Discrimination and Prejudice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Discrimination and Prejudice - Essay Example These are mammoth challenges for the specialist communities, inclusive of social scientists, policy makers, governmental units, students of society, and members of minority and dominant groups. This situation urges for all these people, to contrive a way through which everybody can surface as a human being, and not as a specific color, class or creed. Where the social scientists need to develop ways and means which suit the humans of current times, the policy makers need to establish laws and regulations that are followed in letter and spirit. The students also need to play and instrumental role, as they are the grass-roots which shall develop or destruct the prejudice system in the next decades. Bias always in embedded in the foundations of a society, and needs to be tackled at that very level. As Chen clearly specifies through the example of what happened with Eboni. Discrimination of black children not being allowed to play simply because the place 'looks bad' is a horrendous representation of a society that preaches democracy and freedom to the rest of the world. Subsequently, the battle for the house acquisition goes on, not only with this family, but with many others, who keep on getting rejections because they are not visually and conceptually acceptable. Further, as is elucidated in the environment-based discrimination case as well, there is a colossal prejudice according to demographic data in the facilities and general well-being available to the minorities in the Los Angeles County. The fact of the matter is that ever since man has entered civilization, he has ceased to be 'civilized' in the context of equality. In most recent times, especially in the context of the US, this discrimination has been from the onset of colonization, and has turn a multitude of economic, political and social turns to take its shape as it is today. As a claimant of 'the land of opportunity', the country was eager to allow more and more people coming in, from all cultures, religions and background. And while the economic opportunity was there, there was a dearth of social acceptance and tolerance. Nonetheless, as the facts suggest, the minorities have also stayed on the threshold of economic independence, some thing which has lead to a major societal and class difference in a capitalist society. Resultantly, the minorities in the form of race and ethnic groups were segregated behind many glass walls and ceilings. Herein another problem can be highlighted as well. Though people with a strong willpower may well be able to deal with situations in a different manner, but everyday social psychology purports that people living in minority groups are likely to have low self-esteems. This is simply because they are being looked down upon, merely because of their lack of strength. And a lack of anything is likely to generate a challenge for the self-esteem of the individual. Self-esteem is a very integral personality concern, but issues of discrimination generate self-esteem challenges on a collective and communal level. Where this may also provide within the group, this also highlights the injustice being done at a wider scale, which affects a whole host of people. The Evolution of Ethnicity on the Social Map The land of opportunity as it was and is, has constantly witnessed the influx of people from all nationalities, religions, races and ethnic groups entering its

Evelyn Hooker Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Evelyn Hooker - Essay Example was that gays and lesbians are essentially maladjusted persons who need the help of society to be re-integrated and to have normal lives like most people. Her personal and professional life was influenced to a big extent by her mentor with name of Prof. Karl Muenzinger who encouraged her to pursue further studies on behaviorism, in particular the sub-topic of homosexuality. Her interest in this particular subject was due to her making friends with one of her students (name was Mr. Sam From) who was homosexual and challenged her to study him and other homosexuals to disprove commonly-held notions. Her various experiments disproved homosexuals as socially maladjusted people; her studies in effect showed this group to be well adjusted socially no different from the general population. Her studies were used by the gay rights movement to promote their own advocacies. Her personal life starting from her high school years, through college, to the masters program and eventually, the doctorate program influenced her research work because she saw all these as a way to get out of poverty and the drudgery of house work. She was quite lucky to be acquainted with professors who encouraged her to do groundbreaking research work but by her own admission, she did the research more out of curiosity and empathy. Her anonymous fellowship for a year of study in Europe gave her valuable insights to the events happening there at that time, specifically the persecution of the Jewish people at the hands of Hitler and Nazi Germany. She further traveled to Russia at around this time also and saw with her own eyes and through direct experience social injustices such as the rampant and overt discrimination against certain ethnic minorities. This gave her impetus to focus her studies on clinical psychology which gave birth to her almost exclusive concentration on the study of homosexuality in which this group of people are discriminated against as deviants. A turning point in her career