Understanding Social Prejudice, Discrimination, and Power

Defining Prejudice and Discrimination

Key Forms of Bigotry

• Religious Bigotry: Using religion to discriminate against others.
• Anti-Semitism: Prejudice, discrimination, or hatred directed towards Jewish people.
• Xenophobia: The fear or dislike of someone because they are from another country.
• Discrimination: Making a difference in treatment based on factors other than individual character. This can occur even without personal prejudice.

Theories Behind Prejudice and Social Division

• Situational Pressure: People's actions under pressure do not always match their chosen public personas or beliefs.
• Group Gains: When one group intentionally keeps another group separate and oppressed to maintain its own elevated status.
• Institutional Structure: When prejudice and discrimination become cornerstones of a society, leading to systemic issues like a steady decline in the living standards for racial and ethnic minorities.
• Cultural Transmission: This theory views deviance as a learned behavior transmitted through interaction with others, such as teaching children stereotypes.
• Personality: The study of personality aims to explain the similarities and differences in people's patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving.
• Social Scapegoating: Blaming a group, typically one with less power, for societal problems. For example, after 9/11, the focus of scapegoating shifted from Black people to Muslims in some contexts.

Cultural and Social Concepts

• Group Identification: Judging others in terms of one's own cultural standards.
• Cultural Relativism: The belief that no culture can be judged by the standards of another culture.
• Counter-Culture: A culture with lifestyles and values that are opposed to those of the established, mainstream culture.
• Secondary Dimensions of Diversity: These are characteristics of a person that can change over time.

Historical Events and Social Movements

The Stonewall Riots: June 1969

In June 1969, police officers raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay club in New York City, and found a lesbian woman wearing clothes deemed inappropriate for her gender. They proceeded to beat her, and she said to the crowd: "Why aren't any of you doing anything?" In response, the crowd started to fight back, throwing anything they could find, and the confrontation turned into a full-blown riot. This event became the catalyst for the gay rights movement and is the reason Pride Month is celebrated in June. It is also why police officers are often not welcome at Pride parades.

Immigration, Security, and Surveillance

Immigration and Community Support

Sanctuary Cities

A sanctuary city has programs to support unauthorized immigrants in its communities and resists federal or state laws that might violate their civil rights.

National Security and Extremism

Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism

Approximately one-quarter of all federal agents work in intelligence and counter-terrorism.

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Courts (FISA)

These are secretive courts that operate without a public record and are intended to protect national security by authorizing surveillance.

Right-Wing Extremism

This refers to individuals or groups that attack liberal democratic governments.

Left-Wing Extremism

This refers to groups that believe in a revolutionary socialist doctrine and seek radical change outside the established political process. Their goals and ends are often to oppose government regulation.

Digital Surveillance and Hacking

Remote Access Trojan (RAT)

A type of malware that, once a person installs it, grants an attacker unauthorized entry and control over the person's computer or device.

Stingrays (IMSI-Catchers)

These devices act like a cell tower to intercept mobile phone traffic, allowing operators to hear or see what a user is receiving.