Assignment: Prejudice and Discrimination

Do you know what we call opinion in the absence of evidence? We call it prejudice.
—Michael Crichton, State of Fear

Prejudice is an underlying complex mix of mental perceptions and associated emotions and attitudes toward members of another group that often result in social distance and manifest in overt acts of discrimination. An important first step in addressing the roots of prejudice and discrimination is to trace the historical sources and the psychological reinforcements.

In this Assignment, you will explore historical examples of prejudice and discrimination, drawing on how prejudice is perpetuated across generations, and analyzing the implications of persistent prejudice in society.

To prepare:

• Review this week’s Learning Resources.
• Identify one historical example and one contemporary example of discrimination. Consider the underlying causes and the consequences of discrimination in these cases.

By Day 7

Submit a 3- to 4-page paper in which you do the following for both your historical example and your contemporary example of discrimination:

• Analyze the major cause(s) of discrimination.
• Analyze how discrimination has been manifested.
• Analyze the consequences of the discrimination. How has discrimination benefitted one group over another?
• Apply one or more of the theories of prejudice and discrimination (covered in Chapter 3 of the course text (Marger, 2015)) to analyze each example.
• Analyze any social policies that have emerged in order to address the acts of discrimination.

Support your assertions by making at least two documented references to your course readings, following the examples of documentation in “Common Reference List Examples” (refer to the Resources for Week 1). Please use proper APA formatting to cite each of your sources.

Submission and Grading Information

To submit your completed Assignment for review and grading, do the following:

• Please save your Assignment using the naming convention “WK2Assgn+last name+first initial.(extension)” as the name.
• Click the Assignment Rubric to review the Grading Criteria for the Assignment.
• Click the Week 2 Assignment link.
• Next, from the Attach File area, click on the Browse My Computer button. Find the document you saved as “WK2Assgn+last name+first initial.(extension)” and click Open.
• If applicable: From the Plagiarism Tools area, click the checkbox for I agree to submit my paper(s) to the Global Reference Database.
• Click on the Submit button to complete your submission.