Vocabulary

  • Prejudice- judging someone or having an idea about them before you actually know anything about them.
  • Bias- prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another, usually in a way considered to be unfair.
  • Discrimination- to judge a person based on a group that they belong to rather than judging them on their own character. Usually the different treatment is because of the person’s sex, religion, nationality, ethnicity (culture), or other personal traits. Discrimination based on race is called racism.

*Judging someone on WHAT they are (on the outside), rather than WHO they are (on the inside).*

  • Racism-the belief that certain races of people are moresuperior to other races.
  • Stereotype- any commonly known public belief about a certain social group or a type of individual. Like prejudices, stereotypes are based on prior assumptions. *All people or things with a particular characteristic are the same*
  • Defamation- the act of saying false things about someone or something in order to create a bad opinion about them or it.

*Slander*

  • Scapegoat-a person who is unfairly blamed or punished for something that others have done.

Vocabulary Examples

Bias- if my sister is running for president, I’m obviously going to vote for her over the other candidate because she is my sister. I grew up with her, I will stand by her no matter what.

Prejudice- after 9/11, anyone who looked Middle Eastern was looked at suspiciously and was often the victim of prejudice. Someone who is physically disabled is also mentally disabled. In a divorce, women are usually given custody, which is a sex-based prejudice.

Discrimination- acting on it, leaving someone out for a specific reason. “You can’t come to my party because you’re not on the soccer team.” “You can’t come to my house because of your cultural background.” “You can’t come on the camping trip because you don’t like One Direction.”

Racism- it’s Saturday morning, and you’re cooking breakfast. You use the last white egg in the carton, so you take out another carton. This time the carton is full of brown eggs. You’re younger sibling notes that the eggs are different colors. You responded with, “Yes, but look!” As you cracked both eggs open you tell your younger sibling, “But they are the same on the inside. Just like people, they come in different shades, but they are the same one the inside.” Denying people the right to vote because of their skin color. Blacks are inferior to whites (slavery).

Stereotype- can be negative, positive, racial, or gender.

  • Negative:All blonde women are dumb, only anorexic women can become models, men are messy and unclean, girls are only concerned about physical appearance, all librarians are old, wear glasses and have a bun, etc.
  • Positive:All Asians are geniuses, all black people are good at basketball, the French are romantic, all Asians know kung fu, all whites are successful, and all Indians are deeply spiritual, etc.
  • Racial: All white people are racist; all Jewish people are greedy, selfish, and money hungry. Caucasians can't dance; Latinos are good dancers, all Asians are Chinese, people from the Middle East hate America, etc.
  • Gender specific: Men are tough and like cars; men are stronger and more aggressive, men always have the ‘I don’t care’ attitude. Women like to look in mirrors and love makeup, women like the color pink, women are moody, women do not drive well.

Defamation- saying a doctor has fake diplomas hanging on her wall, and she never actually went to medical school or saying a restaurant serves meat from dogs.

Scapegoat- a whipping boy