.
they are referring to a rigid view, based on
old ideas that somebody has about people belonging to a different group
what does it mean to scapegoat
To scapegoat others is to blame them for the wrongs that they did not do
define culture
Culture is defined as a set of characteristics that
include the beliefs, practices, values, norms and behaviours that are shared
by members of a group. Culture is linked with individuals in a group, and its
multidimensionality manifests itself in the ways people perceive and interpret
their world. Culture is passed down across generations. Culture is the complex
system of meaning and behaviour that defines the way of life of a given group
or society.
