Links
• Current tv doc:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNrL4OnEt4Q
• Ted Talk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8htxQmVybM
• Obama on Mosque:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZOIBEEvbO0
• Mosque: 60 minutes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRRAh2iUFUc
• CNN
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_wqt9edqOQ
Prejudice
Chapter 2
• What is prejudice? Is prejudice the same as
discrimination?
• Is prejudice natural or learned?
Ethnocentrism

An expression of prejudice
• Cultural Superiority
– Judging other groups and cultures by the
standards of one’s own culture
– Are we all ethnocentric?
• Examples
Prejudice vs. Discrimination
• Prejudice
– Attitude
– Entire category
• Often expressed through ethnophaulisms
– Derisive nicknames
– Speaking in a condescending way
– Can prejudice be positive?
Discrimination
• The acts that arise from prejudices
– Individual discrimination: Unfair or unequal treatment
based on group membership, on an individual level
• i.e. Not inviting a co-worker to lunch based on their race
• i.e. hate crimes
– Discrimination is:
• Subtle: for example not sitting next to someone
• Blatant: Racial slurs
– What is the other main type of discrimination?
• Is using an ethnic slur prejudice or
discrimination?
Islamophobia
• Range of negative feeling towards Muslims
and their religion that ranges from
generalized intolerance to hatred
– Is it patriotic to be anti-Muslim?
– Studies show widespread prejudice and increased
hate crimes and harassment of Muslim American
since ____?
• Can an individual be prejudice but not
discriminatory?
Robert Merton’s Typology
• Explored the relationship between negative
attitudes and negative behavior
• Identified 4 major categories
– 1. The unprejudiced non-discriminator
– 2. The unprejudiced discriminator
– 3. The prejudiced non-discriminator
– 4. The prejudiced discriminator
Prejudice and Discrimination
• LaPiere’s study
– People do not always act as they believe
– Looked at the relationship between racial
attitudes and social conduct
• Assert that there are many timid bigots
White Privilege
• Refers to the rights or immunities granted as a
particular benefit or favor for being White.
This advantage exists unconsciously and is often
invisible to White people (Ferber 2008).
Privilege is difficult to acknowledge
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White Privilege
• Examples of White Privilege (McIntosh 1988) include:
• • Being considered financially reliable when using checks,
credit cards, or cash.
• • Taking a job without having coworkers suspect it came
about because of race.
• • Watching television or reading a newspaper and seeing
people of your own race widely represented.
• • Speaking effectively in a large group without being called a
credit to your race.
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Theories of Prejudice
– What is a theory??
• 4 Primary Theories Discussed in Text
– 2 Psychological
• Scapegoating theory
• Authoritarian personality theory
– 2 Sociological
• Exploitation theory
• Normative approach theory
Psychological Theories of Prejudice
• Scapegoating Theory
– “I am a victim; I am not guilty for my failures,
other people are!”
• Who are America’s scapegoats?
• Authoritarian Personality Theory
– There is a personality type that is likely to be
prejudiced and dislike people who are different
Sociological Theories of Prejudice
• Exploitation Theory
– Racism stigmatizes a group as inferior, so that exploitation can
be justified
– It’s ok to exploit people for economic advantage
• Immigrant labor; day laborers
– Who picks most of our crops, makes most of our clothes, and slaughters and
packs most of our meat?
• Normative Approach theory
– Prejudice results from norms and situations that encourage or
discourage intolerance
• Social forces encourage intolerance
– What if you grew up in the Antebellum south?
Using Theory to Understand Prejudice
• Sociologists typically use all theories for a
broader understanding of prejudice, but one
theory may be more appropriate in certain
studies or situations
Stereotypes
– Book Example of secret service agent?
• Unreliable generalizations about all member
of a group that do not take individual
differences into account
– Research show they are widely held
• Are all Latinos lazy?
• Are all feminists lesbian man haters?
• Are all Jewish people Christ killing shrewd
businessman?
– Of course not, a kernel of fact leads to faulty generalizations?
Stereotypes in Action
– Book Example-Black dentist-Elmo Randolph DWB on
the New Jersey Turnpike?
• Racial Profiling
– Any police initiated action based on race, ethnicity,
or national origin rather than that person’s behavior
• Does it occur?
• Efforts to stop racial profiling at airports came to halt when?
• What is SB1070 in Arizona?