Hate, Stereotyping, & Prejudice Looking Without, Looking Within

1) Asian American 2) Hispanic 3) Gay Man 4) Woman over 80

Prejudice (Allport – 1954) 1) An antipathy based on faulty and inflexible generalizations 2) Can be felt covertly or expressed overtly 3) Can be direct towards a group as a whole, or toward an individual because s/he is a member of that group

Four Theories of Prejudice

Exploitation Theory 1) Power is a Scarce Source 2) People innately want to keep their power and status 3) So people suppress the social mobility of the out-group

Scapegoating Theory 1) Prejudiced People are the True Victims 2) They refuse to accept basic responsibility for some society failure (defeat in war / depression) 3) So they shift focus of responsibility to an out-group

Authoritarian Personality Theory 1) Person comes from a strict authoritarian background 2) When that person grows up s/he wants to be the authoritarian of those around them 3) So this person subjects people in an out-group (who are seen as weaker) to their will

Structural Theory 1) Social climate either promotes cultural and ethnic tolerance or intolerance 2) Is their obvious equality – if not people will subjugate others around them 3) Is there a definite hierarchy with a clear pecking order?

What Do People Who Are Prejudice Receive From Their Prejudice?

Ego-Defense Function Protects people’s view of themselves on both a personal and social identity level

Value-Expressive Function People need to have value and behavioral consistencies in viewing their own cultural values, norms, and practices as the proper & civilized ways of thinking and behaving.

Knowledge Function 1) It takes time and energy to create knowledge 2) People tend to want to defend their knowledge base 3) So, people view others who lack such knowledge as ignorant or deficient

Utilitarian Function 1) Protecting the majority (In-Group) will make things easier on their life 2) In fact, they may be rewarded for doing protecting the in-group

When Prejudice Meets Discrimination

P R E J U D I C E DISCRIMINATION YES NO Active Bigot YES NO Fair-Weather Liberal Timid Bigot Proactive Change Agents

STEREOTYPING

DEALING WITH PREJUDICE

1) We must be honest with ourselves – confront our on biases and ethnocentric attitudes 2) We should question the contents of our stereotypes and check against our actual interactions with out-group members 3) We should understand how our negative images concerning out-group members affects our biased attitudes and interactions

4) Use the principle of heterogeneity to break down the broad social categories 5) We should use mindful qualifying language when describing out-group/others’ behaviors. 6) We should put ourselves in frequent inter-group contact situations to become comfortable with group-based differences

Story of Leo Frank

RACISM

WHAT IS RACE?

Physiological shifts of the species that have occurred from mutation, selection, migration, and genetic drifts

Stupid Minor Differences (aka Finger Prints) Loops – Europeans, black Africans, East Asians Whorls – Mongolians and Australia Aborigines Arches – Khoisans & Central Europeans

THERE ARE NOT THREE RACES!!!

Realistic Outlook on Race Jared Diamond (1994) 1. Khoisans of South Africa 2. African Blacks – would form 3 distinct races alone 3. The REST of the World – Norwegians, Europeans, Navajo, Greeks, Japanese, Australian Aborigines

Forms of Racism

Familiar & Unfamiliar No Grudges We just don’t know much about others 2) Real likes & Dislikes a. Out-group members are tolerated b. Certain behaviors are not 3) Arm’s Length a. We act with out-groups on in certain situations – work

Familiar & Unfamiliar

No Grudges

We just don’t know much about others

Tokenism a. People who insincerely display acts of accommodation to out-group members 2) Symbolic a. No overt hate or violence b. People just prefer not to interact with others 3) Redneck a. Members of certain cultures should be sent back where they came from

Tokenism

a. People who insincerely display acts of accommodation to out-group members

LEVELS OF RACISM

1. Institutional – Jim Crow Laws 2. Collectivism – KKK 3. Individual – One person’s racism

HATE

MUTED GROUP THEORY

Three Basic Features 1) Language names experiences which determines what is socially recognized 2) Dominant discourse silences, or mutes, groups that are not in society’s mainstream – often are invisible to Dominant Culture 3) Out-groups react to being muted in different fashions

5 Coping Strategies 1. Passing 2. Tomming 3. Shucking 4. Dissembling 5. Transforming

HAVE A GREAT THANKSGIVING