Prejudice Essays - Discrimination, Abuse, Anti-social Behaviour

Prejudice Prejudice has been apart of human beings since the beginning of time. People hold disparaging views towards other groups because of sex, race, color and religious beliefs. If our society hopes to move forward and continue to be productive, prejudice must stop. In a time when the world is advanced as it ever has been, prejudice still remains a major problem. Discovering the roots of prejudice, and being able to understand prejudice views, we as a society will be able to find solutions to stop it. To understand prejudice, we must first consider all the factors that contribute towards it, and then find a way to counter these factors one by one. Prejudice 3 The Roots of Prejudice There is no simple one-word answer to the question of what causes people to be prejudice. The result of prejudice stems from many complex mixtures of environmental factors, upbringing, media, economic status, and finally experiences. With this being stated, what is the main factor for prejudice, and what can we as a society do to overcome prejudice views? When prejudice is mentioned, one tends to think of white and black conflict, but prejudice views can also be held about women, age, religion, and other ethnic people. To begin to understand the roots of prejudice, it must first be defined. Prejudice is an attitude held toward the member of some group, based solely on their membership in that group. How people develop their attitudes and stereotypes of other people is where the root of prejudice begins. By learning how and why prejudice views take root, society will learn to change these negative opinions. Groups of people who hold prejudice outlooks about other groups of people tend to process information about these groups differently from the way they process information about other groups. The individual traits and behaviors do not affect how they are viewed, unless their behavior reinforces the prejudice opinion already held. There is a belief in our society today that things are much better racially now then a hundred years ago. The media portrays this idea daily. This statement can be classified as being somewhat true, but we as a society still have a long way to go to achieve racial harmony. Development of Prejudice There is still an enormous public display and denial of prejudice in our society. According to Earl Hutchinson: The most dangerous example of public racial denial is the militia and patriot movements. Prejudice 4 They depict themselves as"anti-government activists" fighting to preserve American freedoms. They exorcised derogatory references to blacks, Jews, Asians, Gays, and Feminists from their public statements and writings. The media and some civil rights and liberties groups back them up and print their writings. These groups may differ in tactics from the old Klan, Nazi Party, and John Birch Society, but they still unite three points: White Christians must rule America, the federal government is the enemy, and violence is the only accepted means to gain control. (1996, p.87) When the media covers these groups, they give them free publicity and a chance to be heard. Opinions are not only formed from the news, but also from television, magazines, and radio. For a long time, there were very few programs that portrayed blacks, Asian, Gays and other ethnic people in a positive manner on television. Even today, there can be an argument that very few television shows are geared towards minority races. For example, look at the popular shows "Friends", "Frazier", and "The X-Files", none of which have a main minority character. By not having a positively portrayed minority on these shows, the media is helping prejudice. Media, television and radio are all contributing factors towards prejudice views, but not the only factors. The Tradition of Prejudice People learn from a young age to form opinions, values, beliefs, and stereotypes from their parents. Because parents and environment play such a major role in children's upbringing, it should be pointed out that this is one of the main contributing factors towards forming prejudice views. When children hear their parents saying something prejudice, or observe them acting a certain way towards a group, the child begins to form the same opinions. By forming the same Prejudice 5 beliefs as their parents, they are inheriting prejudice behavior. Their environment plays just as an important role in forming prejudice views. Children who come from a poor isolated area have fewer experiences to draw their own differing opinions from their parents. When a child comes from a more educated, less isolated environment, they have more experiences to draw Prejudice Essays - Discrimination, Abuse, Anti-social Behaviour Prejudice Prejudice has been apart of human beings since the beginning of time. People hold disparaging views towards other groups because of sex, race, color and religious beliefs. If our society hopes to move forward and continue to be productive, prejudice must stop. In a time when the world is advanced as it ever has been, prejudice still remains a major problem. Discovering the roots of prejudice, and being able to understand prejudice views, we as a society will be able to find solutions to stop it. To understand prejudice, we must first consider all the factors that contribute towards it, and then find a way to counter these factors one by one. Prejudice 3 The Roots of Prejudice There is no simple one-word answer to the question of what causes people to be prejudice. The result of prejudice stems from many complex mixtures of environmental factors, upbringing, media, economic status, and finally experiences. With this being stated, what is the main factor for prejudice, and what can we as a society do to overcome prejudice views? When prejudice is mentioned, one tends to think of white and black conflict, but prejudice views can also be held about women, age, religion, and other ethnic people. To begin to understand the roots of prejudice, it must first be defined. Prejudice is an attitude held toward the member of some group, based solely on their membership in that group. How people develop their attitudes and stereotypes of other people is where the root of prejudice begins. By learning how and why prejudice views take root, society will learn to change these negative opinions. Groups of people who hold prejudice outlooks about other groups of people tend to process information about these groups differently from the way they process information about other groups. The individual traits and behaviors do not affect how they are viewed, unless their behavior reinforces the prejudice opinion already held. There is a belief in our society today that things are much better racially now then a hundred years ago. The media portrays this idea daily. This statement can be classified as being somewhat true, but we as a society still have a long way to go to achieve racial harmony. Development of Prejudice There is still an enormous public display and denial of prejudice in our society. According to Earl Hutchinson: The most dangerous example of public racial denial is the militia and patriot movements. Prejudice 4 They depict themselves as"anti-government activists" fighting to preserve American freedoms. They exorcised derogatory references to blacks, Jews, Asians, Gays, and Feminists from their public statements and writings. The media and some civil rights and liberties groups back them up and print their writings. These groups may differ in tactics from the old Klan, Nazi Party, and John Birch Society, but they still unite three points: White Christians must rule America, the federal government is the enemy, and violence is the only accepted means to gain control. (1996, p.87) When the media covers these groups, they give them free publicity and a chance to be heard. Opinions are not only formed from the news, but also from television, magazines, and radio. For a long time, there were very few programs that portrayed blacks, Asian, Gays and other ethnic people in a positive manner on television. Even today, there can be an argument that very few television shows are geared towards minority races. For example, look at the popular shows "Friends", "Frazier", and "The X-Files", none of which have a main minority character. By not having a positively portrayed minority on these shows, the media is helping prejudice. Media, television and radio are all contributing factors towards prejudice views, but not the only factors. The Tradition of Prejudice People learn from a young age to form opinions, values, beliefs, and stereotypes from their parents. Because parents and environment play such a major role in children's upbringing, it should be pointed out that this is one of the main contributing factors towards forming prejudice views. When children hear their parents saying something prejudice, or observe them acting a certain way towards a group, the child begins to form the same opinions. By forming the same Prejudice 5 beliefs as their parents, they are inheriting prejudice behavior. Their environment plays just as an important role in forming prejudice views. Children who come from a poor isolated area have fewer experiences to draw their own differing opinions from their parents. When a child comes from a more educated, less isolated environment, they have more experiences to draw