Introduction
There have been numerous attempts to define prejudice by scholars. The meaning of prejudice is negative attitudes toward individual members of a particular social group (Dovidio et al. 1). The target of prejudice can include women, immigrants, asylum seekers, the elderly, and people with mental illnesses. In some cases, acts of prejudice can result in violent and discriminatory behavior. Bias against some individuals may legitimize and facilitate collective and personal oppression and violence (Cohrs and Duckitt 2). This indicates that prejudice is a topic that has a significant impact on people. This essay will research and analyze the origins of prejudice, types of prejudice, and the impacts of prejudice.
Types of Prejudice
Prejudice results from the need to group people based on their race, gender, and age. This leads to the development of expectations based on the social categories of race, gender, and age. One of the most significant types of prejudice is racism which can be described as the bias against a person based on their affiliation to a specific racial group (Marx 43). The most common example is the prejudice against minority groups such as Latinx and African Americans in the United States. The presence of racial bias is significant because of the impacts it has on the prejudiced. In the past, cases of racial discrimination have elicited severe backlash from the majority of the people (Marx 43). However, these issues are still occurring, which indicates that racial prejudice exists among us.
Another form of prejudice is sexism which is a bias towards individuals based on their sex. In most cases, sexism describes men holding biases towards women. However, both genders can show prejudice against each other in different situations. Some of the common forms of chauvinism include gender role expectations and gender group behavior expectations (Dovidio et al. 3). The impacts of sexism are more significant on women because they experience the majority of prejudice. Ageism is the bias against people based on their age. Individuals can form biased expectations and judgments about the elderly. Aspects such as older adults being incompetent, physically weak, and slow are some examples of the prejudice formed against aging individuals.
Homophobia is another type of prejudice that represents discrimination and bias against people based on their sexual orientation. In the current era, this prejudice is rampant, especially in developing countries. The result of bias can be violence or exclusion from important aspects of society (Marx 44). There have been cases of employers not hiring people who identify as either lesbian, gay, or bisexual. This shows that prejudice has a significant impact on the well-being of individuals. Violence towards people because of bias should be addressed through laws and policies (Dovidio et al. 5). Therefore, the most common types of bias are related to the age, gender, sexual orientation, and race of an individual.
Origins of Prejudice
The origins of prejudice can be understood using four important issues. One of the issues is the universal social-psychological bases of bias. The composition of the world into discrete groups which have different characteristics creates attachment (Cohrs and Duckitt 3). Individuals may view their cluster as better than others which creates prejudice. The automatic identification of a group results in the creation of motivation to differentiate from other groups (Cohrs and Duckitt 4).
This then results in favoritism, bias, and discrimination against those sets considered as not good enough. In most societies in the world, some tribes are considered superior, while others are taken as inferior. The result is the creation of class systems that represent the prejudices that originated from the division of people into groups. Therefore, the division of the world into ethnocentric clusters is one of the origins of prejudice.
Another important issue is the social and inter-group origins of prejudice. Bias can be meted out against one group and not against other groups. The characterization of clusters by convergent boundaries such as social class and ethnicity creates a high chance for prejudicial behaviors (Cohrs and Duckitt 4). This is because in such cases, the factors that may reduce bias are absent. The competition between groups results in avenues of prejudice being created (Cohrs and Duckitt 4). The need to achieve status and prestige can influence the attitude that a group has over other groups.
Intergroup threat is where members from one cluster view another subgroup as a source of danger or disruption. The risk can either be realistic, symbolic, or motivated by group esteem (Cohrs and Duckitt 5). Intergroup competition can contribute to the development of perceived threats which can influence the attitudes of individual subgroups. This can be enhanced by intergroup inequality, where one subgroup is more powerful and dominant. Subclusters that hold the leading position are more likely to adopt different strategies to enhance and maintain their position (Cohrs and Duckitt 5). Therefore, rivalries between groups, the presence of threats, and disparities between subgroups can be considered sources of prejudice.
Individual differences are also another issue that can provide insight into the origins of prejudice. As indicated above, bias towards certain groups is shared within the cluster. However, there are variances in the way people within a set hold collective prejudiced attitudes (Cohrs and Duckitt 6).
This is because people have different personalities, which can enhance or reduce the presence of prejudice. For example, individuals associated with right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation are more likely to be biased against certain groups. Another aspect is the social world beliefs of people which vary from individual to individual. These principles tend to influence the perception, which enhances prejudice. The need to express power and dominate is a personality that can be attributed to bias (Cohrs and Duckitt 6). Therefore, the character of individuals can be a source of prejudice as it influences the way people act and behave.
Prejudice can also be based on culture and society through different beliefs and values. Some cultures can be less tolerant than others which breeds bias. The need to belong ensures that humans hold on to their cultural beliefs (Cohrs and Duckitt 6). This creates situations where people from a certain culture regard it as dominant. Power over other individuals yields instances where there is favoritism and discrimination (Liberman et al. 557). Open-minded societies are less prone to show prejudice. This is because bias may emanate from the lack of consideration of other people’s values and belief systems. This shows that culture and society can be originators of prejudice against other groups.
Why Prejudice Exists
Prejudice exists because of people’s conformity to social norms that enhance bias. Different societies view certain types of discrimination as normal. This results in the normalization of behaviors which influences the way people perceive certain aspects. Children learn about prejudice from their parents, teachers, and online platforms. The self-fulfilling prophecy can explain why prejudices exist. The theory states that when people hold stereotypes about other individuals, they create expectations that these persons will fulfill the set characteristics (Cohrs and Duckitt 6). This means that stereotypes about people influence the way they treat other people. The model shows that prejudice is influenced by the individual perception of the world.
Another aspect that shows why prejudice exists is confirmation bias. People tend to pay more attention to information that suits their stereotypic expectations while ignoring information that is not consistent with their intentions (Dovidio et al. 3). This shows that there is a confirmation bias which is a result of the need to conform to certain social norms. The need to ignore contrary opinions is also based on individual characteristics. Confirmation bias enhances the presence of prejudice because it becomes easy to make the wrong decision.
As noted earlier, groups are the source of identity and self-esteem for most individuals. These groups can be viewed as either in-groups or out-groups. In-groups represent the groups where people view themselves as belonging (Cohrs and Duckitt 3). For example, for doctors, an in-group is a group comprising all doctors. On the other hand, out-groups are those that people view as being different from them. For example, for females, a group that comprises males is an out-group. As people feel more connected to their in-groups a bias may develop, which represents the preference for one’s group over other groups (Dovidio et al. 7).
The prejudice may result in discrimination against the out-group because it is deemed different and thus less preferred. Individuals are interested in protecting their in-groups because of the positive emotions. In cases where threats to the in-group occur, the mechanism to resolve such conflicts is scapegoating. This involves accusing the out-group when a goal is not achieved (Dovidio et al. 6). Therefore, prejudice exists because of the need for people to conform to social norms, which promote partiality.
Impacts of Prejudice on Society
One of the impacts of prejudice on society is violence against innocent people. This is witnessed when people hold a bias against a specific group and resulting in using violence to show their displeasure (Symons et al. 468). An example is the slavery period, where minorities were discriminated against, and the holocaust, where victims suffered significantly. The use of violence results in death, which can affect the trajectory of families. Behaviors that promote bias against other people can easily be spread because of social media (Symons et al. 467). This increases the threat for groups that are at risk of being discriminated against. Therefore, prejudice can result in violence, which may lead to the loss of lives.
Another significant impact of prejudice is the loss of opportunities. Bias against women in the workplace or girl students may lead to the loss of useful chances. The significance is that such loss will enhance the disparity that exists between men and women. Persistent exposure to bias can result in the normalization of discrimination, which can help advance the impacts on the victims (Symons et al. 470). Loss of motivation is an aspect that can be related to failure to undertake new opportunities. People who encounter prejudice many times are more likely to be less motivated to perform certain activities. This shows that bias affects the well-being of people, which then impacts their ability to carry out different actions.
Social stigma against certain behavior or people is another impact of prejudice. Stigma develops when people treat a group as deviant because it does not conform to expected behavior (Esses 504). The dominant subgroup views the conduct as being a result of physical or psychological problems. The resultant prejudice creates stigma, which can then lead to stigmatization. For example, the isolation of black suburbs in the U.S. is because of the government’s view that such neighborhoods should not be developed.
The prejudice in this case is based on race and affects black people. Crime is another key impact of prejudice in society and can be attributed to the loss of self-esteem (Esses 504). Social class influences the type of crime an individual will commit, which further underlines the impacts of prejudice (Esses 505). The resources spent in policing as a result of various forms of bias are high. Therefore, prejudice and discrimination cause serious impacts on society.
Conclusion
In summary, prejudice can be viewed as a negative perception towards people from a certain group. Individuals form their identities based on factors such as age, gender, race, and sexual orientation. Forms of prejudice originate from culture, society, individual beliefs, and group dynamics. Bias contributes to the loss of opportunities and motivation to carry out specific activities. This affects the general well-being of individuals and leads to a reduction in productivity.
Works Cited
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Dovidio, John F., Fabian MH Schellhaas, and Adam R. Pearson. “Prejudice.” Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Psychology, vol 23, 2019, pp. 1-17. Web.
Esses, Victoria M. “Prejudice and discrimination toward immigrants.” Annual Review of Psychology, vol. 72, 2021, pp. 503-531. Web.
Liberman, Zoe, Amanda L. Woodward, and Katherine D. Kinzler. “The origins of social categorization.” Trends in Cognitive Sciences, vol. 21, no. 7, 2017, pp. 556-568. Web.
Marx, Philip. “An absolute test of racial prejudice.” The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, vol. 38, no. 1, 2022, pp. 42-91. Web.
Symons, Caroline M., Grant A. O’Sullivan, and Remco Polman. “The impacts of discriminatory experiences on lesbian, gay and bisexual people in sport.” Annals of Leisure Research, vol. 20, no. 4, 2017, pp. 467-489. Web.