Prejudice and Stereotyping

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Prejudice and Stereotyping
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Important Definitions

• Ethnocentrism
• Stereotypes
• Prejudice and Racism
• Ethnic and Other Prejudices
• Allport (1954)
• Discrimination
• Clark Clark, 1953 Beuf, 1977

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Ethnocentrism(Wade and Tavris, 1999)

• The belief that ones own cultural or ethnic
  group is superior to all others
• Examples
• Chinese word for China Center of the World
• Navajo term for selves The People
• Manifested in beliefs that 1 sex, ethnicity,
  religion, school, community, country, SES, etc.
  is better than another

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Stereotypes(Wade and Tavris 2000)

• Definition summary impression of a group of
  people in which a person believes that all
  members of a group share a common trait or traits

• Distortions Created by Stereotypes
• Accentuation of group differences
• Production of selective perception
• Underestimation of within group differences

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Prejudice Racism

• Prejudice and racism describe ways in which
  people devalue, disadvantage, demean, and in
  general, unfairly treat others. (In Prejudice
  and Racism Jones, 1997)

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Ethnic Prejudice

• Ethnic prejudice is an antipathy based upon a
  faulty and inflexible generalization. It may be
  felt or expressed. It may be directed toward a
  group as a whole or toward an individual because
  he is a member of that group.
• (In The Nature of Prejudice Allport 1954)

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Allport Revisited

• Two important elements in his definition of
  prejudice
• Prejudice is a negative attitude
• Prejudice puts the object of prejudice at an
  unjust disadvantage (i.e., prejudice is negative,
  unjust, and a source of disadvantage for its
  targets)
• Note Prejudice is not just about ethnicity e.g.
  sexism, homophobia, ableism, religionism,
  classism, geographicism, adultism, etc.

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Sources of Prejudice

• Socialization passed from caregivers to
  children
• Social Benefits often brings support from
  others who share the same prejudice that may
  result in loss of support if not maintained
• Economic Benefits Justification of
  Discrimination arises when people are in direct
  competition for jobs

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Discrimination

• Discrimination consists of negative behavior
  toward a person based on negative attitudes one
  holds toward the group to which the person
  belongs, or, positive behavior toward a person
  based on positive attributes one holds toward the
  group to which that person belongs. (In
  Prejudice and Racism Jones, 1997)

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Social Consequences of Prejudice and
Discrimination

• 1944 Clark, M. Changes in primary mental
  abilities with age
• 1946 The Northside Child Development Center in
  Harlem
• Clark Clark, 1953 Brown V. Board of Education
  of Topeka

• 1977 Beuf, A. Biting Off the Bracelet Red
  Children in White America
• Beauty is the Beast

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Reducing Prejudice

• Education, self-esteem, and religious/spiritual
  conversion (prob. w/ Dutch Reform Church
  Apartheid)
• Contact hypothesis (prob. w/cliques)
• Law (Title IX, Affirmative Action, Prop. 187,
  English Only)
• Working toward a common goal

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Effective Strategies for Reducing Prejudice
Conflict

• Both sides must cooperate for a common goal
• Both sides must have equal status standing
• Both sides must believe they have the moral,
  legal, and economic support of authorities
• Both sides must have opportunities to work and
  socialize together formally informally
• (Amir, 1994 Brewer, 1986 Kohn, 1992 Stephan
  Brigham, 1985 Stephan Stephan, 1992)