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Discrimination : An Understanding Of The Term Discrimination

Decent Essays

In order to understand what theories best explain the process of discrimination it is important to have an understanding of the term discrimination. The research shows that discrimination occurs when you are treated less favourably than another person.
Thompson suggests (2006, pg13) discrimination is when:
‘A person or group suffer a detriment because they are identified as different in terms of gender, race/ethnicity, and sexual identity and so on’.
It could be said that Thompson is aware of the various areas of discrimination such as racism; sexism and ageism however these are only examples of how discrimination manifests itself for people and what Thompson research suggests does not look at the causal factors. As individuals we would expect to be treated fairly and as an equal. Equality is about fairness in society regardless, for example, of a person’s social background or disabilities. With the ability to recognise that historically certain groups of people with particular characteristics for example race, sexuality and religious beliefs have experienced direct discrimination. When picking up a national or local newspaper or turning on the television we see and hear examples of discrimination and oppression occurring.
We can recognise some aspects of oppression but many are embedded into everyday existence and quite often go unnoticed. Where I currently work for example has no disabled access to our upstairs training room. This seriously puts an environmental

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