Compare And Contrast Discrimination And Prejudice

Compare and Contrast Discrimination and Prejudice.

What are the Functions and Dysfunctions of immigration?

Why do you feel that people still feel disadvantaged even though their incomes are rising and housing circumstances have improved?

Merriam-Webster's Dictionary defines prejudice and discrimination as:

Prejudice:

(1) : injury or damage resulting from some judgment or action of another in disregard of one's rights; especially : detriment to one's legal rights or claims

(2) a. (1) : preconceived judgment or opinion (2) : an adverse opinion or leaning formed without just grounds or before sufficient knowledge b : an instance of such judgment or opinion c : an irrational attitude of hostility directed against an individual, a group, a race, or their supposed characteristics.

Discrimination

(1) a. : the act of discriminating b : the process by which two stimuli differing in some aspect are responded to differently

(2) : the quality or power of finely distinguishing

(3) a. : the act, practice, or an instance of discriminating categorically rather than individually b : prejudiced or prejudicial outlook, action, or treatment

1. The main difference between prejudice and discrimination is, prejudice is some preconceived notion about an individual, a group, or a race that demonstrate some sort of judgment upon them. This idea of prejudice is usually kept inside of the individual, so as to have a quiet judgment among people. Discrimination, however, is prejudice put into practice. Those who discriminate actively practice prejudice; it is no longer kept inside, but rather openly practiced against the people. Prejudice is best described as an attitude towards a certain group of peoples based solely on their membership in that social or ethnic group, but discrimination is an action taken against those members, the behavioral manifestation of prejudice.

The practices of prejudice and discrimination come from an individual's perception of a certain group. These predetermined perceptions of a group usually come from stereotypes of a people, or racial profiling. The impact of stereotypes, directly affect the perceptions of a people in a negative way; when we think of those people, these traits come to mind. When we meet people from this group, we will focus more on those traits and process them before others. Stereotyping affects our social judgments about a group of people: how much we like the person, our mood and attitudes toward the person, as well as our expectations from that person.

Racial profiling is not much off from the principles of stereotyping. Racial profiling is the use of race as a consideration in suspect profiling or other law enforcement practices. This ties into stereotyping in that we suspect suspicious activity from a particular race or people based solely on their ethnicity. A common example of racial profiling would be "DWB" or "driving while black". This is the practice of police or other law enforcement officers targeting African Americans for traffic stops because they believe that African Americans are more likely to be engaged in criminal activity

Overall, one could say that one instance leads to another. Stereotyping can lead to prejudice, which can lead to discrimination. Stereotyping fuels prejudice, though people are not willing to admit this. They will not admit to stereotyping or being prejudiced, or discriminating, yet they belied and practice them every day.

2. Immigration plays a huge role in the population of the United States. The U.S is looked at as a place for a new start and a place to begin a new life. This country gives people the opportunity to make their own choices and have their own freedom, who are we to decide who can have these rights or not. Should Americans really have to right to deny another human being the right to live in this beautiful country? America is a wonderful place to live, so should immigration become legalized, meaning as soon as a foreigner steps on U.S soil should they be considered a U.S citizen or should immigration stay illegal for those who do not go through the naturalization process?

Many people may look down on immigration because they see immigrants just coming to the United States and "taking" jobs from less fortunate Americans, which in all honestly those Americans are not willing to do those jobs anyways, but that still remains to be a huge debate. Americans tend to frown upon immigration because if immigrants take the time to actually come to this country, they should take the time to become a legalized citizen of the U.S, but even if immigrants did so would Americas opinions really change?

Another problem people see with immigrants is the increase of population, some may see this as a huge dilemma and in some eyes it is completely true, but at the same time immigrants come to this country wanting to start a new life. When you know that is what immigration pretty much means then maybe immigrants would have a better chance at starting a new life in the U.S. Immigration happens to more countries then just one, and I am sure the citizens are equally upset at the effects immigration has on their country as well. Immigrants may come to this country and take away a few American jobs or even some of America's homes but if these spots are open and no one is willing to take them then why should someone be denied the right to all of these things just because they truly are not a legal citizen.

Another question that is asked very often is why would a foreigner be willing to put his or her life on the line to come to the country and not want to make their residency legal, if the hard part of their journey is already out of the way. Why would they not want to take the time to make their stay legal when they have basically already gone through the tuff part of illegally entering the United States? That is a very good question that is asked, but would someone honestly be willing to give an immigrant a chance to start a new life, most would say no. Ultimately the biggest problem most people have with immigrants is the whole job and population situation, which really is not that big of a deal