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DISCRIMINATION NOW A DAYS AND IN HISTORY

ADVANCE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

SUBMIITTED TO:
MAAM SIDRA

DATE OF SUBMISSION:
4TH OCT, 2016

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DISCRIMINATION IN HISTORY AND NOW A DAYS


Discrimination is the behavioral component or differential actions taken towards
others. Prejudice is a negative attitude and behavior, also unjustified behavior.
There has been discrimination both now and back in the time. Some of them are:
DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN
Maybe the very first discrimination affected women. As we might already know, women were
not equal always. Back in the ancient times women counted only as a mere tool or servant. They
had no rights or opinions. On the other hand, they had to do nothing else than bringing up the
children, cooking and cleaning. Women were equalized in the 20th century in most of the
countries. However, there are still some countries where this has not happened yet.

SLAVERY
Another ancient discrimination is slavery (treating human beings as
disposable property, without rights or privileges). Many of the early
civilizations was based on the work of slaves, like Babylon, Egypt,
Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome. After the beginning of the middle ages this vanished from
Europe. However, at other places, it continued living. Slavery Practiced mainly in the southern
U.S. until the Civil War, outlawed in the U.S. by the 13th Amendment in 1865.
A special type of discrimination exists in India. Their society is (mostly) based on the
'caste system'. This is a system which is divided into castes into which you can only be born. At
the bottom of the pyramid the 'Untouchables' (Shuddars) are placed. They still exist nowadays.

NAZISM
Hitler and other Nazi leaders viewed the Jews not as a religious group, but as a poisonous "race,"
which "lived off" the other races and weakened them. After Hitler took power, Nazi teachers in
school classrooms began to apply the "principles" of racial science. They measured skull size
and nose length, and recorded the color of their pupils' hair and eyes to determine whether
students belonged to the true "Aryan race." Jewish and Romani (Gypsy) students were often

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humiliated in the process. Nazism fought against the communism by drawing away workers
from it.
THIRD GENDER DISCRIMINATION
In recent years, there has been a movement to include third gender categories. Third gender is
defined as a gender category for those who do not identify with either male or female gender
categories. Many countries now recognize a third gender on their census, including India and
Nepal! This is a sign of the recognition of citizens choice of gender identity. Third gender or
neutral bathrooms are also now available in many university campuses around the US.
Various practices in the U.S. which have been motivated by discrimination:

Segregation (in schools, public places, sports, etc.). Public


segregation between blacks and whites was outlawed in 1964.

Denial of Voting rights (poll taxes, literacy tests). After the Civil War, many areas
(especially in the South) made it difficult for blacks to vote by
selectively imposing literacy tests and other obstacles. This
was also outlawed in 1964, and again in the 1965 Voting Rights
Act.

An example of discrimination is salary differences and Job discrimination


(excluding people from jobs because of their race) Outlawed at the national level in
1964. Today, most states have anti-discrimination laws of their own which mirror
those at the federal level. For example, in the state of Texas, Title 2 Chapter 21 of the
Labor Code prohibits employment discrimination. Many of the mandates in this
Texas law are based on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the federal law
making employment discrimination unlawful.

Figures such as Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Rosa Parks are just a few to fight
back against the race based discrimination of the Civil Rights Movement. Rosa Parks's refusal
to give up her bus seat sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott--a large movement in
Montgomery, Alabama that was an integral period in the beginning of the Civil Rights
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Movement. Martin Luther King Jr., a peaceful activist lead many protests such as these,
proving to the white society that was discriminating against African-Americans that they were a
valuable part of society as well. King organized many protests that not only blacks but whites
also attended.

REFERENCES
Aronson J, Steele CM. (2005). Chapter 24: Stereotypes and the Fragility of Academic
Competence, Motivation, and Self-Concept. In Handbook of Competence, [ p. 436].
Brewer, M (1979). "In-group bias in the minimal intergroup situation: A cognitive-motivational
analysis". Psychological Bulletin 86: 307324. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.86.2.307
Eitzen, D. Stanley and Maxine Baca-Zinn 1994 Social Problems. (6rd Ed.) Boston: Allyn and
Bacon.
Harrington, Michael 1984 The New American Poverty. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.
Hurst, Charles E. Social Inequality: Forms, Causes, and Consequences. 6. Boston: Pearson
Education, Inc, 2007

http://discriminationclassproject.weebly.com/historical-examples.html

https://www.reference.com/world-view/historical-examples-discrimination-prejudice9d5ef9b5ed7bf912 http://www.csus.edu/indiv/g/gaskilld/socialissues14/affirmative
%20action.htm https://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007679

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