Discrimination and Socialization
Discrimination is associated with racial disadvantage and is motivated by racism, stereotypes, and prejudice. It refers to unequal treatment of individuals or groups based on their ethnicity or race (Kirkinis et al. 2021, 269). In the college scenario, an individual targeted due to their ethnicity would experience stress and low self-esteem as they are made to feel that they do not belong on the college community. The targeted person may also live in constant fear and trauma of being physically or verbally attacked and may start experiencing little to no trust in people of other races and ethnicities. They may get to a low point of hating their ethnicity and wishing they were members of the majority race.
For a person that targeted students due to their ethnicity, their experiences are inspired by hate, stereotyping, and prejudice. They feel that they are better than people of fellow students of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. The individual believes people from other races and ethnicities are inferior or inherently flawed or as a threat. They de-legitimize and dehumanize minority students, making it easier to hate them.
The possible experience and perspective of the college’s diversity committee may include opposing racism and other injustices or discrimination on the college’s campus. The committee would be driven by the goal of building a learning environment and a community that upholds respect and dignity for all students and non-students. Following the incident, the committee may favor a program to support students from minority races and ethnicities and ensure their safety on the campus.
The perspective of student organizations that support diversity and inclusion would include diffusing stereotypes of students of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds on the campus community. The organization’s experience may include celebrating diversity and the unique differences among students emanating from diverse culture, history, and lifestyle. The student organization will condemn the incident that occurred outside the campus dormitory and spearhead engagement activities and education on the importance of diversity on the college campus.
The status of the individual that targeted students due to their ethnicity involves perceived prestige or power associated with their social group. Their status and beliefs shape their role in racism and ethnic discrimination. They view their race or ethnic group as superior to others, which makes them think that other races are less socially worthy and incompetent (Kirkinis et al. 2021, 272). Further, their role involves propagating hate and prejudice against others.
The agents of socialization that influence the racism perpetrator’s values, beliefs, and behaviors include their family, peer groups, the school, and the mass media. One’s family shapes their attitudes towards other people, especially those they perceive as different from themselves. In such families, parents do not talk to the children about the dangers of perpetrating hate and prejudice against others.
Being in peer groups that do not support cohesion between races can shape one’s opinion about other people. The same applies to schools one attends. If the school does not condone racism then the individual is likely to carry on similar behaviors and values. If the media selects events and stories that try to paint people from minority groups as bad or inferior, then people will be socialized to hate their peers from diverse backgrounds (Kirkinis et al. 2021, 279).
The perpetrator of the campus racist incident will demonstrate values of bias, negative assumptions that their victims are inferior and deserve to be treated unfairly. They also have negative comparisons with other people. Further, they exhibit socially destructive and uncontrollable behavior. The norms such people follow include being aggressive, cursing often, and using racist and discriminatory comments. They also interrupt people when they are talking, especially people from diverse backgrounds. However, they are unlikely to be polite, say please or thank you to people they deem inferior to them due to one’s ethnicity or race.
Belonging to a group shapes the way one interprets and attributes the behavior of others. Groupthink from people who view minority races as inferior is likely to shape one’s attitude towards minority races. The social categorization theory posits that people tend to identify others as members of an ingroup or outgroup (Carter et al. 2015, 271). Groupthink shapes a racism perpetrator’s behavior into identifying students of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds as outgroups.
This information has impacted me in great ways. It indicates that I need to stand up against conduct that excludes, stereotypes, harasses, discriminates, or harms anyone in the college community based on their identity. If the scenario happened on my college campus, I would want it addressed to avert racial trauma for the victims. Battling racism can cause detrimental physiological and psychological stress that could interfere with student learning and the reputation of the college to stakeholders (Seaton and Masumi 2019, 117).
One area related to race and ethnicity to which I would benefit from knowledge involves coping with discrimination and racism. When students are settling into a campus routine, they are forced to adjust to life away from their families and forming new friendships. It is important to interact with people from diverse backgrounds to dissocialize from and debunk all the stereotypes and beliefs they held about other people.
Works Cited
Carter, Evelyn R., and Mary C. Murphy. “Group‐based differences in perceptions of racism: What counts, to whom, and why?” Social and Personality Psychology Compass 9.6 (2015): 269-280.
Kirkinis, Katherine, et al. “Racism, racial discrimination, and trauma: A systematic review of the social science literature.” Ethnicity & health 26.3 (2021): 392-412.
Seaton, Eleanor K., and Masumi Iida. “Racial discrimination and racial identity: Daily moderation among Black youth.” American Psychologist 74.1 (2019): 117.
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