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Chapter 4
Prejudice
Understanding Race and
Ethnic Relations 5th Edition
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Learning Objectives
1.
2.
3.
To develop an understanding of
prejudice
To increase an awareness of the
dangers of stereotyping, and its
perpetuation through ethnic humor and
the mass media
To explore the possible causes of
prejudice and its elimination
Prejudice
From the Latin praejudicim, prejudice
originally referred to a prejudgment based
on a hasty generalization obtained before an
examination of all the facts
- Social scientists discovered that individuals
oftentimes arose after individuals came into
contact with certain groups and had certain
knowledge of one another
The Psychology of Prejudice
Cognitive level of prejudice
encompasses a person’s beliefs and
perceptions of a group as threatening or
nonthreatening, inferior or equal, seclusive or
intrusive, impulse gratifying, acquisitive, or
possessing other positive or negative
characteristics
The Psychology of Prejudice

Emotional level of prejudice
• Encompasses the feelings that a minority group
•
•
•
arouses in an individual
These feelings may be based on stereotypes from
the cognitive level but they represent a more
intense stage of personal involvement
Emotional attitudes may be negative or positive
These feelings, based on beliefs about the group,
may be triggered by social interaction or by the
possibility of interaction
The Psychology of Prejudice
Action-orientation level of prejudice
• Is the positive or negative predisposition to
engage in discriminatory behavior
• A person harboring strong feelings about a
certain racial or ethnic group may have a
tendency to act for or against them
The Psychology of Prejudice
Self-justification
• Involves denigrating a person or group to justify
maltreatment of them
• Leads to prejudice and discrimination against
members of another group
Prejudiced personality
(Dispositional prejudice)
“Authoritarian personality”
• Rigid in beliefs
• Possess conventional values
• Intolerant of weakness in self or others
• Highly punitive
• Suspicious
• Highly respectful of authority
Authoritarian personality
• Developed by Adorno and colleagues
• Measured by questionnaire called the “F
•
scale” (online version available at
http://www.anesi.com/fscale.htm)
Data are correlational; these people’s
parents also tend to be highly prejudiced
The Psychology of Prejudice
Frustration
• Result of relative deprivation in which expectations
remain unsatisfied and frustrated people may easily
strike out against the perceived cause of their frustration.
The result may be displaced aggression where the
frustrated individual or group redirects anger against a
more visible, vulnerable, and socially sanctioned target,
one unable to strike back
Scapegoating
• Involves placing blame on others for something that is
not their fault
Scapegoating targets
• Groups that are disliked
• Groups that are visible
• Groups that are relatively powerless
• Aggression generally escalates as far as
societal norms allow (e.g., individual
attacks, lynching, ethnic cleansing,
genocide)
Table 4.1 Approaches to the Study of Prejudice
Approach
Concept
Example
Psychological
Self-justification
We blame others to justify our
mistreatment of them.
“They asked for it!”
Personality
Strict child rearing results in an
intolerant adult.
“I can’t stand people
who aren’t neat!”
Frustration
Unmet expectations lead to
finding a scapegoat.
“She didn’t deserve that
promotion. I did!”
Sociological
Socialization
We learn tolerance or intolerance
from others.
“They just not l like
us. They’re lazy!”
Economic
Competiton
We become hostile when we think
others are a threat.
“Immigrants take jobs
away from Americans!”
Social Norms
We learn to conform to prevailing
attitudes.
“Don’t be seen talking
to those people!”
Source: Page 91, Parillo, Understanding Race and Ethnic Relations (Fourth Edition)
The Sociology of Prejudice
• No single factor explains prejudice
• Prejudice is a complex phenomenon and is
•
most likely the product of more than one
causal agent
Sociologists tend to stress social forces
and processes such as
 Socialization
 Economic Competition
 Social Norms
Socialization
Socialization Process: Process whereby
individuals acquire the values, statuses,
attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions of the wider
culture
- Example: Jim Crow laws of the 1890’s and
early 20th century, which established segregated
public facilities throughout the South.
Subsequent generations of Southerners
accepted as proper.
Economic Competition
People tend to be more hostile towards others
when they feel their security is threatened.
Negative stereotyping, prejudice, and
discrimination increase markedly whenever
competition for jobs increases.
- Example: Chinese immigrant laborers working on the
transcontinental railroad during the 1870’s. Hostility
towards Chinese increased when economy worsened in
1873 (i.e. labeled the “Yellow menace”).
Social Norms
Social Norms: The socially shared rules
defining what is proper and improper. A direct
relationship exists between degree of
conformity and degree of prejudice.
- Example: Pettigrew study (1950) discovered that
Southerners in 1950’s who served in military
with Blacks generally had less prejudiced
attitudes then those Southern Whites who didn’t
in large part because military had less
prejudiced social norms.
Stereotyping
Stereotype
• An oversimplified generalization by which we attribute
certain traits or characteristics to a group without regard
to individual differences
Ethnophaulism
• A derogatory word or expression used to describe a
racial or ethnic group
Ethnic humor
• Likely to be favorably or unfavorably received
depending on listener’s attitude toward group being
ridiculed
INFLUENCE OF TELEVISION
Prejudice and the media
• George Gerbner’s exhaustive surveys of
•
•
media representations routinely show that
women and minorities appear in television
far less often than in reality
Similar examinations of magazine and
newspaper comics show women and
minorities significantly under- or misrepresented
1970’S U.S. Commission on Civil Rights:
Charged television industry with
perpetuating racial and gender stereotypes
Consequences of prejudiced
portrayals in the media
• We tend to accept or believe things we
•
•
see with great frequency
We cannot account for what we never
see represented (e.g. women aren’t or
can’t be leaders since we never see
them portrayed as leaders)
Debilitating impact on the self-concept
of those who are not represented
Selective Perception
• tendency of individuals to absorb
information that accords with their own
beliefs and rationalize information that
doesn’t.
Can Prejudice Be Reduced?
Two basic approaches to reducing prejudice
• Promoting interaction between dominant and
minority groups in all aspects of living, by either
voluntary or compulsory means
• Dispensing information that destroys
stereotypes and exposes rationalizations (selfjustifications)
Neither approach has been successful in all
instances
Diversity Training
• creation of workplace environment that
promotes positive intergroup interaction.
Studies find latter to be more efficient, have
higher morale, and retain experienced
personnel.
Chapter 4 Supplement: Racism,
Sexism, and Homophobia
Society: The Essentials, ch. 8 “Racial and Ethnic Inequality,” ch. 9 “Sex, Gender, Sexuality”, 7 th
Edition by Brinkerhoff, White, Ortega, and Weitz. Copyright  2008 by Thomson Wadsworth. All rights reserved.
Strangers To These Shores, ch. 14 “Sexual Orientation, Handicaps,10th Edition by Vincent Parillo.
Copyright  2011 by Pearson Education. All rights reserved.
Society: The Basics, ch. 6 “Sexuality”, 10th Edition by John Macionis.
Copyright  2009 by Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Prejudice
• Prejudice is an irrational, negative attitude
toward a category of people.
• Racism is the belief that inherited physical
characteristics associated with racial groups
determine individuals’ abilities and
characteristics and provide a legitimate basis
for unequal treatment.
Society: The Essentials, ch. 8 “Racial and Ethnic Inequality”
Prejudice and stereotypes are not limited
to ethnic group relationships.
• Many younger Americans stereotype older people as
hags, crones, dirty old men, and the like.
• Even when we admire elderly persons, we tend not to
see them as whole and unique individuals.
• When these stereotypes coalesce into prejudice, we refer
to it as ageism: the belief that older persons are less
capable and worthy than younger people.
Society: The Essentials, ch. 8 “Racial and Ethnic Inequality”
Conflict Theory:
Sexism and Discrimination
• According to conflict theorists, women’s
disadvantage benefit men and the capitalist
class.
• Sexism is the belief that women and men
have biologically different capacities that form
a legitimate basis for unequal treatment.
• Discrimination is the natural result of sexism.
Society: The Essentials, ch. 9 “Sex, Gender, Sexuality”
Why Women and Men Have
Different Jobs
• Gendered Occupations - Lower paying jobs
tend to be “women’s work”.
• Different qualifications - Women are less
likely to have as much experience or
education as men.
• Discrimination works against women’s
options in the world of work.
Society: The Essentials, ch. 9 “Sex, Gender, Sexuality”
Unequal Power in Social
Institutions
• Women’s subordinate position is built into
most social institutions.
• In colleges, women’s basketball coaches are
paid less than men’s basketball coaches.
• In politics, prejudice against women leaders
remains strong, and women still comprise
only a minority of major elected officials in the
United States and around the world.
Society: The Essentials, ch. 9 “Sex, Gender, Sexuality”
Unequal Power in Interaction
• Studies of informal conversations show that men
regularly dominate women in verbal interaction.
• Men take up more of the speaking time, they interrupt
women more often, and most important, they
interrupt more successfully.
• Women are more placating and less assertive in
conversation than men, and women are more likely to
state their opinions as questions.
Society: The Essentials, ch. 9 “Sex, Gender, Sexuality”
Sexual Harassment
• Sexual harassment includes unwelcome
sexual advances, requests for sexual favors,
and other unwanted verbal or physical
conduct of a sexual nature.
• Although estimates vary depending on the
definition and sample used, as many as half
of all working women probably experience
sexual harassment during their lifetime.
Society: The Essentials, ch. 9 “Sex, Gender, Sexuality”
The Feminist Movement
• Women and men have taken to the streets—as well
as to the courts—to fight to improve women’s lives.
Society: The Essentials, ch. 9 “Sex, Gender, Sexuality”
 Homophobia
 Discomfort over close personal interaction
with people thought to be gay, lesbian, or
bisexual
Society: The Basics, 10th Edition by John Macionis
Copyright  2009 by Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
HOMOSEXUALITY IN THE
UNITED STATES
Openness about being homosexual was
uncommon in the United States prior to
the 1960s, except in major cities, where
strong subcultures thrived.
Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo
©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved
HOMOSEXUALITY IN THE
UNITED STATES
The homophobia of the 1950s and the
resulting stigma and harm that could result
from openness about their sexual
preference led many homosexuals to
adopt a low profile despite the efforts of
activist organizers in several cities.
CURRENT ISSUES
As of 2010, same-sex marriages were
legally permissible in 21 countries,
including all 50 states in the US; eight
European countries allow civil unions or
domestic partnerships.
How Many Gay People Are There?
 Hard question to answer
 People are not always willing to discuss their
sexuality with strangers or even family members
 Some social scientists estimate 10%
 How homosexuality is defined makes a big
difference
 Less than 1% describe themselves as bisexual
 Many do not think of themselves as gay or straight
 Behavior reflects elements of gay and straight living
Society: The Basics, 10th Edition by John Macionis
Copyright  2009 by Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Figure 6.3 (p. 159)
Share of the U.S. Population
that is Homosexual
The percentage of people who are classified
as having a homosexual orientation depends
on how this concept is operationalized.
Research suggests that 2.8 percent of adult
men and 1.4 percent of adult women claim a
homosexual identity.
Source: Adapted from Laumann et al. (1994).
Society: The Basics, 10th Edition by John Macionis
Copyright  2009 by Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
The Gay Rights Movement
 Change in public attitudes toward
homosexuality is a result of the Gay Rights
Movement
 1973 – American Psychiatric Association
 Homosexuality is not an illness but “a form of
sexual behavior”
Society: The Basics, 10th Edition by John Macionis
Copyright  2009 by Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.