What are the old-fashioned and contemporary forms of prejudice? - Chapter 5

Research supports the idea that prejudice has decreased the past few years, but is this truly the case? This chapter focuses on this question by looking for evidence in favor and against the continuation of prejudice. Furthermore, by examining some theories looking at the explanation of the contemporary form of prejudice. Three important points to be made in advance:

1. Most of the theories discussed were developed to explain anti-Black prejudice on the part of White people in the United States. 
2. In this chapter they use the word 'people' to refer to White people.
3. The theories say that, because of the historical legacy of racism in American society, almost all White people are prejudiced to some degree. 

What is the transformation of prejudice?

Prejudice is still alive in the United States, but in a more subtle form. 

How does prejudice continues?

Evidence for the continuing of prejudice comes from results of research named bogus pipeline. Participants answer questions while their physiological responses are measured by what they believe to be an effective lie detector. Then researchers compare these responses to the earlier responses given by the participant's to the same question. The idea is that people don't want to be caught lying, and so reveal their true attitudes rather than attitudes that are true to a social desirability response bias. It's called 'bogus' because the lie detector doesn't provide any more information. 

Assessments and self-reports of behavior also show that prejudice continues, especially in close contact. Evidence for continuation also comes from the experience of women or members of minority groups. White people don't perceive discrimination the same way Black people do. 

Is it true that only bad people are prejudiced?

Evidence has shown that people have a contradiction between the nonprejudiced responses to questions about race, gender and sexual orientation. However, at the same time, they are still prejudiced in everyday behavior. 

Jim Crow racism is the race and prejudice of the era prior to the war.

1. One's belief was that being White was inherently superior to the other races. 
2. There is also a firm belief that it was right to keep minorities at a distance through racial segregation
3. The use of laws and the power of government to establish racially segregated school systems and curtailment of voting rights. 

Jim Crow was a Black character, created by a White show performer, wearing makeup and parodied the African facial features. 

After World War II there was a change in the norms regarding race, when the ideology of the Nazis was seen as dangerous and un-American. 

Should people stop complaining about unequality?

People also learn prejudiced believes through socialization. People have negative emotions regarding certain minority groups, that are seen as implicit prejudices which people are not aware of having. But despite the lack of consciousness, it still influences the way White people react to minority groups. Racial resentment is the idea that prejudice no longer exist because there have been laws set up to deal with this problem, so the minority groups should just stop complaining. Americans think they have given some kind of special treatment to minority groups to aid there advancement in society, so those minority groups need to stop complaining in their eyes, because they already got there special treatment. 

What are the theories of contemporary prejudice?

The theories regarding the new form of prejudice are based upon three propositions:

1. There has been a genuine schange in the social norms since World War II in the direction that there needs to be equality for all people. 
2. Not everyone has accepted this norm to the same degree (started among the highly educated, liberal Americans).
3. The people who haven't fully accepted the new norm still are motivated to act in a nonprejudiced way. 

What is implicit prejudice?

Implicit prejudice is about the intergroup stereotypes and attitudes that people activate in their memory when encountering a member of an outgroup without the person being aware or conscious of the activation of these thoughts. 

Explicit prejudice are the intergroup stereotypes and attitudes that people intentionally retrieve from their memory, when for instance, being asked for your opinion. These prejudices people can monitor on self-report measures, because they are aware of them being activated. 

Implicit prejudices are developed into children's minds through the process of associative learning: negative images and emotions are repeatedly linked to outgroups, and over time these negative associations will develop into implicit prejudices. 

What is modern-symbolic prejudice?

When people have a set of beliefs about a particular group 'they' instead of specific individuals, such as the 'Black people' it is called symbolic prejudice. These beliefs can be expressed behaviorally as 'acts', such as voting against black candidates. This symbolic racism is in contrast to the old-fashioned prejudice which is more based on the biological inferiority of Black people and the stereotypes, such as laziness, low intelligence. 

Often, White people don't see this as a problem because they think that symbolic prejudice isn't linked to race directly, but it's linked to race through political and social issues. This symbolic prejudice is now called modern prejudice.

What are the characteristics of Modern-Symbolic prejudice?

The belief system is characterized by five themes:

1. Racial prejudice and discrimination no longer exist.
2. Any remaining Black-White difference in economic outcomes result from Black people's lack of motivation to work hard. Thus, inequality is linked to the characteristics of the victim (Black people) and not the continued prejudice and discrimination.
3. Because Black people are unwilling to work to get what they want, their contributing anger over inequality is unjustified. The idea is that discrimination no longer hinders Black people, so they should stop complaining and work to get what they want without a special treatment.
4. Rather than working to get ahead, Black people seek special favors from government and corporations. 
5. Relative to White people, Black people have been getting more than they deserve economically because of the special favors given to them by the government. 

What is the psychological bases of Modern-Symbolic prejudice?

The themes described reflect a certain set of emotions and beliefs. 

The first is about mild to moderate anti-Black emotions. People who support the principle of equality for all, still feel to some degree a negative emotion towards Black people. Secondly, there is also a believe in traditional values, especially the White values; hard work, individualism, self-reliance, self-restraint etc. Thirdly, egalitarianism is a value system that reflects onto the believe that all people are equal and should be treated identically. 

The term equality has two different meanings:

1. Equality of opportunity, the principle that everyone should have an equal, fair change at success in life.
2. Equality of outcome, the belief that the government should ensure equality for all. 

Modern-Symbolic prejudice is rooted in the tension between the belief that there is racial equality in terms of equal opportunity and other factors that include implicit anti-Black affect and values. Furthermore, there is a constant denial of the continuing of discrimination, Black people should just work harder to get the same success. So, staying in this circle, there is still continuing racial inequality. 

What is aversive prejudice?

Aversive racism/prejudice are the attitudes of a person who tries to ignore the existence of Black people, tries to avoid contact at all. 

What are the characteristics of aversive prejudice?

People who experience this truly believe in equality, but still retain those implicit egative feelings towards minorities, such as discomfort or uneasiness. 

How does aversive prejucide differs from modern-symbolic prejudice?

1. People who experience aversive prejudice are generally against the support of equality-enhancing social programs such as affirmative action.
2. People who experience aversive prejudice are more motivated to see themselves as unprejudiced because the lack of prejudice is a important part of their self-concept.
3. White people experiencing aversive prejudice prefer to avoid most interracial contact because it arouses the negative emotions linked to those minority groups.

What is the psychological bases of aversive prejudice?

People categorize themselves in certain discrete social groups, leading to the fostering of biases because people tend to believe that their own groups are better than other groups. Also, every White person has a level of implicit prejudice, but people who experience aversive prejudice also genuinely believe in the American ideals of racial fairness, equality and justice. 

How to link aversive prejudice to behavior?

The predicted behaviors of aversive prejudice are about the avoidance of intergroup contact, overly positive intergroup behavior, a pro-White bias in ambigious situations, discrimination when the behavior can be justified as unprejudiced and derogation of members of minority groups who have a higher status.

Why use avoidance of intergroup contact?

People try to avoid contact with minority-group members. This avoidance is motivated through feelings of anxiety and discomfort. During interaction, White people show this by nonverbal cues such as avoiding eye contact. Where does this discomfort come from?

• Negative stereotypes.
• Prior negative experiences with members of the other group.
• Lack of knowledge about the other group, which makes people uncertain about how to behave in interracial situations.
• Stigma by association (someone is rated more negatively when sitting next to a very obese women, instead of sitting next to an average-weight person).

Why use overly positive intergroup behavior?

People have a desire to appear unprejudiced, which will lead people to treat the minority group as overly positive in the interaction. When told to give feedback to a Black and a White person writing an essay, people will be more positive about the Black writer to be seen as less prejudiced.

What is the pro-White bias?

People will show a pro-White bias in ambigious situations. When applying for a job, a White person who shows ambiguous qualifications is much more often recommended to others than a Black participant who also shows ambiguous qualifications. 

What is anti-minority discrimination?

People experiencing aversive prejudice will discriminate against members of other groups when the behavior can be justified as unprejudiced. 

What is the derogation of higher-status minority-group members?

One of the implicit beliefs is that White people belief they have a White superiority, so there will be a big discomfort when Black people are in a higher-status positions. 

What is ambivalent prejudice?

The theories of contemporary prejudice have shown that White Americans have adopted an idea of racial equality, which leads to see themselves as unprejudiced. Ambivalent prejudice holds that White people genuinely accept the principle of racial equality, but that they also have developed positive attitudes towards Black people, next to the lingering negative attitudes. 

Two sets of values are important for ambivalent prejudice:

1. Individualism emphasizes the role of personal responsibility, self-reliance, and hard work pays off. 
2. Egalitarianism and humanitarianism beliefs that all people should be treated equally and that people have responsibility to help other who are disadvantaged. 

The theory also holds that people only become aware of the influence of their ambivalent attitudes, when they become aware of their inconsistent feelings towards the minority groups. 

Cognitive dissonance holds that people prefer that all their attitudes, beliefs, behaviors etc are consistent. Any contradictions lead to unpleasant emotions, which people are motivated to reduce. 

What is the problem of benevolent prejudice?

The theory about ambivalent prejudice views the positive side of intergroup ambivalence as something good, this can also lead to people having positive beliefs about members of outgroups. Benevolent prejudice is the apparently positive beliefs and emotional responses to outgroups that can have negative consequences for those groups.