Social Injustice In Society

Superior Essays
On the 24th anniversary of emancipation, Frederick Douglass stated “Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob, and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe” (Douglass, 1886). In this quote, Douglass conveys the civil unrest of African Americans as a result of prolonged societal oppression and unequal opportunity. The failure of society to protect the health, human rights, and resources of its people is defined as social injustice. Common issues of social injustice result from inequalities between two or more groups within the population. For instance, poverty is the product of unequal wealth distribution …show more content…
Biological psychology explains this social drive as an adaptive measure to increase chances of survival. This is exemplified by ingroup/outgroup bias which states people favor groups they identify with and treat outsiders differently. At sporting events, supporters cheer for teams they feel connected to and root against opposing teams to express their loyalty. The decision to associate with a certain group is often influenced by normative social influence, the tendency to avoid embarrassment by adhering to the social norm. In relation to the theory mentioned above, exclusion from a group produces anxiety as a result of a decreased chance of survival. Therefore, to alleviate this feeling people retreat to the comfort of social norms. Minority groups are frequent targets of social injustice because they are easy to identify and stigmatize. On the other hand, individuals who conform contribute to the continuation of discrimination. Furthermore, the danger of these biases come from the tendency to encourage ignorance and close-mindedness. Members of an ingroup value each other more than others, establishing a false sense of supremacy and exclusivity. These individuals exhibit a fixed mindset as they view social discourse as a threat rather than an opportunity to understand the world from a different perspective. Unwillingness to change inhibits …show more content…
It affects everyday communication and interaction because no one wants to be offensive. The term “politically correct” pertains to the accepted, universal vernacular used to express things from minority cultures. While this measure demonstrates respect, it does not fix the fundamental problems of close-mindedness and ignorance. Solving this problem of social injustice must be taken in small steps. As learned in class, goals are better achieved in smaller, specific sub-goals. Preventing social injustice begins with raising children to respect others entirely. Ideally, education of minority culture and removal of generalizations teaches children to appreciate the diversity and uniqueness everyone has to offer. In a perfect world, people would recognize different as interesting and not as a threat. Rather than generalizing minority cultures, society would focus on and praise its unique characteristics. It would be the world where people are constantly learning about one another. Likewise, in 1950, Muzafer Sharif recognized the problem of social injustice and developed an experiment to find a solution. At the end of his study, Sharif came to the conclusion that “Among strangers, competition and isolation created enemies. Among enemies, cooperation created friends” (Grison, Heatherton, & Gazzaniga, 2015). In this experiment, participants were able to unite under a common cause to better the lives of

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