Discrimination

Understanding Discrimination Relative Deprivation Conscious experience of a negative discrepancy Between legitimate expectation & present actuality Absolute Deprivation Standard minimum level of subsistence below which families should not be expected to exist © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Understanding Discrimination Denial of opportunities & equal rights to individuals and groups Because of prejudice or for other arbitrary reasons Total Discrimination Combination of current discrimination with past discrimination © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Hate Crimes Race apparent motivation for the bias in approximately 51 percent of the reports, Religion, sexual orientation, & ethnicity accounted for 11–20% each Vandalism & intimidation most common crimes Crime against people: 58 percent of incidents involved assault, rape, or murder © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Institutional Discrimination The denial of opportunities and equal rights to individuals and groups Results from normal operations of a society Institutional forms of discrimination are committed collectively against a group May be unconscious - it is not a function of awareness of discrimination © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Examples of Institutional Discrimination Standards for assessing credit risks do not work for Hispanics and African Americans IQ testing favors middle-class children Many jobs eliminate a person with felony records or past drug offenses, Which disproportionately reduces employment opportunities for people of color © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Examples of Institutional Discrimination The criminal justice system is dominated by Whites Find it difficult to understand life in poverty Hiring practices often require several years of experience at jobs Only recently opened to members of subordinate groups © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Discrimination Hits the Wallet Informal Economy (Irregular/Underground Economy) Transfers of money, goods, or services that are not reported to the government Irregular economy - operates outside the boundaries of the regular economy Job stability, wages, working conditions or benefits © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Discrimination Hits the Wallet Regular labor market operates according to the principles of the conventional labor market Dual Labor Market Model According to this model, minorities have been relegated to the informal economy Informal economy offers few safeguards against fraud or malpractice © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Discrimination Hits the Wallet Few fringe benefits such as stability, wages, health insurance, and pension Criticized for promoting unfair and dangerous working conditions Workers are ill prepared to enter the regular economy permanently © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Discrimination Today Discrimination is widespread in the U.S. Sometimes results from prejudices held by individuals, but more significantly: Is found in institutional discrimination and the presence of the informal economy © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Discrimination Today Quantifying discrimination is problematic 1. Identifying the different treatment of minorities 2. Determining the cost of discrimination Distribution of income as a measure of discrimination © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Eliminating Discrimination Two major sources for the elimination of discrimination: Governmental agencies and policies Roosevelt’s 1943 and the Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC) Supreme court decision - 1954 Brown v. Board of Education © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Eliminating Discrimination Voluntary associations State’s Rights Each state is sovereign in most of its affairs And has the right to order them without interference from the federal government Since 1964, several acts and amendments have been made to the Civil Rights Act © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Eliminating Discrimination To cover the many areas of discrimination left untouched; Criminal Justice and Housing Redlining The pattern of discrimination against people: Trying to buy homes in minority and racially changing neighborhoods Applied to areas other than housing © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Wealth Inequality: Discrimination’s Legacy Past discrimination carries into the present and future No inherited wealth is element of the past Less opportunity of Blacks to accumulate assets © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Wealth Inequality: Discrimination’s Legacy Income Salaries and wages Wealth Encompasses all a person’s assets, land, stocks, and other types of property © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Environmental Justice Efforts to ensure that hazardous substances are controlled so that: All communities receive protection regardless of race or socioeconomic circumstance Issues of environmental justice not limited to metropolitan areas © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Environmental Justice Abuse of Native American reservation land Tribal lands regarded as dumping grounds for toxic waste that go to the highest bidder Controversy within the scientific community over potential hazards Complexity of the issues in terms of social class and race are apparent © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Environmental Justice Executive order (1994) Requires all federal agencies to ensure that low-income and minority communities have: Access to better information about their environment and have an opportunity in shaping: Government policies that affect their community’s health © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Affirmative Action Positive effort to recruit subordinate-group members, including women Jobs, promotions, & educational opportunities Today, has become a catchall term for racial preference programs and goals Lightning rod for opposition to programs that suggest consideration of women/minorities © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Affirmative Action Explained Has been viewed as an important tool for reducing institutional discrimination Federal measures aimed at procedures that deny equal opportunities, even if: Not intended to be overtly discriminatory Lack of minority-group/female employees may in itself represent unlawful exclusion © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Examples of Affirmative Action and Institutional Discrimination Height & weight requirements that are: Unnecessarily geared to the physical proportions of White males Seniority rules, when applied to jobs historically held only by white males Nepotism-based membership policies Restrictive employment leave policies © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Examples of Affirmative Action and Institutional Discrimination Rules requiring only English be spoken at the workplace Standardized academic tests or criteria Preferences shown by law and medical schools Credit policies of banks and lending institutions © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Legal Debate In the 1978 Bakke case (Regents of the University of California v Bakke) By a narrow 5-4 vote, ordered the medical school of the University of California at Davis To admit Allan Bakke, a qualified White engineer who had originally been denied admission Solely on the basis of his race © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Reverse Discrimination An emotional term because it conjures up the notion that somehow: Women and minorities will subject White men in the U.S. to the same treatment received by: Minorities during the last three centuries © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Reverse Discrimination Supporters of affirmative action Informal social networks, personal recommendations & family ties White men will have a distinct advantage built on generations of being in positions of power © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Glass Ceiling Barrier that blocks the promotion of a qualified worker Because of gender or minority membership Block lateral moves to areas from which executives are promoted Contribute to women not moving to decision-making positions in nation’s corp. giants © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Glass Ceiling Determinants of the Glass Ceiling Lack of management commitment to establishing system, policies, and practices For achieving workplace diversity and upward mobility Pay inequities for work of equal or comparable value © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Glass Ceiling Sex, race, and ethnic-based stereotyping and harassment Unfair recruitment practices Lack of family-friendly workplace policies “Parent-track” policies Limited opportunities for advancement to decision-making positions © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Glass Ceiling Glass Escalator Refers to the male advantage experienced in occupations dominated by women Men who chose to enter female-dominated occupations are often rewarded with Promotions and positions of responsibility coveted by their fellow female workers © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.