Final Exam Module 6
Answer to Question 2: Discrimination, Stereotype, & Prejudice
Discrimination is different from stereotypes and prejudice, and there are two different types. These include individual and institutional discrimination. Individual discrimination entails treating a person differently based on his or her membership to a particular group like race as well as ethnicity and age. Discrimination at the personal level is based on harmful ideologies and thoughts about an individual because of their group (Kite & Whitley Jr, 2016). The most common form of individual discrimination is racial discrimination, where one gets unequal treatment based on his or her racial differences. Sexual and gender discrimination are also other examples of individualized discriminative practices. On its part, institutional discrimination refers to targeted unfair and unequal treatment of a specific group based on its generalizable attributes of the individuals like gender and race.
In most cases, institutional discrimination exists in governments and social institutions like education settings and religious organizations, as well as police. For instance, laws and decisions that mirror racism like the Plessy v. Fergusson as well as Dred Scott decisions are examples of institutionalized discrimination. Further, the housing market shows overt indications of the racial makeup of neighborhoods that reinforces bias. The gaps in educational achievement also reflect the effects of discrimination in public institutions.
Stereotype denotes to the oversimplified generalizations concerning certain groups of people. A stereotype can be founded on race, age, and gender as well as sexual orientation, and in most cases, they are negative attributes used to perpetuate discrimination (Bigler & Patterson, 2017). On the other hand, prejudice entails the beliefs, thoughts as well as feelings and attitude that an individual holds concerning a particular group and its members. Prejudice is not founded on experience, but rather it is a preconceived judgment that emanates from actual experiences (Kite & Whitley Jr, 2016).
References
Bigler, R. S., & Patterson, M. M. (2017). Social stereotyping and prejudice in children: Insights
from novel group studies. Group processes in children and adolescents, 184-202.
Kite, M. E., & Whitley Jr, B. E. (2016). Psychology of prejudice and discrimination. Psychology
Press.