The Sociology of Discrimination Essay Example

young children (e. .

Allport, 1954). There is a consensus that Prejudice and Discrimination constitute a learned behaviour Social Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based solely on their membership in a certain group or category. Discrimination is the actual behaviour towards members of another group. It involves excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to other groups. A Stereotype is a generalization about a person or group of persons.We develop stereotypes when we are unable or unwilling to obtain all of the information we would need to make fair judgments about people or situations.

In the absence of the "total picture," stereotypes in many cases allow us to "fill in the blanks. " Our society often innocently creates and perpetuates stereotypes, but these stereotypes often lead to unfair discrimination and persecution when the stereotype is unfavorable. Stereotyping is a type of discrimination. When a person is stereotyping they are thinking in terms of inflexible categories, and is linked to the psychological mechanism called displacement.

Displacement is when one feels feelings of hostility or anger toward objects that are not the origin of those feelings. Many people blame scapegoats for problems that are not their fault. This is common when two deprived ethnic groups compete with one another for economic rewards. This is normally directed against groups that are relatively powerless, because they make an easy target. It frequently involves projection, which is the unconscious attribution to the others of ones own desires or characteristics.Whether people would like to admit it or not, almost everyone exhibits some kind of behaviour that can be classified as prejudice.

While some might

take offense to this statement, a loose definition of the word prejudice is the negative judgment of a group or its individual members. An example of this is if a person sees a group of younger, rowdier looking kids on a bus, one might be inclined to think that they might make your ride a little less enjoyable. Prejudice in itself is a natural thought process does not necessarily have to be connected with racism.It is not wrong or a crime to have certain prejudices, however, it is wrong when these prejudices turn into social psychological discrimination, and which is the action taken due to the prejudices. There are many different types of social psychological discrimination, some of the most obvious ranging from some of the most blatant acts of racism, such as hate crimes, and others such as refusal to hire a specific race or group. However, in today's society, the forms of social psychological discrimination are not so obvious.

Here is a list of the more subtle forms of discrimination.Avoidance: This is the most common type of social psychological discrimination today. Some of it is done subconsciously, but it basically boils down to avoiding a particular group of people. Many people are aware of their tendencies to be uncomfortable around specific groups of individuals.

If being around a group of homosexual males makes one feel uncomfortable, they are most likely to avoid this group whenever they can. Tokenism: This phrase is best explained the common phrase "token black guy" which represents a sentiment of being the only person of color in a particular place due to the need for diversity.The idea of tokenism

doesn't only apply to races however. Many women report being treated as tokens in the workplace and feel that they were not hired based on their performance and qualifications alone. This form of social psychological discrimination can take place in almost any setting and is also very common.

Reverse discrimination: This form of social psychological discrimination occurs when an individual is so worried about being perceived as prejudice, that they go out of their way to help out a minority.An example of this would be a school teacher giving their minority students higher grades than the other students simply based on the idea of reverse discrimination. This is also a fairly common type of social psychological discrimination. Residual prejudice: This form of social psychological discrimination is not as easy to see. This essentially is when an individual adamantly claims that they are not prejudice, when ultimately their actions and behaviour patterns prove otherwise.

This is one of the harder forms of social psychological discrimination to see. Ultimately, have predetermined ideas about groups of individuals is a human trait.It is impossible not to. The more wisdom and experience an individual gains, the more they feel they know what to expect.

It is when these ideas turn into actions when it becomes social psychological discrimination. The most common forms of subtle discrimination happen every day and are something our society should pay a little more attention to. Racism is the belief that the genetic factors which constitute race, ethnicity, or nationality are a primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that ethnic differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.Racism's effects are called "racial discrimination.

" In the case of institutional racism, certain racial groups may be denied rights or benefits, or receive preferential treatment. Age discrimination is discrimination on the grounds of age.

Although theoretically the word can refer to the discrimination against any age group, age discrimination usually comes in one of three forms: discrimination against youth (also called adultism), discrimination against those 40 years old or older, and discrimination against elderly people.Adultism: the wielding of authority over young people and the preference of adults before children and youth. Jeunism (also known as youthism): the holding of beliefs or actions taken that preference younger people before adults. Employment discrimination refers to disabling certain people to apply and receive jobs based on their race, age, gender, religion, height, weight, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or gender identity.

In relationship to sociology, employment discrimination usually relates to what events are happening in society at the time.Sexism, a term coined in the mid-20th century, is the belief or attitude that one sex is inherently superior to, more competent than, or more valuable than the other. It can also include this type of discrimination in regards to gender. Sexism primarily involves hatred of, or prejudice towards, either sex as a whole, or the application of stereotypes of masculinity in relation to men, or of femininity in relation to women. It is also called male and female chauvinism.

Sex discrimination is discrimination on the basis of sex or gender.Certain forms of sexual discrimination are illegal in some countries, while in other countries it may be required by law in various circumstances. Language Discrimination Diversity of language is protected and respected by most nations who

value cultural diversity. However, people are sometimes subjected to different treatment because their preferred language is associated with a particular group, class or category. Commonly, the preferred language is just another attribute of separate ethnic groups.Discrimination exists if there is prejudicial treatment against a person or a group of people who speak a particular language or dialect.

It is suggested to be labeled linguicism or logocism. Anti-discriminatory and inclusive efforts to accommodate persons who speak different languages or cannot have fluency in the country's predominant or "official" language, is bilingualism such as official documents in two languages, and multiculturalism in more than two languages.Religious discrimination is valuing or treating a person or group differently because of what they do or do not believe. Disability Discrimination Discrimination against people with disabilities in favor of people who are not is called ableism or disablism.

Disability discrimination, which treats non-disabled individuals as the standard of ‘normal living’, results in public and private places and services, education, and social work that are built to serve 'standard' people, thereby excluding those with various disabilities.