American History X is a movie about a young man named Derek who is a member of the neo-Nazi movement. Like the rest of his family, Derek is racist, extremely prejudiced and discriminates against all minorities. Throughout the movie we see the older brother, Derek change his stereotypical beliefs and attempt to save his brother from making the same mistakes that he once made. American History X is based around the Psychological concepts of discrimination, stereotyping, and prejudice.
The first concepts portrayed in the movie are discrimination and prejudice. There has been a lot of research conducted on discrimination to support the behavior of the characters. In “The antecedents and consequences of racial/ethnic discrimination during adolescence: Does the source of discrimination matter?” the issue of discrimination is discussed. This article concludes that discrimination and unfair treatment is a part of the everyday life experiences of adolescents of color. In the movie American History X, Derek, his younger brother Danny and other cast members discriminate against any race that is not Caucasian. Prejudice is one of the main concepts in American History X. Prejudice is a negative attitude toward someone else based upon their gender, race or membership within a particular group. Many prejudice beliefs can lead to hatred of another gender or race. For example, Derek’s father expresses his dislike for the minorities that got their job. Derek and his hate for the minorities gave the “skinheads” the idea to raid a Korean owned grocery store.
Two other psychological concepts depicted in the movie are stereotyping and group antagonism. In American History X, one of the first scenes presented are three African American men attemptin...
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Kunstman, Jonathan W., et al. "Feeling In With The Outgroup: Out-group Acceptance And The Internalization Of The Motivation To Respond Without Prejudice." Journal Of Personality And Social Psychology 105.3 (2013): 443-457. PsycARTICLES. Web. 5 Dec. 2013.
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The film observes and analyzes the origins and consequences of more than one-hundred years of bigotry upon the ex-slaved society in the U.S. Even though so many years have passed since the end of slavery, emancipation, reconstruction and the civil rights movement, some of the choice terms prejudiced still engraved in the U.S society. When I see such images on the movie screen, it is still hard, even f...
However, this general knowledge is not apparent to White people. Similar to microaggressions, John F. Dovidio discusses the concept of aversion racism, “a subtle, often unintentional form of bias that characterizes many White Americans who possess strong egalitarian values and who believe that they are nonprejudiced” (90). Eduardo Bonilla-Silva and Sue both demonstrate from their research that Whites do not comprehend the impact of their unconscious biases. These biases towards students of colour in a white-based post-secondary school environment can result in stress and weak interracial relationships. This is an issue since the significance of these everyday actions are not fully recognized and acknowledged. I will elaborate on a variety of examples, specifically the influence of the peers, and
Derek Vinyard and Danny Vinyard was associated with the Nazi praising group. They were prejudicial to everyone and gain hatred for colored people. Even though Derek and Danny were cleansed of their mistakes by going through redemption and changed, Danny was killed by a colored teenager because that colored person was also prejudicial. As we can observe in this movie, prejudice is an unbreakable chain that transmit through generation to generation. Prejudice will never cease until the human race is completely
Hurwitz, J., Peffley, M., & Sniderman, P. (1997). Racial stereotypes and whites' political views of blacks in the context of welfare and crime. American Journal of Political Science. 41, 30-60.
Although there were many concepts that were present within the movie, I choose to focus on two that I thought to be most important. The first is the realistic conflict theory. Our textbook defines this as, “the view that prejudice...
A situation can drastically affect a person’s behavior, motivation and overall attitude. There have been many psychological studies that demonstrate the strong influence a situation has on a person’s behavior. Economy, living conditions, education and treatment can have an enormous impact on an individual’s conduct and demeanor. The ever-changing situations of the 19th century in America posed a challenge for various groups of people. People were often put in demanding situations and most reacted according to their current environment.
this story that causes controversy because of his skin color. Is the story’s relevance based on Mr. Robinson and his skin color? In my opinion yes, the book revolves all around his skin color and racism of the time. Tom Robinson is treated unfairly because he was black not because of what he supposedly did. The controversial subject matter in this book is immense in numbers, but out of all them, racism stands out the most. A question that has come to mind after reading this book is, today is racism still a hostile problem and as big as it was in the 1930s? Throughout this research paper I will gather information about racism from the 30s, and also today. Then I’ll compare and contrast the differences between the past and present and come to a conclusion.
Internalized racism will explore the reasons why some minority groups do not like their ethnicity;
American History X is a great film that delivers a very strong message about deviant behavior. The story of Derek Vineyard and Danny inspires a lot in terms of changing the deviant behavior through various social concepts. The film shows good application of these theories and it involves the audience into a gripping tale of the change one hoes through to fight deviance and get through the tough journey of correcting oneself and choosing the right path.
Izumi, Yutaka and Frank Hammonds. "Changing Ethnic/Racial Stereotypes: The Roles of Individuals and Groups." Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal (2007): 845-852.
One of the biggest issues depicted in the film is the struggle of minority groups and their experience concerning racial prejudice and stereotyping in America. Examples of racism and prejudice are present from the very beginning of the movie when Officer Ryan pulls over black couple, Cameron and Christine for no apparent reason other than the color of their skin. Officer Ryan forces the couple to get out of the car
... supremacist gang, to rioting in an Asian owned grocery store, to finally brutally murdering someone. We observe as family ties become increasingly strained in every way, the viewer can easily conclude that Derek’s racism as well as his eventual influence on his younger brother ultimately contributed to their own downfall. As controversial as this movie maybe for the offensive language and brutal violence, it is a movie that deserves to be seen, and even discussed. It really provides insight into some factors within society that cannot be contained by the law or even deterred by even the harshest punishments. Even though American society is becoming more modernized as time goes by in terms of tolerance, racism will unfortunately always be prevalent in society and inevitably it will also lead some individuals to violently express their distorted mentalities.
... is the brutality of hate and racism. The emotions running high in the movie makes it powerful and moving and the death of Derek’s younger brother Danny Vinyard is shocking enough to bring tears to many viewers’ eyes. The movie ends with Danny’s voice reading his paper out loud and he ends his paper with a very important quote by Abraham Lincoln. This quote shows how Danny’s, as well as Derek’s, mindset changed from the beginning of the movie to the end. When hearing this quote it leaves the viewers in awe that Danny finally started to look past his hateful ideologies but ends up dead because of the lifestyle him and his brother decided to lead. “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained we must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be by the better angels of our nature”.
As Hodson and Victoria (p.344) note, human beings are not born prejudiced. They develop prejudice through socialization process. The role of family, media, and education is crucial in the prejudice in individuals. Stereotyping involves the construction of unfounded ideas and thoughts concerning an individual. Stereotyping involves the construction of unfounded ideas and thought concerning an individual in the same social context (Farley, p.21). The development of stereotypes revolves around the association of individuals with particular labels of identity. The truth is such ideas and propositions cannot be proven in most situations (Brown, p.68). Hence, the individuals who uphold stereotypes in society become prejudiced toward the victims. The difficulty associated with changing stereotypes is connected to the length of time required for internalization. Individuals in particular classes of society are exposed to stereotypes in their social environment for a considerable amount of time. In consideration of the Emmanuel Church shooting, the perpetrator expressed stereotypical idealization of the African American community. He expressed biased attitude through the sole target of African
DuNann Winter, D., & Leighton, D. C. (2001 ). Structural Violence . Peace, conflict, and violence: Peace psychology in the 21st. New York : Prentice-Hall.