Question

What is meant by prejudice ? Elaborate on any four causes of prejudice.

Answer 1

Prejudice is a ‘pre-judged’ notion or attitude towards the members of another group. The attitude is generally negative, this often gives rise to discrimination on different grounds.

Causes of prejudice may include :
(a) Learnt behavior: The faulty process of socialization in which children can be taught or imbibed with colored opinions—which in turn impact their social behavior can be cited as one of the causes of prejudice.

(b) Stereotype: This can be defined as an exaggerated belief associated with a category. Such stereotyped notions often give rise to prejudices.

(c) The Authoritarian personality: Theodore Adorno and his co-workers developed a model of prejudice called ‘authoritative personality’. He concluded that some people tend to be intolerant, insecure and bullies to inferiors. These kinds of people tend to be prejudiced most of the time.

(d) Scapegoating: Sometimes when the members of a group are angered or frustrated with a particular group, however, given social circumstances are unable to face up against this group, they usually vent out their anger on a group that is less powerful than their own group thus making these less socially powerful groups or individuals their scapegoats.
E.g.: A man is angered at his boss but cannot shout at him. He comes back home and shouts at his son instead.