Effects of Prejudice

SIGNIFICANCE: The effects of prejudice include discrimination, low self-esteem, demoralization, racial self-hatred, helplessness and lack of control, social ostracism, social avoidance, lack of opportunities, and political underrepresentation.

Prejudice can be defined as a global view or attitude about a group of people; prejudicial views are characterized by their inflexibility, and they are usually considered to be negative and directed toward minority or out-groups. The effects of prejudice in American society, and throughout the world, are generally considered devastating, not only to the individuals who suffer injustice, humiliation, and violence as a result of discrimination based on prejudice but also to the integrity of society as a whole. Groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and other White supremacy groups attempt to promote segregation, prejudice, and discrimination, at least partly as a way of promoting a dominant status for White people. Most people realize that this is both unconstitutional and unfair. Since people have no choice over the race, religion, or gender into which they are born, it is unjust to judge persons solely on the basis of biological givens such as skin color, hair color, facial structure, gender, or other such characteristics. Almost everyone has experienced some prejudice or discrimination and can understand its negative effects on self-esteem and self-image.

Types of Prejudice

A classic book on prejudice that came from the field of social psychology is Gordon Allport’s The Nature of Prejudice, published in 1954. His approach to prejudice is still considered contemporary because of his emphasis on cognitive factors such as categorization and normal cognitive bias. There are two broad categories of prejudice, personal prejudice and group prejudice. Allport’s model involves in-group and out-group distinctions. In an extension of Allport’s theory, Thomas F. Pettigrew proposed the “ultimate attribution error” in an article he published in 1979. Pettigrew suggests that people tend to favor the actions of people in their in-group (those whom they perceive as being “like them”) and attribute negative motives to the same actions by out-group members. If an in-group member observes a negative act by an out-group member, the in-group member is likely to attribute the action to genetics or some other concrete factor. On the other hand, if an in-group member observes a positive act by an out-group member, he or she may attribute the act to luck, an exception to the rule, high motivation and effort, or the particular situational context in which the behavior occurred.

Experimental Studies

A study published in 1947 by Kenneth Clark and Mamie Clark on color preference for dolls in preschool children showed that even very young children of color preferred the “White” dolls to those representing their respective race or skin color.

In the 1970s, Jane Elliott conducted an experiment with elementary school children in which she instructed the brown-eyed children to sit in the back of the room and told them they could not use the drinking fountain. Blue-eyed children were given special privileges such as extra recess time and extra lunch helpings. The two groups of children were told not to interact with each other. Elliott belittled and berated the brown-eyed children, and their academic performance faltered. The favored blue-eyed group belittled the brown-eyed children more than the teacher did. After several days, roles were reversed, and the negative effects of prejudice were repeated. Eventually all the children disliked one another, demonstrating the destructive effects of status inequalities based on something as superficial as eye color.

Conflict Theory

Donn Byrne, a social psychologist, has written about theories on the conditions under which prejudice may develop. Byrne and others believe that periods of economic hardship and scarce resources characterized by lack of availability of food and jobs can contribute to the occurrence and intensity of various types of prejudice. In the field of social psychology, this premise is part of what is known as realistic conflict theory. Indeed, throughout history, in periods of resource scarcity and political unrest, the unfair effects of prejudice have flourished. From the mid-fifteenth and sixteenth centuries until the present-day, racial and religious prejudice leading to discrimination has resulted in violence against different ethnic and religious groups in what has been a worldwide phenomenon. Efforts made by countries to achieve internal peace and stability have been difficult, at best, given climates of religious or ethnic intolerance and economic hardship.

Effects on Inter-Class Relations

Class status is one factor that has been found to have a profound effect on prejudicial beliefs and expectations. In the 1940s, an epidemiological study of psychopathology, or mental illness, called the Midtown Study, was initiated in Manhattan in New York City, and results were published in the 1960s. A number of stereotypes about lower-class patients that suggested they were incapable of achieving insight into their problems, unable to ask for psychological help, and unable to examine their motives or moods were disputed by this research. In fact, the research showed that lower-class patients did want to achieve psychodynamic understanding and insight into their problems. The research also showed that the patients of lower socioeconomic status had less access to treatment facilities than their higher-class counterparts.

Racial and ethnic bias has been found to exist even among mental health professionals, a group of professionals who should, by definition, be objective and neutral in their work; however, very little research has been published in this area. Some investigators found no evidence of racial bias upon diagnoses assigned by clinicians who were of different racial backgrounds. Others found that White, middle-class psychiatrists who recorded fewer symptoms for Black patients as compared with White patients nevertheless concentrated on the more unusual or bizarre symptoms of the Black patients. This practice resulted in the psychopathology of the Black patients appearing more severe than the psychopathology of the White patients. Researchers and clinicians have noted that White patients have been given the label neurotic and that Black or Puerto Rican patients have been given the label schizophrenic for similar behaviors. Social psychologist Leonard Derogatis and others caution that race and social class designation are the most prominent indicators of psychological assessment and symptom presentation.

Effects on People with Disabilities

Prejudice that has become widespread takes forms that are sometimes referred to as “isms”: racism, classism, sexism, ageism, heterosexism, able-bodiedism, and so on. The prejudicial attitudes held regarding people with disabilities, of which there were more than 56 million in the United States in 2010, according to the US Census Bureau and the Survey of Income and Program Participation, have been found to be one of the most insidious forms of misunderstanding. In American society, those with emotional or learning disabilities (the invisible disabilities) often suffer the worst misunderstanding and discrimination caused by ignorance, perpetuation of myths, social ostracism, and avoidance of contact. It is known that people without disabilities have demonstrated lack of empathy, avoidance of social interaction, lack of eye contact, and lack of respect for people with disabilities. Research has shown that even people with disabilities hold negative attitudes toward other people with disabilities if the others have a disability different from their own. In reality, those who have physical disabilities have been found to have strong self-concepts and good social interaction skills and have often been more able to provide support to others than the other way around.

Effects on Women

During the medieval period, women were also victims of prejudice, including some who simply were homeless or had a “sharp tongue” as well as some who probably had a mental illness. All told, this period of religious persecution, led by religious male patriarchs of the time (mostly representatives of the church), resulted in hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of people being tortured and put to death. A key thesis underlying this massive prejudice and persecution was that the Roman Catholic Church opposed women’s sexuality. Sexuality was seen to be insatiable in women, and lust was thought to be uncontrollable. This prejudice was so strong that everything from bad crops to miscarriages was blamed on certain women. These women were persecuted as witches, as seen in the Salem witchcraft trials in colonial America. Males were often thought to be immune to witchcraft or possession by the devil because Jesus was a man; men were therefore usually seen as protected from this evil influence.

Effects on Social Policy

The women’s movement, originating in the 1900s, gay and lesbian liberation movement, patients’ rights movement, and the civil rights movement have all mitigated the effects of prejudice. As these organized political groups gained more support, each has been instrumental in consciousness-raising; reducing prejudice, social inequity, and social injustice; and increasing political, educational, and economic opportunity for their members. Affirmative action programs continue, although they have met with criticism that they go beyond the goal of correcting inequity in hiring practices. Some people believe that these policies have led to a social phenomenon referred to as reverse discrimination; however, others believe that certain groups of people, such as Latinos, African Americans, and Native Americans, have suffered long-term damaging effects from discrimination and therefore need the help of affirmative action programs. For example, Spanish-speaking children in the United States experience language-related difficulties that limit their educational and work opportunities. Bilingual education is one possible avenue to maximize these children’s educational opportunities and future economic opportunities.

Social class and cultural distinctions also continue to bring opportunity to some people while eliminating opportunity for those of lower socioeconomic status. Many diverse ethnic groups have been locked into a cycle of circumstances that impair educational progress and motivation at a very early age. Although some progress had been made in regards to funding opportunities for children of low-income families (such as Head Start programs), designed to pave the way for success in higher education, many programs are cut in times of economic hardship, when people need them the most. This then perpetuates a cycle of poverty, with prejudice leading to economic hardship for affected groups. The term “feminization of poverty” has been used to describe the economic impact of low-wage, menial jobs on women in the United States, Puerto Rico, and other nations. Newspapers and television news frequently report acts inspired by prejudice, such as hate crimes against minorities. Violations of the civil rights of minorities still occur, leading to public outcries for examination and correction of the racial inequalities in American institutions and society.

The summer of 2020 began to shift the way people thought about this cycle. The Black Lives Matter movement swept through the United States, aiming to reduce structural racism and inequality in the country. The movement pushed people in corporate offices and city halls across America to look harder at who gets ahead, and who gets left behind. Tech giants, banks, and schools started asking tough questions about their hiring proceses. Who sits in the corner offices? Whose voices get heard? The cities of Minneapolis and Seattle took bold steps. Instead of pouring more money into police departments, they shifted funds toward what they believed communities needed mostmental health workers, social programs, and resources to address root causes of crises. This approach aimed to reduce reliance on traditional law enforcement by investing in preventative measures that promote well-being and equity. By prioritizing these initiatives, both cities sought to build trust with marginalized communities and tackle underlying issues such as mental health, homelessness, and poverty that often escalate into emergencies, especially in at risk communities.

Bibliography

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Brown, Rupert. Prejudice: Its Social Psychology. 2nd ed., Wiley, 2010.

Caliendo, Stephen M. Inequality in America: Race, Poverty, and Fulfilling Democracy's Promise. Westview, 2015.

Chin, Jean Lau. The Psychology of Prejudice and Discrimination. Rev. and condensed ed., Praeger, 2010.

Freeman, Howard E., and Norman R. Kurtz. America's Troubles: A Casebook on Social Conflict. Prentice, 1969.

Gordon, Leah N. From Power to Prejudice: The Rise of Racial Individualism in Midcentury America. U of Chicago P, 2016.

Pulley, E. "The Lack of Representation in Leadership at Predominantly White Institutions in the United States: A Qualitative Analysis on the Executive Leadership Pathway for African American Males." DUNE: DIGITAL UNE, dune.une.edu/theses/437/. Accessed 20 Nov. 2024.

"25th Anniversary of Americans with Disabilities Act: July 26." United States Census Bureau, 28 May 2015, census.gov/newsroom/facts-for-features/2015/cb15-ff10.html. Accessed 20 Nov. 2024.