Prejudice and Discrimination

Abstract

Clearly, prejudice is very much alive, and it affects virtually all of us in one way or another. Most people evaluate certain groups negatively, while at the same time they themselves are targets of other people’s animosity. Such prejudices have consequences. The slaughter of 6 million Jews by Nazi Germany is perhaps the most blatant example in recent history. However, almost any American black, Indian, or Chicano can talk at length about the suffering that results from being a victim of social and economic discrimination.

Is prejudice a thing of the past? Have the holocaust, the civil rights movement, and the women’s consciousness movement not taught us the evils of prejudice? To explore these questions we recently asked our students to write anonymously about prejudices they thought they might have. Although we expected them to express some intolerance of other groups, we were not entirely prepared for the intensity of their replies. Thus:

“Despite sincere desires not to be so, I am a sexist. I assume those in power are male, and want men to take the positions of leadership and authority. I am distrustful of dominant women and paternalistic toward those who are not.”

“One prejudice that I hold and have held as long as I can remember is against men. They seem petty, self-centered, and egotistical.”

“After I went to prep school, high school kids seemed like a bunch of hicks who just drove around endlessly and got wasted.”

“Prep school kids are generally spoiled kids who have everything given them on a silver platter and never had to face the rigors of the outside world.”

“Cheerleaders, homecoming queens, and pretty girls in general seem so superficial; they live off the level of their physical appearance.”

“Fraternity men are vain, macho, beer-guzzling football player types, lacking in any sensitivity or common sense.”

“Fat people are disgusting. They deliberately continue their misery by eating.”

“I find the entire gay world offensive.”