Modern Racism As A Subtle Form Of Prejudice

873 Words2 Pages

Prejudice is a social condition that can arise as a result of the indoctrination and conditioned conformity of individuals within a social group. Prejudice is defined as an individual’s discriminatory behavior and prejudicial attitude toward people of a certain race or culture that subordinate the race in question (Myers, 1993). Subtle prejudice is defined as exaggerating ethnic differences between two or more ethnic groups, rejecting minorities and claiming it's for non racial reasons and feeling less admiration and affection for minorities. I define modern racism as a subtle form of prejudice. I define it as modern because even though some of the more blatant forms of racism are becoming less common (Myers, 1993) other more subtle forms …show more content…

This influence may become a more conscious belief through exposure to individuals who express a more blatant prejudicial behavior. This type of attitude can be worked through with a conscious effort to move beyond the ignorance with psycho-dynamic therapy . The thing about prejudice, is that it develops early within society. When children are the most likely to begin developing ideas based on what they are exposed to at a young age. Children learn at an exponential rate and pick up on what is around them easily. Unfortunately, they are very impressionable, especially when receiving continual exposure to the ideas put in place by adults in their environment. This exposure brings problems into the next generation, as they will then pass on these mentalities to their children creating a never-ending cycle of prejudice and ignorance. Social learning theory says that children today are learning from everything around them. These days, with the advances in technology and the internet becoming readily available to younger children. It's making it difficult to protect them from negative issues and beliefs that are prevalent in modern society. The problem with society today is that they're ignorant to the fact that children are very much aware of differences between …show more content…

Individuals in a position of power have the most influence in our decision making because, subconsciously they are seen as a role model and an authority because of their status in society. Prejudice is what can happen when people bend too easily to what the majority, or even a convincing leader figure have to say about groups that differ from their own. This is how cults are started, as a charismatic leader will often influence people to share the same beliefs that he or she has. This fear of not fitting in with the group or being looked down upon by the leader figure will often cause a person to adopt the same beliefs just to stay in

Open Document