Essay On Racial Prejudice

Ethnicity is characterized as the perceived belief that there is a commonality within a group may it be culture, language, religion, and/or history. They go on and state Schermerhorn’s definition of ethnic groups as those who are self-conscience of their identity

Race and Ethnicity – Race is a concept used to differ population groups on the basis of physical characteristics. Races used by the government for statistical purposes are Alaskan Native, American Indian, Asian or Pacific Islander, Black, White, and Unknown. Ethnicity is a concept used to differ population on the basis of cultural characteristics or geographical origins. Ethnic designations used by the government for statistical purposes are of a Hispanic origin o nor of Hispanic origin, and Unknown.

The definition of prejudice may vary among the different psychologist but most will agree that prejudice has something to do with prejudgment, typically negative, about a group. (Fiskie, 1998; Jones, 1997; Nelson, 2002 ). According to Plous (2003), Prejudice is not exactly considered an opinion, but an attitude which includes feeling such as hating the group, rather than believing they’re bad. Within psychology, we can link prejudice with discrimination and stereotyping (Plous, 2003). Although each may go together, they can be done separately. Prejudice and discrimination are most likely absent in a positive stereo type (Plous, 2013). For example describing an ethnic group as “family oriented”. Stereo typing does little to no harm without discrimination or prejudice. A generalized form of prejudice may lack discrimination and stereo types, such as being against foreigners.

Race: Is your biological features this can include your skin color, eye and hair color, as well as a tendency toward developing certain diseases. Race can’t be changed or disguised. Race does not have customs or globally learned behaviors. In other words race refers to only your genetic history and identifiable physical characteristics that are separate and distinct from other races. For example Hispanics are always generalized as Puerto Rican. Skin color does not

“The unemployment rate among blacks is about double among whites, as it has been for more than six decades” (Desilver). Some say that prejudice can still be seen in the modern world today. Prejudice is when a negative assumption is made about a person because they have a different opinion, race, or religion than others. In the modern world many people still have negative viewpoints towards people with no reasoning. Prejudice are not only seen today but also seen in 1933 in Maycomb, Alabama.

Throughout my research, the one thing that I am certain of is that the term “race” is the most complex word in the world. To this day, many people are divided on whether “Race” is a real concept. “Race” has many definitions, but the way I believe most people define it in today’s society is “A group or set of people or things with a common feature or features.” Most people including myself confuse the word “Race” with Ethnicity. However, the two words are very different. The definition of Ethnicity is “the fact or state of belonging to a social group that has a common national or cultural tradition.” The two words are distinguished from one another by their meanings. One of them represents outer appearances of populations and the other represents the cultural views of populations.

Prejudice is a hostile or negative attitude toward people who are in a distinguishable group that is based solely on their membership within that group. It has three components: cognitive, affective, and behavioral. The cognitive component of prejudice consist of stereotypes, generalizations about a group where characteristics are believed to be shared by all in the group. Examples of this would be believing that all Muslims are terrorists, all Asians must be smart, and all Americans are lazy. While stereotypes are used to save time and energy, they are sometimes wrong for the group and often wrong for individuals. The affective component involve the emotional/judgmental aspect of prejudice. It is based only on group membership and is typically negative. It is exhibited in fear, envy, pity, or disgust. The behavioral component consists of discrimination, which is when people are treated differently only because of their social group.

Despite global increases in diversity, social prejudices continue to fuel intergroup conflict, disparities and discrimination (Amodio, 2014). What exactly is prejudice tendencies and how can one avoid it? One of the most common types of prejudice is racial. Racial prejudice is based upon negative preconceived notions of select racial groups with the assumption that all members of a particular racial group can be categorized with the same negative characteristics (Gassner & McGuigan, 2014). To better understand prejudice I took the “Test Yourself for Hidden Biases” questionnaire on race. I have to say that I was not impressed with how this test was used to find out if you have unconscious prejudice towards African Americans. The test

Race is a way to categorize people with similarly perceived biological characteristics into one labeled group. However, race has no biological standing, as race highly “depends on our social location [and] on who is doing the [classification]” (Henslin, 2015, p. 266). Ethnicity averts from race in that ethnicity exemplifies the ancestry and cultural heritage in which one affiliates themselves with. A “sense of belonging may center on their nation or region of origin, distinctive foods, clothing, language, music, religion, or family names and relationships” (Henslin, 2015, p. 266). Both race and ethnicity are exceedingly interchanged with one another even though the terms have different meanings. A great example of this misinterpretation of race and ethnicity is the Jewish “race.” “Jews […] are more properly considered an ethnic group, since it is their cultural characteristics, especially their religion, that bind them together” (Henslin, 2015, p. 266-267). Despite the fact that race and ethnicity are distinctive ideas, they do come together in the way of identifying one group from another; whether it be by characteristics or cultural heritage. Race and ethnicity are also similar in that a person can identify with multiple ethnicities or races; as they may have two parents from different cultures. Albeit, race and ethnicity are related in ways, but they still

Race and ethnicity By: Jewel Ahamed Race, as we know it, is based on one’s physical appearance, mostly skin color. Ethnicity is the cultural background of a person. Race and ethnicity are big issues in this country, one problem in particular are the many stereotypes that people face because of their race and ethnicity. These stereotypes have been around for years and they are still present in society today.

If we take a look at prejudice, which can be defined as socially shared judgement or evaluation of the group including feelings with judgement (Fiske, 2010). Prejudice is one that addresses both explicit and implicit nature (Crisp & Turner, 2010). It can also be based upon a number of factors that are effective from a social perspective as well. Some of the factors that can lead to prejudice is sex, race, age, and also sexual orientation. Some of the issues that occur may be pertaining to racism, sexism, classicism, homophobia, nationalism, and also religious prejudice as well. It can occur when stereotype is put into motion, which leads to a negative outcome. It can be looked at as an attitude, thus has affective, cognitive behavioral component as well. Prejudice has the ability to affect all of us, which include majority group members as well as minority. Gordon Allport discusses prejudice and stereotypes, emerges in part as a result of normal human thinking.

Devine, P. (1989). Stereotypes and prejudice: Their automatic and controlled components. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 5-18.

People are usually categorized in terms of race and/or ethnicity. Race is a term typically used to classify people according to similar and specific physical characteristics. Ethnicity is a term more broadly used that connects people according to an inherited status such as: a shared ancestry, language, history, religion, cuisine, art, clothing style, and/or physical appearance, etc.

In contrast to the idea of race, Ethnicity refers to ethnic affiliation, or the “cultural practices and outlooks of a given community of people that set them apart from others” (Giddens, 1997:210). Members of a particular ethnic group see themselves as culturally distinct from other groups of people in a society or culture. There are different characteristics which serve as a way of

Throughout history, and in today’s society, race has been a debated topic. Even today the question about whether race influences intelligence, athletic ability, and creativeness is still discussed. Through scientific research it is known that race contributes nothing to how a person thinks, feels, or acts and that is it society that creates these standards. When looking into the past there was much controversy about blacks and their self worth. According to the Thomas Jefferson’s article “Notes on the State of Virginia” blacks and whites are naturally different and fixed by nature. In other words blacks are naturally not as intelligent as whites, but today’s knowledge argues, and proves, otherwise. There is also