Racial discrimination has caused significant harm in American society in recent years, especially with police shootings of black people. While laws have sought to prohibit discrimination based on attributes like race, discrimination persists and negatively impacts people's social and economic development. The document discusses various ways discrimination can be measured and occurs, and how it can accumulate over time to limit opportunities. While efforts have been made to address discrimination, more work is still needed to promote equality and overcome its harmful impacts.

1. Discrimination in society 1
Discrimination in society 6
Discrimination in Society
Advanced General Psychology
Tony Williams
Argosy University
Lisa Unger
Discrimination in Society
ABSTRACT
While racial discrimination has become a more pertinent issue
in society, racial discrimination is far most the worst. While
there have been a lot of issues affecting the American Society,
racial discrimination has caused more harm and caused chaos in
the recent years in the wake of the recent police shooting of the
black people in the community. According to Christine Hauser
of New York Times (Hauser, 2016), “It spurred no organized
street protests; no viral hashtags; no movement like Black Lives
Matter, which was sparked by anger and despair over a wave of
killings of African-Americans by law enforcement officials”. In
the past discrimination was more widespread in most if not all
states of America but in the recent years, though existent, it has
come with less outcry and in a more hidden way. Racial
discrimination has been quite evident in sectors like housing
and employment among others. Others include the healthcare,

2. housing, credit markets and consumer interactions.
Discrimination is commonly defined as the unfair treatment to
or against a person, based on their social class, wealth,
popularity, racial origins, and ethnicity among many other
religion (Blank, 2004).
INTRODUCTION
Racial discrimination according to the review done by Mary
Blank and her associates can be measured through many ways.
One of them may be laboratory tests and the other may be field-
based experiments. Other methods may be a statistical
inference, surveys, and records of experiences. These measures
are used to measure discrimination that occurs at specific time
frames. If a closer look is taken on the forms of discrimination
that happen over time, a whole lot of issues can be sorted out.
For example, generational discrimination may not adversely
affect the current generation than it can affect the next. Through
mistakes committed in the past like gender discrimination,
racial discrimination in health, education, wealth and societal
classes, opportunities for the future generation are limited. If
poor health becomes an issue, then the future kids will struggle
with limited resources (Blank, 2004).
LITERATURE REVIEW
The other reasons tend to cut across various institution based on
various factors. Discrimination in places like elementary
schools and grade school may affect a child’s academic
performance in the college. This is due to the fact that
discrimination affects the sub-conscience of a human being.
This also happens in employment places and this means that

3. certain opportunities are stifled and due to it. Another reason
may be discrimination across independent organizations but yet
in the long run connected by special factors. Measuring
discrimination can be quite had as the timing is difficult to trace
as well as the extent. Therefore accuracy can’t be guaranteed
and the impacts of the situation can be quite wide and severe.
At first, cumulative discrimination makes small changes in the
beginning. These changes grow over time and cause future
problems (Blank, 2004).
Looking at the human rights watch, various contributors’
research suggests the same analogies as Mary Blank. There is an
acknowledgment that discrimination makes it hard for the
affected members to develop socially and economically as the
people who don’t face the same issues. There is a limitation of
resources and the struggle to make the resources available be
beneficial to the people affected. There is a suggestion that
there is a need for the private sectors and the government to
breach the gap so as to be able to overcome the social and
economic needs of the marginalized by the discrimination
issues. There is acknowledgement that even though measures
have been taken by Universal Declaration of human rights
(UDHR), International covenant on civil and political rights
(ICCPR), and the international covenant on economic, social
and cultural rights (ICESCR) among many other non-profit
organizational entities by prohibiting discrimination based on
race, color, religion, opinion, language, sex, origin or status, the
problem is very much real to date. The discriminated seem to be
struggling economically, living in the rural areas and surviving
on limited resources (Resigl, 2001).
The problems are as real then as they are now. Looking at the
racial discrimination based on ethnicity in Rwanda as the
genocide showed, the Dalits in Bangladesh India still have a lot
of difficulty being regarded as dust. Poor communities in Korea,
japan, Portugal and Roma Slovenian. Developed countries like
the US, the relationship between discrimination and poverty is
quite clear with the Africans Americans and Latinos occupying

4. areas where poverty and less of resources is evident. The
number arrests made over the years are highly populated with
African Americans followed by Latinos with a significantly low
population of the white people, something that Mullainathan of
The New York Times reports on (MullaiNathan, 2015). There
need to be additional laws made and amendments made on
existing laws against direct and indirect discrimination by
government and the private sectors. People and organizations
need to push for agendas that alienate discrimination and push
for social and economic development for the people to promote
healing and integration. There is a need to push away feelings
that promote discrimination in the name of Aids. Though efforts
have been made, more still has to be done to rid of the menace
that is discrimination (Resigl, 2001).
Reasons researched suggests and recommend on areas of
improvement that are necessary to be done for steps in the right
direction to be made. Not only do the individuals who face
discrimination directly or indirectly, but the community as well.
Racism is taught and decays social, moral and economic status
of any country. There is a suggestion that even with the end and
abolition of slavery, discrimination still had roots that went way
deep in society. Simple commentaries could result in a big
revolution. Discrimination found its way in voting rights,
socialization, sexual relations, marriages, education and even
entertainment. It’s so far gone that not only is it a matter of
psychological threat but physical deaths as people are being
murdered. States legalized discrimination up to the late 1960s
and some stuck to the 21st century (Easton, 2016).
There is a lot of misconception and lack of understanding to
the deeper issues. By promoting discrimination of whatever
category strains any country from developing socially and
economically and thus no efforts to promote discrimination are
actually helpful to any country. There is a clear show that the
contributor doesn’t support that the legislative arm of any
government is solely responsible for dealing with
discrimination, the contributor makes it clear that although the

5. law is part of the solution, humanity is a greater solution to the
problem. Humanity gets to the core of any human being and if
there was a consideration for the well-being of another person,
then a lot of issues contributed to by discrimination would be
non-existent. The contributor appeals to the readers that though
no one or no system can claim to have the full solution to
discrimination, if little efforts are made daily, then slowly
discrimination can be dealt with (Resigl, 2001).
Different analogies have been drawn to explain the existence of
discrimination and several solutions have been put out as well.
Some of the analogies suggest that discrimination began from
the beginning of the existence of mankind. It came growing
forth and got to the point where it was taught through
perceptions. Asians were described as sneaky; blacks were
referred to criminals whereas the whites were referred to as
evil. Other analogies suggested that the media played a big role
in promoting discrimination as most roles are awarded to the
whites and when the afro Americans get the roles, they had
those that consisted as villains. This included criminal roles,
gangster roles like drug peddling and prostitution among others.
while most must be in favor of the analogies fewer though
significant moves have been made to decrease the negative
perception of the Latinos and Afro-Americans as though the
whites are seen to ‘hate the ‘black people’’, they in some way
do trust them. Most nannies are from Afro-Americans and the
Latino communities (Wang, 2005).
And while discrimination has shown a lot of negative energy
towards the issue, there is a different meaning to it.
Discrimination has brought about some positive attributes to the
society. Discrimination has been attributed to making the
affected parties strive hard especially in terms of education so
as to bridge the gap. Discrimination serves as a motivation and
increased a sense of responsibilities to not only one’s lives to
other peoples as well. There is great motivation for the affected
people to work harder in their fields so as to achieve more out
of the opportunities presented to them. Likewise, there have

6. been greater efforts for the older generation to take care of the
latter generation by ensuring their future is much better than
theirs. Also, with time, civil human rights movements have
come to fight against the same issues so as to promote equality
in all phases of life for all people. Such efforts can be
contributed to veterans like Dr. Martin Luther King (Wang,
2005).
CONCLUSION
This has prompted for greater questions to be asked. Is
discrimination an issue of superiority or just a simple case of
misconception? Is there a lack of understanding to what
discrimination is to today’s society or is it a simple case of
ignorance. Are there more drastic measures against
discrimination that can overcome the previous efforts made to
end discrimination? Are law and humanity the best that can be
done to solve the problem that persists that is discrimination? Is
discrimination a scientific, biological or societal issue and how
do all these elements correlate? How can people make
contributions eradicating discrimination at home, at workplaces
and other places as well as individuals or groups? In what ways
do people create awareness on the controversial topic in the
wake of techno capability and social media outlets? All these
are issues that are pertinent on discrimination and are issues
that need to be solved. Though the issue is wide, a lot still has
to be done and there is room for improvements and more
changes to be made in the society whether individually or in
groups (Blank, 2004).
References
Blank, R. M. (2004). Measuring Discrimination: Chapter 11:
Cumulative disadvantages and racial discrimination.
Washington, DC, USA: National Academic Press. Retrieved
from
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mination&oq=books+on+measuring+discrimination&aqs=chrom
e..69i57.8689j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#
Easton, S. (2016). Internal Journal Of Discrimination And The

7. Law. UK: Brunel University Press.
Hauser, C. (2016). Video of Fatal Police Shooting of Louisiana
Boy, 6, Is Released. The New York Times, 1.
MullaiNathan, S. (2015). Police Killings of Blacks: Here Is
What the Data Say. The New York Times, 1.
Resigl, M. W. (2001). Discourse and Discrimination: Rhetorics
of Racism and Antisemitism. Routledge: Routledge.
Wang, L.-I. (2005). Discrimination by Default: How Racism
Becomes Routine. New York: New York University Press.