1 Discrimination, Stereotypes, and Prejudice Unit 5

After studying this Unit you will be able to: Define the concept of various harassments and job discrimination. Examine and explore stereotypes and prejudices. Show examples of stereotypes. Explore the term Affirmative Action. 2

HARASSMENT The standard definition for harassment is unwanted conduct on the grounds of race, gender, sexual orientation etc. which has the purpose or effect of either violating the claimant's dignity, or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them. 3 Discrimination is the unequal treatment of individuals, usually on the basis of gender, race, age, religion or disability. It is a negative action towards members of a specific social group. DISCRIMINATION

Bullying: Bullying may be characterized as offensive, intimidating, malicious or insulting behavior, an abuse or misuse of power through means intended to undermine, humiliate, denigrate or injure the recipient. Racial Harassment: Racial harassment is any behavior, deliberate or otherwise pertaining to race, color, nationality - including citizenship, or ethnic or national origins, which is directed at an individual or group and which is found to be offensive or objectionable to recipients and which creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive environment. Religious Harassment: is any behavior deliberate or otherwise, pertaining to religion, religious belief or other similar philosophical belief. 4

Examples of bullying could be: abuse of power or authority. verbal, written and/or physical intimidation e.g. threats, derisory remarks. persistent unjustified criticism. having responsibilities or decision-making powers withdrawn without good reason or explanation 5

Harassment via the Medium of Some companies and university have Regulations and rules to regulate exchanging s between their employees or students. Such codes state something called etiquette policy, and whoever violates the policies faces legal actions in some countries such as the U.S. 6

Excerpt of Etiquette When using please adopt these simple points of good practice: - Be polite – adhere to the same standards as you would when writing a letter. Swear-words must not be used, even if you might use such words in conversation with the person to whom you are sending the . - Use humor with care - not everyone will appreciate it and without voice inflection and body language, messages can be easily misinterpreted. - Always consider that it is very difficult to convey tone of voice, irony or sarcasm via and that it is therefore much easier to offend people. - Never say anything that you would not say to the recipients face. - Do not use capital letters out of context. Words that are all in capitals are CONSIDERED TO BE SHOUTED, and as such regarded as being rude. 7

The concept of Job Discrimination: Job Discrimination occurs when : - An employment decision in some way harms or disadvantages an employee or a job applicant. - The decision is based on the person’s membership in a certain group. - The decision rests on prejudice, false stereotypes, or the assumption that the group in question in some way inferior and thus doesn’t deserve equal treatment. 8

Stereotypes A stereotype is a thought that can be adopted about specific types of individuals or certain ways of doing things. These thoughts or beliefs may or may not accurately reflect reality. 9 Police officers buying doughnuts and coffee, an example of perceived stereotypical behavior in North America

Examples of Stereotype: - Women aren't as smart as a man. - All Arabs and Muslims are terrorists. - All Jews are greedy. - All Asians are good at math. - All Asians like to eat rice and drive slow. - All Irish people are drunks and eat potatoes. 10

Prejudice is a premature judgment, a positive or negative attitude towards a person or group of people, based on beliefs and not facts, it can affect a person’s emotions and behavior, often leading to discrimination. Prejudice beliefs are usually based on stereotypes and overall impressions, believing all members of a particular group are the same. It is believed that people are not born prejudice, but are usually formed against groups a person has never had contact with. 11

Affirmative Action: The Legal Concept The terms affirmative action and positive action refer to policies that take race, ethnicity, or gender into consideration in an attempt to promote equal opportunity or increase ethnic or other forms of diversity. 12

The purpose of Affirmative Action Affirmative action is intended to promote the opportunities of defined minority groups within a society to give them equal access to that of the privileged majority population. It is often instituted for government and educational settings to ensure that certain designated "minority groups" within a society are included "in all programs". The stated justification for affirmative action by its proponents is that it helps to compensate for past discrimination, persecution or exploitation by the ruling class of a culture, and to address existing discrimination. 13

Affirmative Action: the Moral Issues Arguments Against Affirmative Action Affirmative injures white men and violates their rights. Affirmative action itself violates the principle of equality. Non-discrimination will achieve our social goals; stronger affirmative action is unnecessary. 14

Comparable Worth Comparable Worth holds that women and men should be paid in the same scale, not just for doing the same or equivalent jobs, but also for doing different jobs involving equal skills, effort, and responsibility. Proponents of comparable worth believe that women have been directed into certain occupations and held back by biased wage system. Hence: 1. Justice demands that women should receive equal pay for doing work of equal or comparable worth. 15

Comparable Worth 2. Adjust the salary scale of women upward rather than the pay of men downward. 3. Jobs should be evaluated in terms of competencies. Opponents insist that women have freely chosen lower-paying occupations. Hence, they are not entitled to any readjustment in the pay scale. 16

End of Chapter 5 17