Introduction
For most of its history, prejudice has been defined as a negative evaluation of another group. Prejudice can be described as a method of thinking based on religion, and opinions built on reason and scientific rationality, leading to judgment (Dixon et al., 2012). During the years post World War II; the notion of prejudice became essential to the clarification of a series of social problems, involving discrimination, inequality, and ideological extremism (Dixon et al., 2012).
This essay will discuss the following questions: “Has the time come to challenge the assumption that negative evaluations are inevitably the cognitive and affective hallmarks of discrimination? Is the orthodox concept of prejudice in danger of side tracking, if not obstructing, progress towards social justice in a fuller sense?”. The authors aim to “explore the limits of the orthodox concept of prejudice as a negative evaluation” (Dixon et al., 2012; p.413). Dixon et al. (2012) argued that the traditional model of prejudice as a …show more content…
This is because if prejudice only exists as a form of negative evaluation towards out-groups, the solution to prejudice lies within eliminating these negative feelings, and getting people to simply ‘like each other more’. However, as previously specified this will not reduce prejudice and because of this, I believe prejudice can be describe as both positive and negative evaluations towards out-groups. These theories cloud our judgment about how to create greater social justice because they obstruct/preclude the idea of racism from making his/her most adequate contribution to society or as a human being. Prejudice and racism can hurt not only the victims, but the wider society, and indirectly the individuals who are engaging in the act. Leading to the conclusion that the traditional social psychological theories of prejudice need to be
For most of its history, prejudice has been defined as a negative evaluation of another group. Prejudice can be described as a method of thinking based on religion, and opinions built on reason and scientific rationality, leading to judgment (Dixon et al., 2012). During the years post World War II; the notion of prejudice became essential to the clarification of a series of social problems, involving discrimination, inequality, and ideological extremism (Dixon et al., 2012).
This essay will discuss the following questions: “Has the time come to challenge the assumption that negative evaluations are inevitably the cognitive and affective hallmarks of discrimination? Is the orthodox concept of prejudice in danger of side tracking, if not obstructing, progress towards social justice in a fuller sense?”. The authors aim to “explore the limits of the orthodox concept of prejudice as a negative evaluation” (Dixon et al., 2012; p.413). Dixon et al. (2012) argued that the traditional model of prejudice as a …show more content…
This is because if prejudice only exists as a form of negative evaluation towards out-groups, the solution to prejudice lies within eliminating these negative feelings, and getting people to simply ‘like each other more’. However, as previously specified this will not reduce prejudice and because of this, I believe prejudice can be describe as both positive and negative evaluations towards out-groups. These theories cloud our judgment about how to create greater social justice because they obstruct/preclude the idea of racism from making his/her most adequate contribution to society or as a human being. Prejudice and racism can hurt not only the victims, but the wider society, and indirectly the individuals who are engaging in the act. Leading to the conclusion that the traditional social psychological theories of prejudice need to be