cultural theory of prejudice

Cultural theory is the idea that prejudice is a learned behavior. In addition to hate crimes and ethnic cleansing, he mentions redneck racism—the expression of blatant intolerance toward someone of another race. At the root of our understanding of prejudice is the very goal of “tolerance.” In fact, the notion of tolerance for diversity may be limited: It is often treated merely as “the application of the same moral principles and rules, caring and empathy, and feelings of connections to human beings of other perceived groups” (Baldwin & Hecht, 1995, p. 65). Conventional wisdom, for example, suggests that there are many more slurs for women then there are for men, and most of these have some sexual connotation. While prejudice is an attitude, discrimination is a behavior, an overt action that has a negative impact on a person or group. For example, Esposito and Romano (2014) contrast benevolent racism to other forms of post-U.S.-civil-rights forms of racism, such as laissez-faire racism, symbolic racism, and color-blind racism. Further, intolerance can rely upon a wide variety of identity groups, including some that are (supposedly) biologically based, like racism, or based on other aspects, such as political party, fan status, or membership in some perceived group such as “blonde” or “athlete.” In sum, we must consider the relationship between different forms of intolerance, including but not limited to prejudice, racism, and discrimination; but these must always be understood within specific cultural contexts. What is Cultural Prejudice 1. In one classic study, men interrupted women much more than women interrupted men. He notes how, while personality factors like authoritarianism and cognitive rigidity are related to greater intolerance and make the likelihood of meaningful intergroup contact more unlikely, even in the presence of these variables, contact programs can have a positive effect for people with prejudice A meta-analysis of 515 contact studies suggests that contact works specifically by increasing knowledge of the other group, decreasing anxiety when one is with the other group, and increasing empathy for the other group (Pettigrew & Tropp, 2008). Discrimination involves behavior. But whiteness is also analyzed in areas of education, everyday language, and health and organizational communication, as well as in many different countries. Within the field of intercultural communication, at least two lines of research have focused on ethnocentrism. Color-blind racism starts with what seems to be a reasonable assumption, that all people are the same, but then moves to assume that lack of progress of minority members is due to their personal choices, low work ethic, or lack of ability, and ignores structural support for inequalities. Stereotypes are overgeneralizations we make about groups that we apply to individuals in those groups (Herbst, 1997). Some types of prejudice relate specifically to the larger and more traditional notion of culture (i.e., cultures as nations). Central to our discussion is the way that discrimination and racism can occur through communicative behavior. However. Also, prejudice is inherently negative, following the primary definition common in modern dictionaries, though a secondary definition includes any sort of prejudgment based on group belonging, such as prejudice toward one’s own group. In many countries and cultures, where overt expression of racism (and other intolerances) has become socially unacceptable, intolerances have gone “underground,” hidden in subtle forms. Coates’s (2003) analysis of narratives told by men in mixed company (such as around the family dinner table) notes that men are both the target and subject of most stories, with dinner table discussion typically centering on patriarchal authority. Allport (1979) suggests that prejudice is a “generalized” attitude—that if one is prejudiced, say, toward Jewish people, she or he will also be prejudiced toward communists, people of color, and so on. (Bhabha, 1990: p. 209) PROCESSES OF PREJUDICE: THEORY, EVIDENCE AND INTERVENTION . The locus of racism: Individual or structural? "The social psychology of cultural diversity: Social prejudice, stereotyping and … More pertinent to the study of intolerance is a new approach to culture that sees culture neither as “suitcase” of things (be those beliefs and values or texts and artifacts) passed down from one generation to the next nor as a neutral process of mutual symbolic creation through time, but as having vested power interests that seek to influence what is seen as accepted or normal within a culture. We see this tension, for example, in Rattansi’s (1992) discussion of the debate between multicultural education—an educational solution to tolerance focused on educating about differences—and antiracism, which addresses political and social structures that propagate and support racism. Thousands of books now deal in some way with Orientalism, and Said’s notion of the “other” has become a stock theme in how we consider the racial other. Instead, we might discuss and demonstrate through evidence the way that the policy or image excludes others based on race. As we look around today at the world in general, or even within specific nations, we continue to see a wide range of prejudice, from the 1994 genocide of Tutsis (and many Hutus) by Hutus in Rwanda to the mass killing of 70 people, mostly youths, at a Utøyan youth camp in Norway by Anders Behring Breivik. One mistake we often make is thinking of prejudice and discrimination only in extreme terms such as genocide and hate crimes. older arguments from religion and from biology. The Southern Poverty Law center tracks 1,600 hate groups within the United States (“Hate and Extremism,” n.d.), classifying 784 that were active in 2014 (“Hate Map,” n.d.), and the FBI reports nearly 6,000 hate crimes in the United States, with the greatest numbers due to race (48.5%), religion (17.4%), and sexual orientation (20.8%; FBI, 2014). Any such easy assumption would seem to me to be mistaken. Australia, culture, cultural racism, ethnicminorities, healthcare, language prejudice, patientsafety Researchers have framed symbolic racism to include elements of anti-black sentiment hidden by political attitudes (e.g., that affirmative action has gone too far, that blacks are demanding too much; McConahay, 1986). It is in the creation and defending of cultures—from countries to local and virtual communities—that intolerance often becomes apparent. Collins (1990), for example, argues that African American women in the United States live in a site of triple oppression—by race, sex, and class, with these oppressions articulated by both the dominant white community and within the black community. FREE study guides and infographics! Course Hero, Inc. Culture might be a set of values and beliefs, such as the value of loyalty to one’s group, combined with a belief that people who belong to a particular group have particular characteristics, are unlikeable for some reason, or merit mistreatment and the application of a different set of standards than we apply to ourselves (Opotow, 1990). You could not be signed in, please check and try again. Today, researchers and social activists refer to these subtle manifestations of prejudice as microagressions. While they are reluctant to settle on a single definition of culture, this definition embraces most trends: The way of life of a group of people, including symbols, values, behaviors, artifacts, and other shared aspects, that continually evolves as people share messages and is often the result of a struggle between groups who share different perspectives, interests, and power relationships. her even knowing it... and they are impossible to avoid! The scapegoat theory is a theory that suggests that people who are frustrated are driven to prejudice. Some hold tightly to a “vulgar” vision of Marxism, framing intolerance like racism as a creation of the elite to divide the working classes and distract them from revolution through “false consciousness.” Few Marxists take such a severe approach, choosing to see looser relations between capital and the construction of intolerance, but in the “last instance,” seeing intolerance as linked to social class and economic systems. The cultural theory, however, allows for this type of extreme prejudice in some people, but finds it too limited a phenomenon to account for the range and variety of prejudice. It is likely that if we are on auto-pilot or in a state of mindlessness, we will resort to stereotypes. In terms of face-to-face communication, we can work through education to dispel stereotypes. In this approach, a range of attitudes reflects either ethnocentrism or ethnorelativism. These include Marxist approaches, which are themselves varied in form (see various essays in Rex & Mason, 1986). They work to demonstrate how the media systematically ignore, oversimplify, or negatively represent particular groups. Different authors have outlined the history of the notion of race in the English language, noting that at different times, it has referred to an ancestral clan (the race of Abraham), to supposed biological differences, and, more recently, to culture (Banton, 1987; Omi & Winant, 1986). Feminist communication research seeks to make the voices of women heard, to highlight their experiences within the social construction of gender, and “their experiences of oppression and of coping with and resisting that oppression” (Foss & Foss, 1994, p. 39). Many thousands, of White-looking former slaves passed into White society, as have people of Asian and, Middle Eastern racial heritage. There is a danger of such appreciation, as borrowing (e.g., “cultural hybridity”) occurs within power relations. Said analyzes European art and literature to reveal the construction of the Arab or Middle Easterner as “other.” He notes how the Western ideology of the East (referring to the Middle East) folklorizes and sexualizes Middle Easterners, treating them as backward, in a way that justifies European colonization and paternalism. Finally, in terms of face-to-face communication, researchers have explored the notion of “benevolent” intolerance. At the extreme end of discrimination, we have genocide and ethnic cleansing. With the growth of the internet and video gaming, a final area of importance in understanding, researching, and working against prejudice includes all new media. For example, the “race”-based hate crimes include crimes based on anti-white sentiment as well as against people of color; and about 61% of hate crimes based on sexual orientation target gay males. This approach suggests that intolerance is based on such things as preservation of the purity of the gene pool of one’s group, an inherent fear of strangers, or an inherited need for group identity. These changes will create many benefits for society and for the individuals within it. Convergence Theory 4. Rather, it is held in place by systems often beyond the awareness of men and women, and consented to and participated in by women themselves (Zompetti, 2012). Culture, however one defines it, can affect tolerance. cultural diversity may be understood on the basis of a particular universal concept, whether it be `human being', `class' or `race', can be both very dangerous and very limiting in trying to understand the ways in which cultural practices construct their own systems of meaning and social organisation. These statistics reveal some interesting things about intolerance. By this, one could speak of racism as something any person could hold or express, but institutional racism would be reserved for a group that has power in a particular context. Symbolic racism would hold that “the United States is a fair and equitable society where everyone has ample opportunity to succeed through hard work and talent” (p. 74), and that blacks who use the “race card” are hypersensitive—they are “too pushy, too demanding, too angry” (McConahay & Hough, 1976, p. 38). There is a number of different ways of explaining why prejudice occurs, one of the most accurate is the Social Identity Theory, originally suggested by Tajfel in 1978. Kranmer’s Theory 5. using different frames of mind—a person's conscious and unconscious mind. Sometimes, the intolerance is slightly veiled though still present, as when we resort to “us/them” language or talk to someone from another group about “your people.” Brislin’s (1991) notion of arm’s-length prejudice occurs when someone voices tolerance for a group, typically of being accepting of them in the neighborhood or workplace, but wants to restrict them from closer relationships, such as marrying a family member (related to Bogardus’s notion of social distance; Allport, 1979). be gradually unlearned and replaced with new mental associations. Allport (1979) recognized a series of influences that impact a particular incident of prejudice, such as police brutality based on racial group/social class divisions or anti-Islamic bullying in secondary schools around the Western world. A consideration of ethnocentrism has implications for other forms of bias as well, as the factors that predict national cultural ethnocentrism—and solutions that address it—could apply equally to one’s perception of life within one’s own community. Group-based, or sociological, approaches, like psychological approaches, are varied. exists in the conscious mind. individuals. For example, a person may hold prejudiced views towards a certain race or gender etc. But even more so, he feels that the academy’s silence regarding oppression of sexual identity participates in that oppression. By this definition, prejudice is an aspect of affect, or feeling toward a group, though it is closely related to cognitions, or thoughts about the group, referring to stereotypes. Ethnocentrism gained prominence as an area of research following sociologist Robert Sumner’s 1906 definition of the term as gauging others in reference to one’s own culture (1975), though other sociologists soon began to distinguish between this notion of “centrality” and the idea of “superiority”—that one’s culture or group is superior to those of others. Here, we outline a broad research program examining whether cross-cultural variability in prejudice is linked to cultural tightness—the strength of a society’s norms and the strictness of its punishments for deviant behavior—and more distally, to the ecological threats that drive tightness []. If someone commits a hate crime based on sexual orientation, why are gay men more often the target than lesbians? Implicit and explicit (outright, stated) biases are similar but not the same. But intolerance is also clearly linked to higher-order manifestations of prejudice, such as discrimination through legal and organizational policies, symbolic annihilation of groups in the media, and everyday forms of discrimination, be they overt or subtle. (e.g. He argues that racism is an ideology, based on differentiation, that leads to “exclusionary practices” (pp. Complications include determining the influences that might lead to individual racism or an atmosphere of racism, but also include the very definition of what racism is: Is it an individual phenomenon, or does it refer to an intolerance that is supported by a dominant social structure? A new theory aims to make sense of it all. Brislin (1991) outlined several forms of discriminatory communication. Other genocides have occurred in Central Europe (the Holocaust) in the 1930s–1940s, Rwanda in 2003, Cambodia in the 1970s, and the Greek/Pontic genocide of World War I. Debates have swirled around the nature of prejudice, the causes of prejudice, and the “locus” of certain prejudices (such as racism or sexism), among other things. It is a bias toward or against a particular group that, a person knows he or she harbors. claims that prejudice is a personality trait of certain individuals, especially with those who have little education Culture Theory claims that prejudice is rooted in culture, we learn from society If culture is a process, then we might look at how a culture creates both identity and intolerance through the ongoing structures of language, including word choices (“babe,” “hunk,” “faggot”), conversational structure (interruptions, etc. Implicit in this cultural theory of risk perception is the hypothesis that cultural differences in trust in institutions drive differences in perceived risk. Many of these are media studies on how whiteness is promoted and/or challenged in a wide variety of texts, including South Park, the Rush Hour movies, The Hunger Games, and Glee. We will write a custom Essay on Theories of Cultural Diversity – Anthropological Theory: Discrimination, ratio prejudice, and male chauvinism specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page. The dual process model (DPM) is one such approach. A focus on racism and antiracism, unfortunately, often excludes other bases of intolerance that may be even more prominent within a given area, such as religious intolerance, sexism, or heterosexism. The possibility of an ethnocentric bias in research led many early anthropologists to suggest ethnography—spending extended time within a culture to see things from cultural members’ point of view—as a way to reduce ethnocentrism in research. Often these cannot be explicitly realized; they are. Even though many there argue that class, not race, is the primary social distinction, as racism has become officially illegal, forms of overt racism, from social media to abuse and killing of unarmed blacks by police continue to receive recent focus in U.S. news. He applies these categories to racism, but we can apply them to any group. The claim is simply made that nearly all of the Why do people commit such acts at all? Prejudice also manifests in our use of colloquialisms that play upon a particular aspect of identity or ability, such as calling something “lame” or “retarded.” Both the harm and use of such phrases has been established. Benevolent sexism holds the same basic idea: Rather than sexism being based on anti-woman attitudes, it can also be supported by putting women “on a pedestal,” characterizing them as “pure creatures who ought to be protected, supported, and adored, and whose love is necessary to make a man complete” (Glick & Fiske, 2001, p. 109). Recent feminists consider how patriarchy, or male power or hegemony over the realities and voices of women, is not something maintained only by men nor is it deliberate. Countless studies of stereotypes suggest that stereotypes, like ethnocentrism, can serve positive ingroup functions, that they sometimes have at least some basis in an actual behavior or custom (a “kernel of truth”), and that we stereotype both our own group and other groups. Allport (1979) defines prejudice as “an avertive [i.e., avoiding] or hostile attitude toward a person who belongs to a group, simply because he [or she] belongs to that group, and is therefore presumed to have the objectionable qualities ascribed to the group” (p. 7). That is, every cultural manifestation, such as the framing of Australian culture as “individualistic” or saying that “Australian men have such-and-such characteristics,” highlights what one should not be within that culture and establishes bounds for group-based intolerance. That is, it is similar to Bennett’s (1993) notion of acceptance, of respect for difference, though that respect sometimes (a) occurs at a difference and (b) sometimes exists in behavioral form only, but is not internalized. This work influenced the work of anthropologist E. T. Hall (Rogers & Hart, 2002) and others who laid the groundwork for the study of intercultural communication (Leeds-Hurwitz, 1990). Queer theory seeks to challenge the way in which society passes on heterosexuality as the norm. Yet cultural prejudice, while distinct from racism, carries implications for society that are not dissimilar to those of the racism it is often mistaken for.   Privacy For example, one study found that hearing the phrase “That’s so gay” made gays and lesbians feel less accepted in the university setting and, to a lesser degree, increased reported health problems. But, as a complete hologram provides the most faithful image, the most complete view of an intolerance will come through multiple views (e.g., disciplines), using multiple methods. If one sees ethnocentrism strictly as a feeling of superiority, nationalism (or school spirit, or religious loyalty, etc.) In a white-dominant society, can or should we call anti-white crimes by people of color “racist”? He argues against the use of racism and disagrees with a stance that would have only whites being racist, such that “all ‘white’ people are universally and inevitably sick with racism” (p. 53), as this concept may ignore the specifics of racism in particular countries, cultures, or circumstances; however, he notes the need to consider institutional racism—racism built into organizational, legal, and social structures—that does favor whites in many countries. Gender, cultural, sexual orientation, and ethnic diversity can improve creativity and group performance, facilitate new ways of looking at problems, and allow multiple viewpoints on decis… Your current browser may not support copying via this button. Which Theory of Discrimination reveals steady declines in living standards for racial and ethnic minorities and shame combined with prejudice results in discrimination? We grow up surrounded by images of stereotypes and casual expressions of racism and prejudice. Copy this link, or click below to email it to a friend. At the same time, it is useful to see how racism intersects with and sometimes leads to other intolerances, all of which have received much thought in recent years. Without invoking the “r-word,” we may have a better chance at engaging in dialogues about policies, laws, and communicative behaviors that exclude others. Cultural theory is the idea that prejudice is a learned behavior. Culture of prejudice refers to the theory that prejudice is embedded in our culture. Categorization, in social identity theory, is not a form of prejudice—it is simply the mental placing of people (or things, actions, characteristics, etc.) Even today, Turkey defends this “Turkification” of Turkey as a necessary act of war and has resisted the U.S. and other nations defining it as genocide (Armenian genocide, n.d.). Racism as a specific type of prejudice is one of the most hotly discussed and debated sites of intolerance in contemporary times in the United States and beyond. Cite the Definition of Culture of Prejudice Definition of Culture of Prejudice (noun) The theory that prejudice is inherent in culture and a form of social repression sustained through fear and ignorance. The study of culture has deep roots in anthropological and linguistic research, especially as seen in the work of Franz Boaz and his students Margaret Mead, Ruth Benedict, and Edward Sapir, as well as in the early work of Edward Tyler, itself based on earlier traditions of ethology (Darwin) and social evolution (Marx). Integrated threat theory, also known as intergroup threat theory is a theory in psychology and sociology which attempts to describe the components of perceived threat that lead to prejudice between social groups.The theory applies to any social group that may feel threatened in some way, whether or not that social group is a majority or minority group in their society. tend to address intolerance through training and educational programs in organizations and schools; those who see it as systemic believe that such approaches ignore larger issues of policy, law, segregation, discrimination, and media/rhetoric that produce and reproduce racist beliefs or create an environment that makes them grow. The functional theory of prejudice contends that sometimes this phenomenon can be caused by ethnocentric tendencies that involve evaluation of one’s culture as superior to cultural norms and values of other groups. A similar phenomenon experienced by many people of color is being followed through stores by security guards, regardless of their attire or appearance. The Jim Crowe laws of the United States, which gave unequal educational and public access rights to blacks and whites is a classic example, with many facilities being for “whites only.” The website Global Issues (Shah, 2010) details instances of racism and racial discrimination around the world, such as racism against white farmers in Zimbabwe and discrimination against the Dalits—the “untouchables” in India. Communication of tolerance is a worthwhile pursuit in our behavior and research; however, we argue that we can go beyond tolerance to appreciation—even to the behavioral and attitudinal integration of elements of the other culture (Hecht & Baldwin, 1998). Discrimination specifically refers to “behavior that denies equal treatment to people because of their membership in some group” (Herbst, 1997, p. 185). Hall and LaFrance (2012) find a complex interplay between identity—males’ endorsement of gender identity norms andthe desire to distance themselves from homosexuality, as well as the social norms around them, and their likelihood to use the expression. These might include jokes, statements (e.g., about the inferiority or backwardness of a group), or slurs or names for people of another group (also called ethnophaulisms). Postcolonialism notes how much of the world is forced to work within thought systems created by the Western world (an effect only magnified through the rise of the internet and globalization). 2010; and Nelson 2009 are collections of contemporary theory and research on stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination that characterize the current state of thinking and are appropriate for graduate students and researchers. Researchers use a variety of methods to look at xenophobia, depending on their research assumptions and background disciplines. Postcolonial writers are often interested in issues such as migration of people groups (including diasporic groups); the hybrid (but power-laden) mixture of ideas, artifacts, and behaviors between cultures; the liminal spaces between cultures; and the imperialism of ideas (Bhabha, 1994). Behaviors that exclude have a sense of “naturalness” in that they help a group to survive, and such exclusion of strangers may help to preserve a group’s existence. gement (AUM) Theory, Cultural Theory, and the White Racial Identity Development Model. Laissez-faire would oppose it based on ideas of meritocracy and free enterprise, blaming blacks themselves for lack of economic progress. This is why some advocate for political education that addresses both personal and structural prejudice more directly, as well as political action and intervention in media systems. While prejudice is an attitude, discrimination is a behavior, an overt action that has a, Racism is the set of attitudes and practices used to justify treating one race as inherently, Racism has many forms. 77–78), such as differential treatment or allocation of resources and opportunities, regardless of one’s intent or even awareness of the ideological underpinnings of one’s actions. Thus researchers have long linked it to things such as ambivalence toward parents, rigid personality structure, and a need for authority (Allport, 1979; Adorno et al., 1950). We might well say that intolerance can be embedded in every level of language. Copyright © 2021. It also includes a wide array of critical and cultural analyses from the cultural studies school. A related definitional distinction regarding racism concerns whether an intent of harm or exclusion is necessary to define thoughts or actions as racist. A growing and complex array of academic studies examine whether or not profiling exists and, if so, what its nature is (e.g., is it pro-white, or does it depend on the race of the officer?). Meta-analytic tests of three mediators, Monitoring anti-minority rhetoric in the Czech print media: A critical discourse analysis, A measure of prejudice against accented English (MPAAE), Queering/quaring/kauering/crippin’/transing “other bodies” in intercultural communication, Behavioral Indicators of Discrimination in Social Interactions, Diffusion of Concepts of Masculinity and Femininity, Performance of Race, Culture, and Whiteness, Anxiety, Uncertainty, and Intercultural Communication. For Althusser (1971), a Marxist philosopher, prejudice would likely, in the last instance, be an issue of economic and social class considerations. This promotes suspicion of anybody who is … d. All of these responses are correct. It is important to recognize the differences between racism, cultural prejudice and earnest cultural critique, in order to avoid labeling people as racist who don’t deserve it. The link was not copied. According to this argument, only whites can be racist in a white-dominated system (whether that dominance is by numbers or in political and social power). Culture of Prejudice. Research has explored prejudice through verbal and nonverbal behaviors toward people of different ages, people with disabilities, people with different languages or dialects, and other groups, including much theory and research on how we adjust or do not adjust our behavior toward those we perceive to be of different groups (communication accommodation theory; Gallois, Ogay, & Giles, 2005) or how minority members must negotiate their communication with dominant group members because of contexts of power and prejudice (co-cultural theory; Orbe & Spellers, 2005). When we think of institutional-level discrimination, many examples come to mind. As early as the mid-1980s, authors began to argue that in Western societies, racism and other forms of intolerance were going underground (i.e., aware that the redneck varieties of intolerance were socially unacceptable, people expressed less overt intolerance but continued to show intolerance through racism in ways that were “subtle” and “everyday”—a new and modern racism).
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