Essay on Why Discrimination Still Exist

In April 1968, the day after Martin Luther King was killed, an American elementary school teacher, Jane Eliot, encountered a problem. Her third-year students, in this almost white town, could not understand why Martin was assassinated. To let them understand what is 'discrimination', Jane Elliott experimented.

She divided the children in the class into two groups, blue and brown. On the first day, the brown-eyed child was tied to a brown scarf to distinguish between the dominant group and the weak group. Blue-eyed children were told that they were smarter, cleaner, and friendly. They were better than brown-eyed children, and brown-eyed children were constantly criticized and ridiculed by Eliot.

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The next day, Eliot reversed the rules, blue-eyed children were tied to a blue scarf and became a weak group, while brown-eyed children were placed in a strong group and enjoyed better treatment than the weak group. After the two-day trial, Jane let the two sides embrace and reconcile and write down their feelings.

What happened in just two days? Students who were classified as vulnerable groups did not perform well in tests and studies. On the contrary, children classified as strong groups performed well, were confident, and “united” and treated the disadvantaged group differently.

'I saw with my own eyes that a cooperative, friendly, and considerate child has become annoying, fierce, and discriminating in just 15 minutes.' Jane Eliot said she realized she was in the third grade. In the class, a miniature society was created.

Prejudice and stereotype

The day before yesterday, I was on my way home by car. There was such a thing: a white car in front was slow and tweaked. After about half a minute in front of us, the anxious master kicked the throttle quickly changed lanes, and then smashed. A 'female driver'.

I can't help but ask the master, why are you sure this is a female driver? The master replied that only female drivers are the technology. I asked if the other party was a male driver. The master laughed and did not answer. I think that even if the other party is a male driver, I am afraid that the master will think that he is 'driving the same technology as a female driver.' 'Male driving technology is stronger than women' is a kind of bias that we can see widely. Even if no data shows that male driving technology is stronger, and even women who have not seen a driver driving or have experienced poor driving skills, many people still hold There is such a point of view.

Prejudice is a concept and attitude that lacks an objective basis, fixed, and preconceived. In psychology, it is not only a statement of opinion or belief, but also an attitude that includes feelings like contempt, dislike, and disgust. And usually, the generation of prejudice comes from stereotypes.

'Stereotype' originally refers to a copy of the printing process, which is later compared to 'pictures in the brain' or realistic psychological reproductions, specifically referring to a general view of certain types of people, things, or things. The creation of stereotypes, mostly because there is not enough time to understand a certain type of people (or individuals, things), and choose to use experience or sensory to take 'shortcuts.'

'The poor driving skills of women' or 'good men driving skills' is a stereotype. There are many reasons for this stereotype. From a deeper perspective, this is an extension based on 'gender stereotypes.' Our society usually has stereotypes such as 'women are not rational' and 'women are more suitable for housework'. It extends to various fields. It may be that women are neither suitable as surgeons nor as lawyers. I won't drive well.

Our social environment will continue to strengthen this stereotype. To catch people's attention, the news media deliberately added a label of 'female driver' in the title of a car accident report, so that everyone can have the illusion that the female driver has a higher chance of a car accident. Statistics, male driver accidents the chance is higher.

This kind of technique is not uncommon. The labels of 'rich second generation' and 'post-90s' often exist in various media reports. Compared with the facts, the public is more concerned about the meaning of such labels. The 'rich second generation' is arrogant, and the 'post-90s' is young and ignorant.

Stereotypes are not necessarily harmful in themselves. If a group is stereotyped as a neutral and positive impression, such as 'honest and kind,' there will be no prejudice or discrimination. However, the fact is that negative stereotypes tend to be more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. The stereotype of 'the female driver's poor driving skills' has led the taxi master to see the chaotic car in front, creating a prejudice that 'the other party must be a female driver.'

What is discrimination (Discrimination)

In the early 1980s, a strange disease that had never been seen before swept through New York. Because this immune system deficiency disease is mainly concentrated in the gay group, it is called 'gay cancer.' Numerous gay men have died because of this condition, and the conservative Reagan administration has turned a blind eye to this. Some people think that this is a punishment given by God to comrades, hoping to eliminate the comrades. Many shops hang signs, prohibiting comrades from entering, and most people avoid comrades.

This kind of illness is the famous 'AIDS'. Until the four years of its ravages, the US government allocated funds for research and treatment. Even today, even if science proves that AIDS is not a disease unique to comrades, many people still insist that comrades are the cause of AIDS and refuse to contract homosexuality. Some people are prejudiced against AIDS patients, thinking that they are debauched and even reluctant to breathe the same air with them.

Although not absolute, in most cases 'discrimination' often stems from 'prejudice'. Simply put, discrimination is an explicit behavior based on prejudice.

'Women's driver driving skills are worse than male drivers' is a common prejudice. When a person holds this prejudice and refuses to take the female driver's car (blocking a taxi and discovering that it is a female driver and refusing to ride) We can say that this is a kind of 'personal discrimination.' And if a policy is introduced that stipulates that a female driver needs to study for a longer period, or that the taxi driver’s assessment is more stringent, it is “organizational discrimination”.

There are two main differences between prejudice and discrimination:

Prejudice as a subjective attitude mainly exists in the mind, and discrimination is an act. The former is the psychological source of the latter, and the latter is the external reflection of the former. In most cases, people's attitudes and behaviors are consistent, but they are not inevitable. People with prejudiced attitudes may not be able to show them. A hotel owner who is biased towards homosexuality may not necessarily refuse a gay person.

Prejudice can occur between any group, and a strong group can be biased against a weak group, and vice versa. For example, hatefulness often has a prejudice against the rich (strong group). Discrimination is only for vulnerable groups. It should be noted that this strength will vary with the environment. In mainstream society, heterosexuality has an absolute advantage over homosexuality. Even if homosexuals are biased toward heterosexuality, it is difficult to further discriminate. But in the fashion circle where homosexuals have the right to speak, even heterosexuals pretend to be gay to gain recognition.

In summary, discrimination is directed at a particularly vulnerable group (or individual), which is treated as unfair, negative, and exclusive because of identity classification (such as race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, etc.) rather than quality.

From prejudice to discrimination

The self-certification prophecy is a social psychological phenomenon proposed by the American sociologist Robert King Morton. It refers to people's preconceived judgments, whether they are correct or not, will affect people's behavior more or less. So that this judgment is finally realized. In 1968, Dr. Rosenthal and Dr. Jacobson verified this phenomenon through experiments in primary school teaching, and became the Pygmalion effect.

This effect is closely related to our lives. Simply put, once a person or group is treated with a subjective tendency, and thus the norms and institutions are set up, then this person or group may eventually become like that.

For example, whites in the United States considered blacks to be inferior races, so various isolation systems were established to treat them differently. Under such a policy, blacks do not have a good education, work, and living environment, and it is difficult to produce a sound personality, so there will also be some characteristics that are consistent with white prejudice. A white man who saw a black man who grew up in this environment found the black man to be illiterate, so he concluded that 'black people are stupid' and strengthened their prejudiced attitude. But in fact, it’s just because this black man has no chance to enjoy education.

We know that apartheid is a typical 'organizational discrimination'. Whites are a strong group. Blacks are a vulnerable group. Because of the prejudice against black people, extends further white discrimination against black people. Under what circumstances will this prejudice evolve into discrimination?

The theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) is a theory put forward by American scholars Fishbine and Ayez in 1975. It is mainly used to analyze how attitudes affect consciously individual behaviors and focus on the formation of attitudes based on cognitive information. The basic assumption of the process is that people are rational and will combine various information to consider the meaning and consequences of their actions before making a certain behavior:

In this theory, the individual's intention to act on a particular behavioral preference will be influenced by either or both of the attitudes of the individual's approval and the subjective speculation of important others' support, and the behavioral intention will further influence the specific behaviors. If the two are consistent, it is inevitable to make a behavior. If the two are contradictory, it depends on the relative strength of the interaction between the two.

The subjective speculation here can be understood as the magnitude of the social resistance that a certain behavior is subjected to, that is, the price paid. The reason why discrimination can rise from the psychological of prejudice to behavior is the result of rational choice of people. Once people think that this kind of behavior will not be penalized beyond the tolerance (even rewards), it will go further to the behavioral level.

This also explains why discrimination is a strong group for vulnerable groups. For historical reasons, blacks are in a weak position relative to whites in the United States. People are biased against blacks, and blacks are weak, not enough to punish the implementers of the system, and the apartheid system is therefore established. The breakthrough of this system is the result of resistance from black people.

How to eliminate discrimination

In general, stereotypes have created prejudice, and prejudice has led to discrimination. According to my previous analysis, I believe that the root causes of discrimination mainly come from the following three points:

1. Cognitive bias caused by one-sided and wrong information: Because of the educational environment, the growing environment, the cultural environment, and the media environment, the information received is not comprehensive and objective, leading to cognitive bias. For example, girls are considered 'not suitable for science' since childhood;
2. The arrogance and ignorance of discriminators: accepting one-sided information, but taking all of this information as a whole, and thinking that people, things, or things are in their imagination, and are unwilling to accept the real situation. For example, if a person is homophobic, even if he accepts scientific information, he still believes that homosexuality is not clean, that is, 'anti-natural';
3. The weakness of the discriminated person itself: Because of its weak position, it is impossible to resist the strong, and even think that it is like this, accept the information conveyed by the discriminator. For example, black people are considered stupid and lazy by white people. If some black people give up on themselves, they also think that they are inferior, thus degrading and strengthening the white prejudice. To eliminate discrimination, we must start from the root cause. We need to eliminate misunderstandings, increase opportunities for contact between the two sides, and the efforts of the discriminated individuals themselves.

So, I think the ways to eliminate discrimination are:

1. Propaganda: Propaganda is an effective way to eliminate misunderstandings. Establishing a typical image helps to break the stereotype of the public. The propaganda for women scientists will reverse the prejudice that 'women are not suitable for science';
2. Education: Don't insult your child with one-sided and wrong ideas from an early age and let them contact other groups themselves. Extreme religious organizations have been cultivating children’s prejudice since childhood, which is horrible and cruel;
3. Strengthen empathy: There is a saying in The Great Gatsby: When you want to criticize others, you know that the other party may not have the conditions you are so generous. Strengthening empathy can make people better put aside prejudice. When you think that poor children learn poorly, it may be because they need to spend more energy taking care of the family;
4. Avoid dealing with extreme people: Extreme thoughts are always easy to spread and gain recognition, and we must be careful about those who have extreme thoughts because of narrow eyes. When a person tells you that a black person is born, stupid, stupid and lazy, you better stay away from him;
5. More contact with the person being discriminated: The best way to get to know each other is to get in touch with each other. Some people think that Henan people are liars, but if they have contacted some Henan people and feel the goodness of Henan people, their views may change;
6. The discriminated person changes himself: the discriminated person needs to accept some facts objectively and make changes as far as practicable. If the blacks of the United States were self-destructive, then no one could help them. Instead, they are aggressive and will gain respect.

By the way, seventeen years after Jane Eliot’s experiment of blue eyes and brown eyes, the director of the documentary “Split Classroom” returned to the students who had grown up. Without exception, they believe that this experiment is of great significance in their lives. It is precisely because of this experience in childhood that it is easier to accept people of different cultures, different religious backgrounds, different races, and different opinions when they grow up and see a bigger world.

The purpose of eliminating discrimination can be just because the world is so big, why should we be so narrow?

Reference

1. https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/how-rights-protected/guide-canadian-charter-rights-freedoms.html
2. https://www.lawlessons.ca/lesson-plans/1.3.overview-of-the-canadian-charter-of-rights-and-freedoms
3. https://www.chrc-ccdp.gc.ca/eng/content/what-discrimination
4. http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199828340/obo-9780199828340-0097.xml