It’s Not All Black and White
Diversity and Discrimination
Submitted By:
Catie Wilson
Assistant Residence Director
Plymouth State University
Diversity: A Definition
1. The state of fact or being diverse; difference;
unlikeness.
2. Variety; Multiformity.
3. A point of difference.
Wikipedia.com
Discrimination: A Definition
The word discrimination comes from the Latin "discriminare", which
means to "distinguish between". However, discrimination, as used in
this article, is more than distinction or differentiation; it is action
based on prejudice resulting in unfair treatment of people. To
discriminate socially is to make a distinction between people on the
basis of class or category without regard to individual merit.
Examples of social discrimination include racial, religious, sexual,
weight, disability, ethnic, height-related, employment discrimination
and age-related discrimination.
Distinctions between people which are based just on individual merit
(such as personal achievement, skill or ability) are generally not
considered socially discriminatory. Consequently, prohibitions
against such discrimination generally will not prevent a government
from acting in a legitimate and justifiable way based upon the merit of
an individual person.
Race and Racism
“Racism has always been both an instrument of discrimination and a tool of
exploitation. But it manifests itself as a cultural phenomenon, susceptible to
cultural solutions, such as multicultural education and the promotion of
ethnic identities.
Tackling the problem of cultural inequality, however, does not by itself
redress the problem of economic inequality. Racism is conditioned by
economic imperatives, but negotiated through culture: religion, literature, art,
science and the media.
... Once, they demonized the blacks to justify slavery. Then they demonized
the “coloureds” to justify colonialism. Today, they demonize asylum seekers
to justify the ways of globalism. And, in the age of the media, of spin,
demonization sets out the parameters of popular culture within which such
exclusion finds its own rationale — usually under the guise of xenophobia,
the fear of strangers.”
— A. Sivanandan, Poverty is the new black, The Guardian, August 17, 2001
Gender and Sexism
The emotional, sexual, and psychological
stereotyping of females and makes begins
when the doctor says, "It's a girl." or “It’s a
boy.”
~Shirley Chisholm
Weight and Weight Prejudice
"...Weight prejudice is a true form of bigotry in every sense of the
word. Like racism, it is based on visible cues; i.e. that fat person is
discriminated against primarily because of the way he/she looks. Like
anti-Semitism, it defines an entire group of people numbering in the
millions within a narrow range of negative characteristics and
behaviors. Like sexism, it elevates the status of one group of people
at the expense of another. And like homophobia, it serves as a
vehicle of projection for the bigot's own anxieties, frustrations, and
resentments, in effect using the hated outsider as a repository for the
bigot's emotional debris and refuse..."
[excerpt from W. Charisse Goodman, author of The Invisible Woman]
Age and Ageism
“It's just something that I like to do, and I
also don't buy into the ageism theory.”
~ Joan Collins
Disability and Ableism
Ableism is a term used to describe
discrimination against people with
disabilities in favor of people who are
not disabled.
~Wikipedia.com
Religion and Religion
Discrimination
Religious discrimination is valuing a person or group lower
because of their religion, or treating someone differently
because of what they do or don't believe. While many
religious and secular authorities nowadays tend to stress
that religion is something personal, the highly social nature
of most religions makes conflicts between religious groups,
and thus discrimination, still very probable.
~Wikipedia.com
Sexuality and Heterosexism
The roots of homophobia are fear.
Fear and more fear.
~George Weinberg
Ethnicity and Ethnocentrism
Ethnocentrism is the tendency to
look at the world primarily from the
perspective of one's own culture.
~Wikipedia.com
Social Class and Classism
Classism is any form of prejudice or
oppression against people as a result of
their actual or perceived social class
(especially in the form of lower or higher
socioeconomic status) within a class
based society.
~Wikipedia.com
Adults and Adultism
Adultism is a predisposition towards adults, which
some see as biased against children, youth, and
all young people who aren't addressed or viewed
as adults.
~Wikipedia.com