STEREOTYPES, PREJUDICE AND DISCRIMINATION LIVED EXPERIENCES OF RACE IN SOCIETY

STEREOTYPES Stereotypes are oversimplified generalizations about groups of people. Stereotypes can be based on race, ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation—almost any characteristic. They may be positive (usually about one’s own group, such as when women suggest they are less likely to complain about physical pain) but are often negative (usually toward other groups, such as when members of a dominant racial group suggest that a subordinate racial group is stupid or lazy). In either case, the stereotype is a generalization that doesn’t take individual differences into account.

PREJUDICE Prejudice refers to the beliefs, thoughts, feelings, and attitudes someone holds about a group. A prejudice is not based on experience; instead, it is a prejudgment, originating outside actual experience. Prejudice is a negative attitude based on faulty generalizations about members of selected racial and ethnic groups. Prejudice is rooted in ethnocentrism and stereotype. Ethnocentrism refers to the tendency to see one's own culture as the standard and all others as inferior. Ethnocentrism is maintained via stereotype.

RACISM racism is a stronger type of prejudice used to justify the belief that one racial category is somehow superior or inferior to others; it is also a set of practices used by a racial majority to disadvantage a racial minority. Racism is a set of attitudes, beliefs, and practices that are used to justify the superior treatment of one racial or ethnic group and the inferior treatment of another group.

DISCRIMINATION While prejudice refers to biased thinking, discrimination consists of actions against a group of people. Discrimination can be based on age, religion, health, and other indicators; race-based laws against discrimination strive to address this set of social problems.

SUMMARY  Prejudice: a rigid and unfair generalization about an entire category of people Stereotype: a simplified description applied to every person in some category Racism: (powerful and harmful form of prejudice) belief that one racial category is innately superior or inferior to another.  Discrimination is defined as actions or practices of dominant group members that have a harmful impact on members of a subordinate group.

RACISM: TYPES Racism is not a modern phenomenon; even the earliest civilizations had examples of racism. Racism may be overt openly expressed. May take the form of public statements about the inferiority of members of a racial or ethnic group subtle; often hidden from sight and more difficult to prove. This does not mean overt racist talk that is just done in your conservative uncles kitchen… May seem to take the form of a compliment or often connect to something “natural” Racism tends to intensify in times of economic uncertainty and with high rates of immigration.

MANY FORMS OF RACISM AND DISCRIMINATION Overt discrimination Embedded or the “social fact” of racism Individual discrimination (racial steering) Institutional discrimination Embedded disenfranchisement White privilege Racial beliefs and practices harder to pin down than specific racist practices