Prejudice

If someone is acting on their prejudices, they are pre-judging (hence the term ‘prejudice’)
someone before they even get a chance to know them on a deeper level. This is an irrational
attitude and mindset and one that does no good for anyone involved. For example, a person
might have a lot of preconceived ideas about someone who is Christian, Muslim, or Jewish and
will allow those judgements to affect the way they view and treat those people. The same can
be true for people who are Black, White, or Asian.Common features of prejudice
include:1 Negative feelings:2 Stereotyped beliefs:3 A tendency to discriminate against members
of a group. In society, we often see prejudices toward a group based on race, sex, religion,
culture, and more.While specific definitions of prejudice given by social scientists often differ,
most agree that it involves prejudgments that are usually negative about members of a group .
Types of Prejudice

As mentioned, a prejudiced attitude can be based on a number of factors, including sex, race,
age, sexual orientation, nationality, socioeconomic status, and religion. Some of the most well-
known types of prejudice include the following.

1. Racism- Racism is prejudice and discrimination against an individual based solely on

one’s membership in a specific racial group (such as toward African Americans, Asian
Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, European Americans). What are some
stereotypes of various racial or ethnic groups? Research suggests cultural stereotypes
for Asian Americans include cold, sly, and intelligent; for Latinos, cold and unintelligent;
for European Americans, cold and intelligent; and for African Americans, aggressive,
athletic, and more likely to be law breakers
2. Sexism - Sexism is prejudice and discrimination toward individuals based on their sex.
Typically, sexism takes the form of men holding biases against women, but either sex
can show sexism toward their own or their opposite sex. Like racism, sexism may be
subtle and difficult to detect. Common forms of sexism in modern society include
gender role expectations, such as expecting women to be the caretakers of the
household. Sexism also includes people’s expectations for how members of a gender
group should behave. For example, women are expected to be friendly, passive, and
nurturing, and when women behave in an unfriendly, assertive, or neglectful manner
they often are disliked for violating their gender role (Rudman, 1998)
3. Ageism- People often form judgments and hold expectations about people based on
their age. These judgments and expectations can lead to ageism, or prejudice and
discrimination toward individuals based solely on their age. Typically, ageism occurs
 against older adults, but ageism also can occur toward younger adults. Think of
expectations you hold for older adults.
4. Classism
5. Homophobia
6. Nationalism
7. Religious prejudice
8. Xenophobia

Prejudice Negatively Affects All Parties

When people hold prejudicial attitudes toward others, they tend to view everyone who fits into
a certain group as being “all the same.” They paint every individual who holds particular
characteristics or beliefs with a very broad brush and fail to really look at each person as a
unique individual.This has a very strong influence on how people behave and interact with
those who are different from them.

Why Prejudice Occurs

There’s no clear answer on why prejudice exists and the reality is that a number of factors
come into play. According to psychologist Gordon Allport, prejudice and stereotypes emerge in
part as a result of normal human thinking.5 In order to make sense of the world around us, it’s
important to sort information into mental categories.“The human mind must think with the aid
of categories,” Allport explained in his book, The Nature of Prejudice. “Once formed, categories
are the basis for normal prejudgment. We cannot possibly avoid this process. Orderly living
depends upon it.”In other words, we often depend upon our ability to place people, ideas, and
objects into different categories in order to make the world easier to understand.

Fighting Against Prejudice

One of the first ways to do this is to understand and accept that it happens. By being aware of
your own natural tendency to be biased (and it’s something we all experience whether
consciously or not), you’ll be able to catch yourself more easily “in the act” and self-correct
Other techniques that are used to reduce prejudice include:
1. Thinking about the fact that others are likely prejudiced against you and sitting with how
it feels to be pre-judged based on something as simple as your skin color, religion, sex,
or age
2. Educating yourself about other groups, which includes learning about common
stereotypes against them
3. Spending more time with members of other groups
4. Having open conversations about the human tendency to practice prejudice
5. Advocating for laws and regulations that require fair and equal treatment for all groups
of people