Race, Ethnicity, and Hate Crimes

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1. Define the following terms in one to two sentences each? Ethnocentrism, hate crime, stereotype. Ethnocentrism can be defined as an individual’s belief that the ethnic group or cultural they identify with is superior to all others. “The ethnocentric person judges other groups and other cultures by the standards of his or her own group” (Schaefer 34). A hate crime is a crime, usually involving violence or intimidation committed against others based partially or entirely on race, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation or membership in another social group. “Stereotypes unreliable, exaggerated generalizations about all members of a group that do not take individual differences into account” (Schaefer 40). Stereotypes can be positive, but are usually associated with negative beliefs or actions such as racial profiling. 2. Differentiate between prejudice and discrimination. While prejudice and discrimination are closely related, the terms are not interchangeable. Prejudice is a negative attitude, feelings, thoughts or beliefs toward an entire category of people. There are two important factors that are present in the definition of prejudice, and they are attitude and entire category (Schaefer 35). “Discrimination is the denial of opportunities and equal rights to individuals and groups because of prejudice or for other arbitrary reasons” (Schaefer 35). Discrimination differs from prejudice as it refers to the behavior or action usually based on prejudice rather than just thoughts. 3. Briefly summarize the following theories of prejudice: scapegoating, authoritarian personality, exploitation, normative approach. Scapegoating is when a person irrationally blames their failures on others, therefore not taking responsibility themselves. The “scapegoating theory says that prejudiced people believe they are society’s victims” (Schaefer 38). It is always someone else’s fault that things do not go their way and the person “… transfers the responsibility for failure to some vulnerable group” (Schaefer 38). A psychological construct called the authoritarian personality believes that a person’s upbringing can result in intolerance as an adult. The rigid personality type dislikes people who are different. “A child with an authoritarian upbringing obeyed and then later treated others as he or she had been raised (Schaefer 39). The exploitation theory involves one group of people, usually the majority, using another group of people for their own economic gain. “Racial prejudice is often used to justify keeping a group in a subordinate economic position’ (Schaefer 39). Exploitation is seen when a minority group competes with the majority group. “Karl Marx emphasized exploitation of the lower class as an integral part of capitalism” (Schaefer 39).

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