The last psychological explanation about prejudice is that of familial inheritance. Familial inheritance is the enforcing of stereotypes that parents may have in their households and then pass to their children, such as men do not do any housework, or the bigoted father who socialises his children to think the same.
As mentioned above in the introduction the two aspects of prejudice and discrimination in this essay are racism and homosexuals. Racism is discrimination against for the reason of a person’s race. Racism and discrimination have always been around; it is more prominent in countries such as America and the UK where there are many different ethnic groups all living together. Throughout history, there are many examples that show racism, the worst being the killings of Jewish people by Adolf Hitler.
Adolf Hitler was a German man who led Germany into killing around 5.5 million Jews in the Second World War. This event happened because over time in Hitler’s life, the circumstances he encountered made him extremely prejudice to Jews, Hitler was also prejudice about homosexuals, people with disabilities and mentally ill people. Hitler was a control freak who had the idea in his head of the perfect German race; he could not accept differences in people (2000 Biography resource centre)
As well as Jewish people, black people have also suffered terrible discrimination by whites. In the 1700’s there was a huge business in the black slave industry. Black people were transported over to America and the Caribbean as slaves. Even though slavery was abolished around the 1800’s this event in history has been the explanation of the discrimination that blacks encounter even today. In the USA, black people had no rights and were completely segregated out of white society purely for the fact they had black skin (Eddie Baker 1999)
Over time black people have fought for their rights and the situation for them changed, they were given equal rights, however racism still exists today. In modern society, people from every ethnic group want equality and harmony and attempts have been made to reduce prejudice and discrimination.
One recommendation on how to reduce prejudice is to teach it in school to “prepare children to live in a peaceful world” Morton Deutsch (1993). His proposal uses several techniques, the first is cooperative learning, and this takes a few years. Conflict resolution is the second, constructive controversy is the third, and this is encouraging students to argue about issues in a way that “promotes critical and empathic thinking”. The fourth aspect is mediation technique’s this will help students resolve disagreements (Morton Deutsch 1993).
Morton’s recommendation is proposing the staff at school take the time and learn the skills needed to do the above in order to teach it to children at a young age, and this will reduce prejudice. In order for this to be successful, it must first be taken on board by schools, it is important for this study to be continued as to show how successful it has been.
In multicultural societies, interaction among ethnic groups is inevitable, unless you are a person that never leaves your house. Interaction has played a major part in reducing discrimination and racism, there are certain factors needed that make interaction work, they are:
- Cooperation between groups
- Frequent, casual contact between equals
- A long-term cooperative working relationship
There was a study at Southern Illinois University in the late 1960’s on two different black - white groups. The first group was casual encounter groups and the second was frequent yearlong groups that met for an educational purpose. The casual groups encountered many arguments and hostility; some had to be cancelled to avoid violence. Whereas the long term groups that were meeting to help each other, had no major racial problems. (Aronson 1984)
The case study above is an example of how interaction between ethnic groups is successful at reducing prejudices and discrimination. It is because the groups were working together as they had a common goal, rather than being concerned with the colour of each other’s skin.
Another example of prejudice and discrimination in society is against homosexuals. Homosexuals are discriminated in ways ranging from personal attacks such as name-calling, but there is also discrimination by the government. There is a local government act known as Section 28, in this it disallows homosexual marriages and the teaching about homosexuality in schools.
There have been many attempts in the past to reduce discrimination against homosexuals and to get equal rights. Before 1967, the government in this country stated that it was illegal to have gay sex; this was partially decriminalized in 1967. In 1989, a lobbying group was set up called Stonewall.
There are many aims within Stonewall to help reduce prejudice and discrimination. The work that the group is involved with includes work with the government, research on discrimination in the workplace, homophobic violence and sex education; they also want to challenge the attitudes of people in society and providing information to people. Stonewall has also set up other sizable projects.
Citizenship 21 was set up after a series of bombings that targeted minority groups in London in 1999, the project was officially launched in 2001. The aims were to increase awareness, build links with other communities, tackle prejudices and tackle homophobia (Citizenship 21 – Together for Equality 2004).
The prejudice and discrimination aimed at homosexuals, and people of ethnic minority is mainly because of ignorance. Stonewall and other groups like it are providing information to everyone, which increases awareness and knowledge. The changes in society can be seen everywhere, for example, the amount of homosexuals on television has increased dramatically, increased tolerance by most, benefits for same sex couples and it is more accepted in the church.
If we can recognise the dangerous and persistent powers of prejudice then we as a society will be more equipped to deal with this serious and ongoing problem. If we can understand that prejudicial thinking can be overcome through our commitment and education then it will help bring people together and celebrate the differences of people. In the multicultural society that we live in there are so many groups with different cultural backgrounds, and we live in a society in which we could learn from each other’s differences.
Prejudices will always be around; if people took an interest in each other then this would decrease. It is important that studies on the subject continue to help our future society.
(1477 words)
Bibliography
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Eddie Baker
(2004) Internet,
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Gleitman, (1981) Psychology, Fourth Edition published by Norton pp565
Internet, Jim Cole
(2000) Internet,
Biography Resource Centre, Gale Group
(2000) Internet, Clayton Tucker-Ladd
