1. Prejudice and Discrimination
Chapter Three
Prejudice and Discrimination 3

2. © SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016
objectives
1. Define and explain prejudice and discrimination
2. Summarize the different forms and dimensions of prejudice
3. Explain the sociology of prejudice
4. Assess the decline in traditional prejudice
5. Describe the nature of modern hate crimes and reasons for their persistence
© SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016

3. Prejudice and Discrimination
Prejudice is the tendency of individuals to think and feel in negative ways about members of other groups
Discrimination is actual, overt individual behavior
Although related, they do not always occur together
Do not necessarily have a causal relationship with each other
© SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016

4. © SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016
Prejudice
Theories
Personality centered causes of prejudice
The “scape-goat hypothesis”
The “Authoritarian Personality”
Culturally centered causes of prejudice
Social conflict centered causes of prejudice
© SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016

5. © SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016
Prejudice
The affective dimension refers to the feelings, generally negative, that we associate with other groups
The scapegoat hypothesis links prejudice to the individual’s need to deal with frustration and express aggression
The authoritarian personality states that certain kinds of people require prejudice to function effectively
© SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016

6. © SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016
Prejudice
The cognitive dimension: Stereotypes
Stereotypes are cognitive categories that often guide behavior
Selective perception
Tendency to see only what one expects to see
Can reinforce and strengthen stereotypes
Unwilling to accept evidence that challenges stereotypes
© SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016

7. © SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016
Prejudice
© SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016

8. © SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016
Prejudice
Cognitive and affective dimensions of stereotypes
Robert Merton
Analyzed stereotypical perceptions of Abraham Lincoln, Jews, and Japanese
Found that stereotypes can be identical in content, but vastly different in emotional shading
Instructors Note:
The very same behavior undergoes a complete change of evaluation in its transition from the in-group Abe Lincoln to the out-group Abe Cohen or Abe Kurokawa.
Did Lincoln work far into the night? This testifies that he was industrious, resolute, perseverant, and eager to realize his capacities to the full.
Do the out-group Jews or Japanese keep these same hours? This only bears witness to their sweatshop mentality, their ruthless under-cutting of American standards, their unfair competitive practices.
Is the in-group hero frugal, thrifty, and sparing?
Then the out-group villain is stingy, miserly, and penny-pinching.
All honor is due to the in-group Abe for his having been smart, shrewd and intelligent, and, by the same token, all contempt is owing the out-group Abes for their being sharp, cunning, crafty, and too clever by far (Merton, 1968, p. 482).
Visual by
© SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016

9. © SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016
Prejudice
Intersections of race, gender, and class
Stereotypes are consistent with the notion of a “matrix of domination”
Stereotypes and feelings attached to black males differ from black females
Feelings about lower-class Mexicans are different than upper-class Mexicans
Young minority males may be most at risk for negative stereotypes
Instructors Note:
When asked to select traits for “American women in general,” the responses were overwhelmingly positive.
The single most commonly selected trait was “intelligent” (45%).
The students selected very different terms to describe African American women.
The single most commonly selected trait was “loud,” and only 22% of the sample saw African American women as “intelligent.”
© SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016

10. © SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016
What Causes Prejudice?
Three types of prejudice
Prejudice caused by personality needs—more constant and resistant to change
Prejudice learned in response to socialization in a racist community—can be unlearned
Prejudice that arises during the heat of intergroup competition—reduce competition
© SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016

11. © SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016
What Causes Prejudice?
The role of group competition
Conflict theories tell us something about the origins of prejudice
Prejudice flows from competition between groups
Serves as a rationalization for exploitation and racial and ethnic stratification
© SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016

12. © SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016
What Causes Prejudice?
Theoretical perspectives on group competition: Power/conflict models
Marxist analysis
Ideologies and belief systems are shaped to support the dominance of the elites
Split labor market theory
Prejudice exists because someone or some group gains from it
© SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016

13. How and Why Does Prejudice Persist Through Time?
Vicious cycle
Culture, racial or ethnic inequality, and the development of individual prejudice can reinforce each other over time
A certain condition is assumed to be true, and then forces are set in motion to create and perpetuate the original condition
© SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016

14. How and Why Does Prejudice Persist Through Time?
Prejudice in children
Racial attitudes are “caught and not taught”
By age 3 children recognize group differences and their implications
Acquired through direct and indirect socialization
Prejudice higher among younger children and decreases with age
© SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016

15. © SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016
Social Distance Scale
Robert Merton How close will you get?
Intimate Relationship
Close ”best” friend
Neighbor/coworker
Live in my community (casual contact)
Live in my state/country (unlikely contact)
No contact
© SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016

16. HISTORICAL CASES OF PREJUDISM
1830: The Indian Removal Act – Leads to the deportation of 100,000 Native Americans West of the Mississippi
© SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016

17. Native american writers of the 19th century
© SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016

18. George kopway (Ojibway writer 1840s)
© SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016

19. The Life, History, and Travels of Kah-ge-ga- gahbowh, written in 1847
‘In his story conversion to Christian belief marks the transition he makes from his Indian identity to his  Christian one. A romanticized version of his life, he says, "I loved the woods, and the chase. I had the  nature for it, and gloried in nothing else. The mind for letters was in me, but was asleep, till the dawn of Christianity arose, and awoke the slumbers of the soul into energy and action“’.
Jaskoski, H. Early Native American Writing: New Critical Essays
© SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016

20. © SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016
Elias Boudinot ( )
© SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016

21. © SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016
Elias Boudinot
"There is, in Indian history, something very melancholy, and which seems to establish a mournful precedent for the future events  of the few sons of the forest, now scattered over this vast continent. We have seen every where the poor aborigines melt away before the white population. I merely state the fact, without at all referring to the cause. We have seen, I say, one family after another, one tribe after another, nation after nation, pass away; until only a few solitary creatures are left to tell the sad story of  extinction. Shall this precedent be followed? I ask you, shall red men live, or shall they be swept from the earth? With you and this public at  large, the decision chiefly rests. Must they perish? Must they all, like the unfortunate Creeks, (victims of the unchristian policy of  certain persons,) go down in sorrow to their grave? They hang upon your mercy as to a garment. Will you push them from you, or will you save them? Let humanity answer.”
© SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016

22. 1836 The Dred Scott decision
African-American slaves residing in free states cannot be citizens
Dred Scott v. John F.A. Sandford was a litigation where the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1857 that Dred Scott who was a slave residing in a free state could not be entitled to his freedom
© SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016

23. Albery AlLson Whitman (1851- 1901)
© SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016

24. © SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016
“NOT A MAN AND YET A MAN”
His matchless voice in death is hushed.
Beauty, cover him with flowers of his native shore.
Valor, with unfading laurels cover him o'er.
Freedmen, bring your tears,
And till life's last years
Reach the echoless shore,
Tell his great deeds o'er.
And soldiers, wherever our standard flies;
Or where thou goest neath foreign skies,
Behold thy friend in death low lies!
© SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016

25. © SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016
(CONTINUED)
Friend when you fronted the battle,
Friend when the cannon's rattle
Mowed a harvest of death,
Friend when "worn out" you reeled
Home from the bloody field
To rest beneath
An humble shed,
Scanty of comfort, scanty of bread—
Weep for him soldiers! Weep for your friend!
And forget not till your lives shall end,
To honor the noble dead.
© SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016

26. © SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016
1943 The Zoot suit riots
Racial conflict explodes in Los Angeles as American sailors cruise Mexican American neighborhoods in search for Zoot Suiter
© SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016

27. Acclaimed Chicano film producer and writer of zoot suit Luis Valdez
© SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016

28. © SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016
Zoot Suit
© SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016

29. © SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016

30. © SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016
Zoot Suit
Who's that whisperin' in the trees? It's two sailors and they're on leave Pipes and chains and swingin' hands Who's your daddy? Yes I am
Fat cat came to play Now he can't run fast enough You'd best stay away When the pushers come to shove
Zoot suit riot (Riot)
© SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016

31. © SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016
Zoot Suit (continued)
throw back a bottle of beer Zoot suit riot (Riot)
Pull a comb through your coal black hair
Zoot suit riot (Riot)
Pull a comb through your coal black hair Blow Daddy!
© SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016

32. © SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016
A whipped up jitterbuggin' brown eyed man A stray cat frontin' up an eight-piece band Cut me Sammy and you'll understand In my veins hot music ran
You got me in a sway and I want to swing you done Now you sailors know Where your women come for love
Zoot suit riot (Riot)
Throw back a bottle of beer Zoot suit riot (Riot)
Pull a comb through your coal black hair
You're in a Zoot suit riot You're in a Zoot suit riot You're in a Zoot suit riot
Oh you got me in a sway and I want to swing you done Now you sailors know Where your women come for love
© SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016

33. © SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016
A whipped up jitterbuggin' brown eyed man A stray cat frontin' up an eight-piece band Cut me Sammy and you'll understand In my veins hot music ran
You got me in a sway and I want to swing you done Now you sailors know Where your women come for love
Zoot suit riot (Riot)
Throw back a bottle of beer Zoot suit riot (Riot)
Pull a comb through your coal black hair
You're in a Zoot suit riot You're in a Zoot suit riot You're in a Zoot suit riot
Oh you got me in a sway and I want to swing you done Now you sailors know Where your women come for love
© SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016

34. © SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016
Readings of “I am Joaquin” by Corky Gonzalez
© SAGE Publications, Inc., 2016