Multiculturalism and Human Relations.

Start with the vocabulary. An attitude is a cognitive position, built from knowledge, feelings and experience, that influences how you behave toward someone or something. Attitudes change with life experience. Prejudice is an adverse judgment or opinion formed beforehand, or without knowledge or examination of the facts. In a word, bias. Discrimination is acting on the basis of prejudice. Prejudice is what you think. Discrimination is what you do.

The outline is direct about who is prejudiced: everyone. Prejudice is a universal ill. As we learn about people who are different from us, we judge them by the norms of our own cultural group. The key is to be aware of your prejudices, to work at reducing their impact on your life, and to keep them out of your job performance.

Prejudice persists because it does something for the person who holds it. The outline lists six functions. Ethnocentrism gives egotistic satisfaction through comparing others with oneself. Stereotype and categorical treatment gives a convenient grouping for people one knows little about. A scapegoat gives someone to blame when things go wrong. Projection gives an outlet for one’s own tensions and frustrations. The authoritarian personality symbolizes affiliation with a more dominant group. Societal strain leads to justifying discrimination that is thought to benefit the dominant group.

Most prejudiced persons harbor four basic feelings. A feeling of superiority, often expressed in inappropriate jokes and disparaging remarks. A feeling that others are strange and different, which promotes social exclusion and blocks acceptance of a person on individual merit. Proprietary claims, the belief that membership in a group entitles one to exclusive or prior rights in some area. And fear, which is basic to prejudice. Fear excites the emotions to the point of overshadowing rational judgment, and makes us believe someone is trying to intrude on and threaten what belongs to us.

Prejudice is not only about race. The outline lists many forms and targets: racial, ethnic, gender, national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, religious, age, weight, differently abled and physically challenged.

Three entries on the list deserve a second look. Authority figures can be targets, and the outline’s examples are police, government, teachers and parents. Economic or occupational prejudice is aimed at groups such as the working class, the working poor or the upper class. Individual personal preferences also count, such as family feuds or the antagonism between work departments like Vice and Patrol.

When you look at an incident, practice labeling the form of prejudice on display. Naming it is the first step toward dealing with it.