Prejudice, Stereotypes And Discrimination In A Multicultural Society
Discrimination
While discrimination is a social challenge because it usually perpetrated by the majority group and it affects multiple lives on a daily basis, it can also be considered a personal challenge because it has consequences for individuals. Discrimination is defined as “treating a person differently from other persons based on group membership and an individual’s possession of certain characteristics such as age, class, gender, race, religion, and sexuality. Discriminatory behavior can take various forms from relatively mild behavior, such as social avoidance, to acts of violence, including hate crimes and genocide.” There is often a connection between prejudice, stereotypes and discrimination, though it is not always the case. For …show more content…
There are three different ways of adapting to a new culture: assimilation, integration, and segregation. Sometimes, people choose how they wish to do this, other times, they are forced to do it in a particular way. Assimilation is when one group’s common identity and uniqueness slowly fades away and becomes the majority group’s culture. Ways of assimilating oneself includes changing the way you dress, acquiring new values and norms, and possibly speaking another language on a regular basis. If this goes on for generations, the descendants will know very little of their original heritage. Assimilation is especially difficult if the two groups have exceptionally different norms and values, or if their appearance and ethnic background is …show more content…
Segregation is when two or more ethnic groups live in the same community, but live separately. For example, there was South African apartheid during the 1950s to the 1990s and American Jim Crow laws from the 1880s into the 1960s. Both were biracial communities where whites were the majority and blacks were the minority, and the color of their skin determined how they lived. It could be anything from which voting rights they did/did not have, to where they can sit on the bus or which school their children went to. In both of these cases people were forced to live segregated, but some minorities choose to live separately. However, when that happens the minority group can be perceived as a threat to the community. They will also lack the cultural and social skills needed to thrive in
While discrimination is a social challenge because it usually perpetrated by the majority group and it affects multiple lives on a daily basis, it can also be considered a personal challenge because it has consequences for individuals. Discrimination is defined as “treating a person differently from other persons based on group membership and an individual’s possession of certain characteristics such as age, class, gender, race, religion, and sexuality. Discriminatory behavior can take various forms from relatively mild behavior, such as social avoidance, to acts of violence, including hate crimes and genocide.” There is often a connection between prejudice, stereotypes and discrimination, though it is not always the case. For …show more content…
There are three different ways of adapting to a new culture: assimilation, integration, and segregation. Sometimes, people choose how they wish to do this, other times, they are forced to do it in a particular way. Assimilation is when one group’s common identity and uniqueness slowly fades away and becomes the majority group’s culture. Ways of assimilating oneself includes changing the way you dress, acquiring new values and norms, and possibly speaking another language on a regular basis. If this goes on for generations, the descendants will know very little of their original heritage. Assimilation is especially difficult if the two groups have exceptionally different norms and values, or if their appearance and ethnic background is …show more content…
Segregation is when two or more ethnic groups live in the same community, but live separately. For example, there was South African apartheid during the 1950s to the 1990s and American Jim Crow laws from the 1880s into the 1960s. Both were biracial communities where whites were the majority and blacks were the minority, and the color of their skin determined how they lived. It could be anything from which voting rights they did/did not have, to where they can sit on the bus or which school their children went to. In both of these cases people were forced to live segregated, but some minorities choose to live separately. However, when that happens the minority group can be perceived as a threat to the community. They will also lack the cultural and social skills needed to thrive in