Stereotyping, Prejudice and Discrimination

We live in a society that consists of many different social groups – men, women, Jews, Muslims, Catholics, southerners, northerners, teenagers – to name only a few. As we grow up, we develop attitudes towards some of these groups, often with very little if any knowledge of what they are really like. Sometimes these attitudes are prejudiced. In this chapter we will consider how these attitudes develop, what the difference is between stereotyping and prejudice and what discrimination involves. We will also consider and evaluate a very important social issue – that of attempting to reduce prejudice. What's in this unit?

The specification lists the following things that you will need to be able to do for the examination: ■

Define stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination

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Stereotyping as oversimplification, leading to positive and negative evaluations

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Describe and evaluate studies of prejudice and of discrimination, including the work of: □

Adorno (authoritarian personality)

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Tajfel (in-groups and out-groups)

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Sherif (Robbers’ Cave)

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Explain prejudice and discrimination

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Describe ways of reducing prejudice and discrimination

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Evaluate ways of reducing prejudice and discrimination

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Describe contemporary implications of research into stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination, and their benefits and drawbacks