Discrimination

Crystal Mullins
Social Problems
10 October 2010
Chapter 7
Racial Discrimination and Prejudice Creating Inequalities
Racial discrimination and people being prejudice, unfortunately, happen daily all around the world. In everyday life you can look around or listen to a group of people and more than likely hear some form of discrimination or prejudice. The book states, ““The commission concluded that “our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white-separate and unequal”(p.1) (Jullian 223)”Although much progress has been made toward legal equality as a result of the civil rights movement, inequality remains a significant problem in American society. Racism is behavior motivated that is that human race has distinctive characteristics that determine abilities and cultures. Discrimination is the differential treatment of individuals on the basis of their perceived membership in a particular social group.   People rationalize it on the grounds that those against whom they discriminate are less worthy of respect or fair treatment than people like themselves. This reasoning is not a positive way to see others in daily life. Prejudice and discrimination have several sources. Some of these include:   individual psychological factors, including frustration-aggression (which involves displacing anger onto a scapegoat) and projection (in which people attribute their own undesirable traits to others). Other factors include social structure (especially economic competition and exploitation) and the norms and stereotypes of a particular culture. Institutional discrimination is discrimination that is built into the structure and form of society itself. The book states that one form of institutional discrimination is racial profiling, the practice by people in positions of authority of disproportionately selecting people of color for investigations of others forms of discrimination. It is especially evident in the educational system.   Another area in which...