Prejudice is the “tendency of an individual to think about other groups in negative ways, to attach negative emotions to those groups, and to prejudge individuals on the basis of their group memberships” (Healey, 2006) Prejudices tend to emphasize specific traits and characteristics, which are often used to symbolize whole groups of people.
Several sociological theories have been developed in order answer questions like why prejudice does exist and why it continues to persist over time.
The scapegoat theory The concept of ‘scapegoating’ originates from a religious ritual in which, in expiation for their sins, the priest putted his hands on the head of a goat, and confessed the sins and ills of the community, after that the goat was …show more content…
The contempt and discrimination against certain groups, changes according to the historical circumstances, social and political context the attitude of the institutions and the media, and therefore is not possible to identify a precise identikit of a scapegoat. Despite this, there seems to be some common factors between the designated scapegoats: this qualification is indeed typically attributed to a minority group, since this one, because of its presumed weakness, finds it more difficult to defend himself against the accusations that are launched. The victim of scapegoating is more likely someone who is living with us but is ‘not like us’: if the victim was too similar to us, we would end up identifying ourselves in this, considering it equal to us and therefore we would find it hare to vent our frustrations and troubles on it. On the other hand, if we choose as a victim a person that is too outside of our daily life, that has nothing to do with our community, we would struggle to find a point of contact between what frightens us, the crisis we are experiencing, and his guilt. ( C.M …show more content…
Mass media play a big role in nourishing this dynamic : the alarmist headlines about incidents of crime that have foreigners as protagonists do sell a lot more than those who report cases in which foreigners are the victims. But choosing to emphasize the nationality of the actor of a criminal fact, the use of a rough and bad language, but also stereotypical representation of the migrants' home countries, all this contributes in feeding the prejudices against
Several sociological theories have been developed in order answer questions like why prejudice does exist and why it continues to persist over time.
The scapegoat theory The concept of ‘scapegoating’ originates from a religious ritual in which, in expiation for their sins, the priest putted his hands on the head of a goat, and confessed the sins and ills of the community, after that the goat was …show more content…
The contempt and discrimination against certain groups, changes according to the historical circumstances, social and political context the attitude of the institutions and the media, and therefore is not possible to identify a precise identikit of a scapegoat. Despite this, there seems to be some common factors between the designated scapegoats: this qualification is indeed typically attributed to a minority group, since this one, because of its presumed weakness, finds it more difficult to defend himself against the accusations that are launched. The victim of scapegoating is more likely someone who is living with us but is ‘not like us’: if the victim was too similar to us, we would end up identifying ourselves in this, considering it equal to us and therefore we would find it hare to vent our frustrations and troubles on it. On the other hand, if we choose as a victim a person that is too outside of our daily life, that has nothing to do with our community, we would struggle to find a point of contact between what frightens us, the crisis we are experiencing, and his guilt. ( C.M …show more content…
Mass media play a big role in nourishing this dynamic : the alarmist headlines about incidents of crime that have foreigners as protagonists do sell a lot more than those who report cases in which foreigners are the victims. But choosing to emphasize the nationality of the actor of a criminal fact, the use of a rough and bad language, but also stereotypical representation of the migrants' home countries, all this contributes in feeding the prejudices against