Prejudice and Discrimination

Prejudice and Discrimination

When people hear the term discrimination or prejudice, they immediately assume that you are referring so someone's ethnic background, gender, sexual orientation or handicap. However, it is also as simple as children saying that the new kid in class is weird and everyone agreeing. That child has now been discriminated against because his behavior is not in line with that of the other children. Prejudice is also not just aligned toward people, but could also be about a certain food. For instance, a child looks at his plate of broccoli and thinks "yuck, I'm not eating that. I hate it." yet the child hasn't ever tasted it before. Because it doesn't look appealing to him or her, they automatically assume that they won't like it (Bowman-Kruhm & Wirths, 1998).

Another concept that is widely used to describe discrimination is Social dominance theory (SDT). SDT begins with the observation that human societies are structured as group-based social groups that enjoy a positive social value, such as wealth, privilege, power and status while subordinate groups suffer from negative social value such as poverty (Oskamp, 2000). One's religion, gender, race, sexuality, age or political stance can also be a basis for someone's prejudice towards them and is a form of discrimination.

While discrimination and prejudice has greatly improved since the 1950's - 1970's, it is still a widely debated topic and cause of concern. Older workers are being discriminated in the workplace, gay and lesbian couples are not allowed to marry in some states, racial profiling is still used (even more prevalent since the 9/11 attacks) and gender bias is also used when hiring women for jobs that have always been designated a "man's" occupation only.

In order for the gender, race, age inequality to improve, children must be taught at a very young age to not judge others. Of course, this is easier said than done, but one way that this can be accomplished is by using multiculturalism to teach children in school (Macionis, 2008). By creating educational programs that teach cultural diversity, there is a better chance that children will not be quick to judge others. This concept must also expand to adults or what the child learns in school may be lost when they get home because their parents, siblings or other relatives may not agree with what they are taught.

Additionally, laws need to be enacted that make everyone equal. There has to be some sort of punishment to corporations that discriminate. Right now the laws are so blurred that there are ways that corporations can get away from being punished for discrimination. New laws and guidelines need to be created to not make it easy for discrimination to be swept under the rug. Until the country as a whole takes a stand against prejudice and discrimination, it unfortunately