Write a 100- to 200-word response to each of the following questions. Provide citations for all the sources you use.
What is discrimination? How is discrimination different from prejudice and stereotyping?
Discrimination takes many forms. Discrimination is when people’s actions make others feel rejected or excluded from things. Things as simple as not being allowed to sit at the same table because of skin color. Rosa Parks is a great example of discrimination when she was told that she had to give up her seat for a white person. However she did not and this forever made her an icon in the movement. Discrimination is different from prejudice and stereotyping because discrimination is acting upon your prejudice and stereotypical thoughts. While prejudice is when you think negatively about a group without any knowledge of the group and your thoughts bear no knowledge or reason. Stereotyping is generalization of a group of people which are normally negative.
What are the causes of discrimination? I think that one of the main causes for discrimination is education. I don’t think enough people are educated to understand what discrimination is and what its affects could pose to the people discriminated against as well as those who discriminate. I also believe that discrimination is caused from ignorance and being ignorant. Ignorance comes from fearing something different, something other than ourselves. We are such a vast society and if we weren’t different what a boring world this would be. We are supposed to learn from peoples differences not fear or discriminate against them. Everyone is different in their own way we all have different cultures, beliefs, and races and to not want to learn from others about different cultures, beliefs and races makes you a very close minded person.
