Prejudice And Discrimination In South Africa

Discrimination and prejudice are widely known in United States history. In the 1960's the civil rights movement demanded legislation and passed laws, which banned discrimination. Five decades later, it still continues in our society. Discrimination and prejudice occur when a group of people feel they are superior to another, and can be based on a person's color, race, national origin, religion, sex and gay couples.

Prejudice and discrimination are linked, however they are different terms, prejudice comprises of preconceived negative thoughts or beliefs about individuals who belong to a particular group, whereas discrimination is bigoted behaviour or action that is motivated by unfair beliefs.

What are the causes of discrimination? Discrimination covers any scenario where an individual or company treats a person or group of people unfairly due to a particular characteristic. The most commonly referred to typesof discrimination include prejudicial behavior that is based on skin color,gender,disability,religion or sexual orientation. However, discrimination can be based on any attribute that is viewed as marking the victim out as being different. For example, discrimination might be on the basis of age,weight,height,nationality, or any number of attributes. In order to tackle this hurtful and damaging behavior, it is important to identify the causes of discrimination. Discrimination is often based on ignorance,fear and stereotypical viewpoints. For example, religious and/or sectarian discrimination is often fuelled by people living and working in separate communities and therefore not having ample opportunity to interact with people from other groups. Resource: “Life 123”

Prejudice and discrimination are linked, however they are different terms, prejudice comprises of preconceived negative thoughts or beliefs about individuals who belong to a particular group, whereas discrimination is bigoted behaviour or action that is motivated by unfair beliefs.

Prejudice can sometimes be confused with ethnocentrism. Prejudiced individuals and ethnocentric individuals have developed a negative attitude towards an object from a personal belief based on the differences of a racial, religious or ethnic group. Ethnocentric individuals believe that they are better than other individuals for reasons based on their heritage, while prejudiced individuals may not act on their attitude. Therefore, someone can be prejudiced towards a certain group but not thinking that they are better than the

Discrimination is the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex. Prejudice affects a multitude of minority groups and often makes it more difficult for them to get ahead in life. Discrimination is the most critical issue facing many cultures today because it leads to loss of cultural identity and alienation.

Stereotypes are a streamlined idea of a certain group which can eventually spread prejudice which is a belief on a group of people. The difference is that stereotypes can be formed by experiences whereas prejudices are people taking a stereotype and believing it, but they do not have experience on a certain group. For example, a person may have seen that some Mexicans act rough and messy, but that person could share their experiences with other people who may not know Mexicans well. As a result, other people will take that stereotype and believe it, forming a prejudice inside their mind. If they were to meet a Mexican person, they would just assume that they are all rough and messy, despite having no prior experiences with Mexicans. Discrimination can consist of actions done to a group of people. Discrimination is not the same as Racism as discrimination is the unequal treatment of a person based on their race. Racism is a stronger type of prejudice that is used to claim that one race is superior to other races. An example of Racism is the Ku Klux Klan as their members believe whites are superior to any other race. They do not discriminate by mistreating other races. Instead, they spread hate speech and commit hate crimes to try to show that whites are better than other races.

Of course, the child negative emotions such frustration, anger and hostility towars the parents cannot be released by them, therefore they try to release it towards the weak and lack of power, such as the minority groups (Nesdale). Children’s prejudice reflects the community’s attitude and behaviour, which are usually displayed by the parents. Therefore, children start learning attitudes toward the minority by observing and imitating their parents or reinforcing this kind of behaviour for rewards (Kinder and Sears,

The current racial and ethnic problems are few. But discrimination may not only occur between different ethnic groups, discrimination can be also in daily life practiced . The work place, for instance, a few bosses neglect to hire individuals as result of who they are. Or some might gain promotions over other people , As well as in public spots , when people are treated disrespectfully in public places like restaurants , markets , hospitals and sport facilities because they look like or have a few attributes that others are not happy with . Education also might be discriminatory , Children from ethnic minorities have been denied admission, or scholarships, or have been excluded from educational programs.

Prejudice is in our world because people sometimes believe what they hear without having any experience or knowledge of

Almost everywhere you turn; you see some form of discrimination. Research shows that the effect of racial discrimination is greater on people that care about succeeding. Being discriminated can be a turning point in someone's life. It can cause them emotional trauma and mental health effects. Discrimination and stereotyping results in the most significant harm to an individual's personality or mentality. The people that discriminate or stereotype usually choose scapegoats on whom to take out their frustration and aggression. They almost always choose those who are seen as weaker or inferior to

People think that racism and discrimination doesn’t exist anymore, but surprisingly they do; both existed throughout human history. Discrimination may be defined as a negative, harmful behaviour toward people based on their group membership. Whereas prejudice which is an opinion rather than a fact; is a negative attitude toward members of a group, that is often very strongly held. Stereotypes are individuals' beliefs that members of a group share particular attributes; someone might think that Arabs are terrorists, or doctors are intelligent and compassionate.

A pervasive trait in my generation regarding school, social media, appearance, status, and college, which often makes us lose the big picture, create unhealthy stress for ourselves, and lose an essential part of living, self empathy and connection. In addition, it perpetuates comparisons to others and the formation of relationships with those around us in a meaningful way because we are so invested in scoring the highest mark on that test, instead of taking time to help out a fellow classmate. Because we need to take the perfect picture at a concert instead of allowing the music to envelope our sense in the moment. Because I was too invested in one test grade, I was not willing listen to those around me and figure out a

Apartheid, the strict division between white and colored people, for South Africans has always been a big issue. The man who stopped difficult ways of life for people and communities in South Africa was also their president, Nelson Mandela. Nelson Mandela was a man who put his life on the line to bring people together. He was involved with organizations that would eventually help to end apartheid throughout his life and lead countless amounts of peaceful acts that put an end to this divide. Mandela was even arrested for what he was trying to accomplish. It was difficult, but once he was released from prison, he finished what he and many others had started, he put a stop to apartheid. Nelson Mandela caused for apartheid to be

Many of the contemporary issues in South Africa can easily be associated with the apartheid laws which devastated the country. The people of South Africa struggle day by day to reverse “the most cruel, yet well-crafted,” horrific tactic “of social engineering.” The concept behind apartheid emerged in 1948 when the nationalist party took over government, and the all-white government enforced “racial segregation under a system of legislation” . The central issues stem from 50 years of apartheid include poverty, income inequality, land ownership rates and many other long term affects that still plague the brunt of the South African population while the small white minority still enjoy much of the wealth, most of the land and opportunities