Discriminatory behaviors
Discriminatory behaviors encompass a range of actions and attitudes that marginalize individuals based on characteristics such as race, gender, sexual orientation, and disability. These behaviors can manifest in various forms, including negative self-fulfilling prophecies, where prejudicial expectations influence individuals to act in ways that confirm stereotypes. Selective perception is another discriminatory behavior, as it shapes how different groups interpret the same situations, often leading to biased judgments. Moreover, avoidance of minority groups and denial of equal access to opportunities—such as jobs and housing—further entrench systemic inequalities.
Tokenism, where superficial gestures are made towards inclusivity without substantial change, can also perpetuate discrimination by minimizing the contributions of marginalized individuals. Harassment, including sexual harassment, is a more overt form of discrimination that can create hostile environments, while aggressive behaviors may escalate to violence, undermining social cohesion. Understanding these behaviors is crucial for fostering a more equitable society and addressing the underlying biases that sustain discrimination.
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Discriminatory behaviors
Discrimination is perpetrated in many ways, including negative self-fulfilling prophecies, selective perception, avoidance of specific groups, denial of access (to jobs, housing, and the voting booth), tokenism, harassment, and violence. Many groups have been discriminated against in the United States, including women, Jewish people, Catholics, African Americans, Native Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, Arab Americans, people in same sex relationships, people with disabilities, people with mental illnesses, and older adults.
Self-fulfilling prophecies are expectations that evoke behavior that makes the originally false conception true. Under this insidious process, the person who is the target of prejudice and therefore is expected to act or to be a certain way, responds to the prejudice by beginning to behave in a way that confirms the prejudice. For example, if an individual believes that all women are delicate and vulnerable, that person will tend to treat women this way, and women in turn will tend to act more helpless when interacting with that individual.
Selective perception, in which people’s perceptions of the same incident differ, is another type of discriminatory behavior. For example, in one classic study, White college students watched a videotape of an argument between a White student and a Black student. The argument grew heated, and in one version, the White student shoved the Black student; in another version, the Black student shoved the White student. White students described the White student who shoved as “playing around” or “dramatizing,” but they described the Black student who shoved as “violent.”
Avoiding members of minority groups, even minor interactions such as making eye contact, is a passive form of discriminatory behavior that typically occurs in work, business, or recreational settings. It produces a subtle harmful effect by overlooking or minimizing the contributions of minority groups.
Another form of discriminatory behavior is denying equal access. For example, historically in the United States, fewer job opportunities have been available to women than men, especially at higher levels of government, business, and academics. Related to job discrimination is pay discrimination—women continue to receive lower pay for work similar or equal to that of men.
In tokenism, prejudiced people engage in positive but trivial or relatively insignificant actions toward members of a group they dislike. For example, a manager may make a token kindly gesture toward a minority member on staff (buying the person lunch at an expensive restaurant) or hire a minority member into a predominantly White work environment. Through this positive but insignificant gesture, the manager intends to avoid or at least delay more important actions such as promoting the individual or integrating the workplace. Having made this gesture, the manager feels that he or she has done something for the minority group. Tokenism has negative consequences for the minority member and perpetuates discrimination.
Discrimination can also take the form of overt actions such as harassment. For example, about 20 percent of women report that they have been sexually harassed on the job. In 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that sexual harassment violates civil rights, giving women a legal way to fight this behavior.
Aggressive behavior, which includes verbal abuse, vandalism, and crimes of violence, is another way in which discrimination is practiced. When taken to an extreme, this kind of behavior leads to intergroup warfare. It can also undermine the ability of members in diverse groups to interact positively and productively in their daily lives.
Bibliography
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