Prejudice vs Discrimination Essay

Typewrite a 1 ? to 2 page paper comparing and contrasting prejudice and discrimination. Relate the use of stereotyping and racial profiling to prejudice and discrimination. Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines prejudice and discrimination as: Prejudice (1) : injury or damage resulting from some judgment or action of another in disregard of one’s rights; especially : detriment to one’s legal rights or claims (2) a. (1) : preconceived judgment or opinion (2) : an adverse opinion or leaning formed without just grounds or before sufficient knowledge b : an instance of such judgment or opinion c : an irrational attitude of hostility directed against an individual, a group, a race, or their supposed characteristics. Discrimination (1) a. : the act of discriminating b : the process by which two stimuli differing in some aspect are responded to differently (2) : the quality or power of finely distinguishing (3) a. : the act, practice, or an instance of discriminating categorically rather than individually b : prejudiced or prejudicial outlook, action, or treatment The main distinction between prejudice and discrimination is found in Michael LeMay’s definition of discrimination, where he says â€Å"Discrimination is applied prejudice†. As in the definition above, prejudice is some preconceived notion about an individual, a group, or a race that demonstrate some sort of judgment upon them. This idea of prejudice is usually kept inside of the individual, so as to have a quiet judgment among people. Discrimination, however, is prejudice put into practice. Those who discriminate actively practice prejudice; it is no longer kept inside, but rather openly practiced against the people. Prejudice is best described as an attitude towards a certain group of peoples based solely on their membership in that social or ethnic group, whereas discrimination are actions taken against those members, the behavioral manifestation of prejudice. The practices of prejudice and discrimination stem from an individual’s perception of a certain group ?these predetermined perceptions of a group usually come from stereotypes of a people, or racial profiling. LeMay’s definition of stereotypes is this: â€Å"Oversimplistic and Overexaggerated beliefs about a group, most often acquired second hand. These images are highly resistant to change†. Stereotyping often derive from social categorization and the idea of ? in’ group vs. ?out’ group. Social categorizations is sort of the lumping or classification of people into groups based on common characteristics among them, while the concept of the ? in’ group versus the ? out’ group is based on a ? we’ vs. ?they’ view, by Peter Rose. The difference between the two is that in social categorization, the person removes themself from their judgment, whereas in the ? we’ vs. ?they’ approach, the person is included among others in their judgment, but those judged are not part of their own majority group. This process of thought views ? we’ in favorable terms, and ? they’ negatively. The impact of stereotypes, as I have stated, directly affect the perceptions of a people in a negative light; when we think of those people, these traits come to mind ? when we meet people from this group, we will focus more on those traits and process them before others. Stereotyping affects our social judgments about a group of people: how much we like the person, our mood and attitudes toward the person, as well as our expectations from that person. Racial profiling is not much off from the principles of stereotyping. Racial profiling is the use of race as a consideration in suspect profiling or other law enforcement practices. This ties into stereotyping in that we suspect suspicious activity from a particular race or people based solely on their ethnicity. A common example of racial profiling would be â€Å"DWB† or â€Å"driving while black†. This is the practice of police or other law enforcement officers targeting African Americans for traffic stops because they believe that African Americans are more likely to be engaged in criminal activity (racial profiling, www. ethnicmajority. com). Overall, one could say that one instance leads to another. Stereotyping can lead to prejudice, which can lead to discrimination. Stereotyping fuels prejudice, though people are not willing to admit this ? they will not admit to stereotyping or being prejudiced, nor discriminating, yet all practices and beliefs of these are rampant today.