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The Origins Of Prejudice And Discrimination

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Throughout history, prejudice and discrimination have always been a major threat faced by humanity (Hogg & Vaughan, 2011). With the recent terror attacks in Belgium and Paris, prejudice attitudes are once again returning to the forefront of the media, with increased negativity being directed towards the Muslim faith (Walters, 2015). Understanding the causes of prejudice have provided great challenges to social psychologists across the decades (Hogg & Vaughan, 2011). The discussion presented below will take a comparative and evaluative approach of the origins of prejudice. Beginning by defining the term ‘Prejudice’, followed by discussing a possible prejudiced personality type and concluding with a contrasting approach based on intergroup processes, focusing specifically on competition over limited resources. …show more content…

The term ‘Prejudice’ is predominantly a negative attitude directly referring to the prejudgement of another, usually based solely on group membership (Hogg & Vaughan, 2011). It is important to highlight that there is a difference between prejudice and discrimination, one may hold prejudiced views, but not act upon them (Aronson, Wilson & Akert, 2013). Therefore it is possible that someone can be prejudiced towards a particular group but not discriminate against them (Brehm & Kassin, 1995). Discrimination on the other hand, is defined as an unjust negative action towards an individual solely based on their membership to a group (Baron & Branscombe, 2014). This brings the discussion onto the cause of prejudice and the approaches which attempt to offer an explanation for

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Prejudice: Sneetches, Books, and Neurology Websters defines prejudice as “a preconceived judgement or opinion.” Prejudice is taking something, someone, or somewhere and judging from an opinion or the actions of one. A good example is the classic Dr. Seuss book, The Sneetches. The star bellied Sneetches are prejudiced against the bare bellied Sneetches for their lack of a star.

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One would think prejudice is a thing of the past. Unfortunately, that is not the case, prejudice is still a common factor in todays society. Vincent N. Parrillo’s essay “Causes of Prejudice,” helped me to understand how we are affected not just psychologically but in a sociological way as well, as John A. Camacho explains in his A Few Bad Apples opinion piece published in the Pacific Daily News. Both forms of prejudice are continued to be explained through Stud Turkel’s “C.P Ellis,” he gives us an understanding of psychological and sociological prejudice through C.P Ellis’own experiences. This furthers our understanding on how we can be affected by both psychological and sociological prejudices.

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