Research Assignment: Prejudice and Social Discrimination, Forms of Discrimination (Essay Sample)

Prejudice and Social Discrimination
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Prejudice and Discrimination
Introduction
Prejudice and discrimination have become societal problems. Most people face discrimination because of their gender, race, and social status. The social status comes with either wealth an individual can amass or the power of command upon their hands. Gender discrimination is on some roles defined for a particular gender (Langwith, 2008). For a race, it will depend on how one group of people from some part of the world view another group. The effect of prejudice may be positive or negative depending on who benefits at a particular (Karon, 1975). After investigations, this paper explains discrimination, the good and the bad sides, the fight against it and the consequences of such fights.
Forms of Discrimination
Societies from the past have records of discrimination. In the old days, people were discriminated on gender issues. Men were rated higher than women in the social sphere. In institutions, they were given more opportunity than the women. Organizations such as churches, political landscapes, and school curriculum did not allow women to participate in some activities (Langwith, 2008). In most countries, women have never been presidents because of the philosophies that such communities. In church leadership, the top leadership was filled by men (Langwith, 2008). It has the advantages towards men as they can have more opportunities than women. Men who are seen as superior are tasked with more roles in the community which is to their disadvantage if they cannot manage the roles. To women, the inferiority view in them gives the advantage as they have lesser responsibilities in the society.
By racial discrimination, different continents have negative relationships with others. Examples are the portrayal of blacks as slaves during the transatlantic trade. Most blacks were bought and sold as slaves in America and Europe. The Americans could gain from their free labor in their farms. However, none could see the advantages of the chiefs who sold the slaves and the current democracy they are enjoying unlike their countries of origin. The events of World War I and II drew more hatred between continents and the pain of another continent having caused damage to another during the war is still fresh.
In the current days, social status of either being rich or poor contributes to the worst form of discrimination. The rich have their ways of life which the poor cannot afford. They do not share social amenities with the poor, they do not dine together and cannot share some services like schools and hospitals. In service provision, people have chosen to provide specific services to the wealthy while others provide to the poor. In close relationship with the wealth that one has is political power. People in political power show similar ways of discrimination to their subjects. Around the world, most presidents can never interact freely with the common man. The society then becomes a situation where people tend to work to be rich as some choose to remain contented in the same situation.
Effects of Discrimination
The effects of discrimination has two sides of argument. First there are the positive sides and the negative sides. Those who discriminate others have a sense of feeling for their class compared to the people they discriminate. They would be doing a favor to people without knowing it. When they discriminate, they do not take into considerations that the people get encouraged, though under jealousy to work harder. It may assist someone to achieve some status by also working harder. However, the disadvantages weigh more. When a society prescribes that men or women can only handle some tasks, they may miss on quality. These days, it is possible to find men who do jobs that were defined to be women’s in a better way. Women also take up what the society considered were a man’s activities and showed good performances (Karon, 1975). Examples are women being engineers, a profession that was ones left for men alone. Some have been good pilots too. As a result the society finds itself complete unlike the old days. To the advantage of the discriminated gender, most communities have worked harder to ensure equal treatment. Today women have become some of the best engineers and pilots because of the changes that the society did to empower them after a long time of discrimination.
Division amongst races in globalization have given some people a superior status than others. It is a good view to the elevated races as they will always feel superior to others. In some cases racism has spoilt the connections like in sports and education. In worldwide or regional sports people would only want to be with the ones from their continents or races. Any person from another place may not find it fitting as others do. It affects the manner in which people handle individuals whom they feel have ill-treated one of their own in subsequent days (Karon, 1975).The continuing trend breeds more hatred amongst people to revenge against one another.
The psychological and emotional feelings of discrimination may affect how people perform their duties in the society. Most discriminated people feel that they should not do what they can because they will not be recognized (Karon, 1975). Such issues demoralizes the society and contributes to the reduced productivity of individuals. Besides, those who are viewed as good performers will have the feelings that they can do better. In most cases, they do their best to prove to the people that the value a community has invested in them is worth the products of their work. Changing mindsets changes the manner of approach that people will have towards their activities (Karon, 1975). The general effect is the feeling of inferiority amongst people. An opportunity to the discriminated could yield better results and should be tested.
Handling Discrimination
For the world to handle discrimination it will take a lot of time and commitment. There will be stages that will need transformation from an individual, community and international levels. These steps are an individual, a family community and a nation. When countries change then the world will appreciate the same changes.
To handle discrimination at different level people should keep an open mind. After people understand the reasons for discrimination, they can be taught the ways of changing the situation. For those who discriminate, they can be taught on a slow transformation until they change their mindsets. Those who are discriminated can do their best not to retaliate and this will hit the other people with shame. There are two gains, one person gains confidence in fighting discrimination as the other feels the guilt and have a reduce self-esteem.
Civilization to communities and societies is also necessary. Most communities that have been discriminating particular gender in relation to some activities and social services can be educated to accept that the changing times are important for them to allow both gender to participate competently (Lind & Jones, 2010). First, real life examples of people who have succeed will impart a lot of knowledge to them. Example of a profession that can be of sound experience is engineering. It is a field where women have had enough discrimination globally. Giving example of Elisa Leonida who is in the history as the first female engineer in Europe is wise. The time when she was an engineer is in the eighteenth century (Lind & Jones, 2010). A society that do not allow their women to be engineers can learn that it is not a new occurrence but something that happened in the past. The widespread of this technique will be rewarding as results will be evident if people are touched. It is a method that is working and the number of female engineers today around the world has increased.
Social discrimination regarding wealth and government administrations will require political goodwill to change. Most leaders change their conduct when they acquire some political power and some feelings of wealth. Except for democratic countries, most states have this problem show-offs by leaders in authority. If a previous government was full of discrimination, it may ignite feelings of revenge to others who are coming to power. States can have stronger policies that ensure cordial relationships between the people and those in the political throne. (Porat, 2014). Advantages of this relationship is improvements in the social fitting irrespective of one’s position. The discriminated will experience new feelings in the society. The political class will however have the disadvantage because of the desire to appear royal as was in the old days. Distribution of wealth equally will also draw the sense of equity between the people. If a state can have an overview system that will ensure people are equally provided with opportunities for wealth creation, the people will be able to stay cordially.
Punishment can sometimes be helpful. Worldwide, people have shown moves that help in regulating and stopping discrimination. Racial discrimination in social events like sports has reduced to negligible levels. World bodies have taken steps like banning fans from attending games in a country where discrimination is profound. In subsequent events, the people have shown changes to proper behaviors by not acting as discriminative against others. When such can be carried around the world, there will be positive steps in the fight against discrimination.
In these methods that are outlined to be useful for handling discriminations, challenges will come alongside them. First, the unwilling people who cannot stop the acts of discrimination. Other people may have difficulty in their willingness not to reve...