What do you think?
Rate this book
Understanding Prejudice and Discrimination
This anthology, edited by Scott Plous, can be used as a main text or supplementary text for courses on prejudice, discrimination, and diversity. It includes a unique collection of readings edited, adapted, or updated specifically for this anthology — some of which have never been published before. Interdisciplinary in scope and wide-ranging in approach, the anthology combines research articles, opinion polls, legal decisions, news reports, personal narratives, and more. Several readings come from people on the receiving end of prejudice (often referred to as "targets" of prejudice), whereas other readings focus on perpetrators, bystanders, and social institutions. The book can also be used in conjunction with UnderstandingPrejudice.org , a web site that includes interactive exercises and demonstrations, multimedia materials, tips for instructors, and other prejudice-related resources.
624 pages, Paperback
First published October 22, 2002
4 people are currently reading
129 people want to read
About the author
Scott Plous
2 books19 followersFrom Wikipedia:
Scott Plous, Ph.D., is a Professor of Psychology at the Department of Psychology of Wesleyan University. He is also a Faculty Associate of the Tufts University Center for Animals and Public Policy.
His areas of research include the psychology of prejudice and discrimination, decision making, and the human use of animals and the environment.
In 2001, he published a study that evaluated the reliability of Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUCs), and found that animal testing standards in the United States are widely inconsistent across different research institutions.
Plous has published two books, and numerous journal articles, on social issues, animal rights, and psychology.
Scott Plous, Ph.D., is a Professor of Psychology at the Department of Psychology of Wesleyan University. He is also a Faculty Associate of the Tufts University Center for Animals and Public Policy.
His areas of research include the psychology of prejudice and discrimination, decision making, and the human use of animals and the environment.
In 2001, he published a study that evaluated the reliability of Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUCs), and found that animal testing standards in the United States are widely inconsistent across different research institutions.
Plous has published two books, and numerous journal articles, on social issues, animal rights, and psychology.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 6, 2013
This book shed a light in a topic I never read about before which is Prejudice encompassing Racism &Sexism and all sorts of stereotyping...I learned many facts in this book through the experiments and statistics the author mentioned like:
1) People usually tend to mingle& co-operate with the ones who share similar qualities or even minor charachteristics such as same Birthday!
2) Categorical thinking can give rise to Prejudice.
3) There are people who blame impoverished people for their povertyand blame women for being raped, because they think this is a just world!
4) Fundamental attribution error: Where people attribute others behavior to dispositional factors rather tgsn situational factors.
5) In a recent study, some white people selected white ones for interviews and skipped interviewing African -American ones especially when their boss prompted them to do so( blind obedience to authority).
6) Stereotyping can be activated: for instance
a) when participants were exposed to violent rap music they marked African-Americans as more violent and hostile than white ones.
b) Similarly, when a group of women was told that they will be tested for gender difference by solving maths problems, they got lower marks than men .This is because in the back of their mind they became aware of the stereotyping of the community against them and that influenced their ability to solve problems!
7) Sexism can be so subtle there's even something called "benevolent sexism" where the perpetrators of this attitude think that women are being who need protection and must be loved, cherished and supported and in this way they put women in conventional gender roles as merely nurturing mothers and many women even accept this!!!!!
8) Prejudice can be instilled early in childhood: Israeli children for example showed anti-Arab behavior even at the age of two and a half years!!
9) Mass media and advertisements can be a great source of stereotyping .
10) Minorities like African-Americans receive minimal healthcare even when they're insured and some physicians can be biased agsinst them !
To minimize racism and sexism the writer suggests many ideas: One is through laws& strict regulations. Another idea is by putting yourself in the others' shoes. A third idea is by accentuating your positive attitudes do you csn be categorized as efficient, or a good person rather than a Jew , muslim, hispanic or Latino.
The book opened my eyes to the fact that each one of us can have a sense of stereotyping aginst others even if it was very subtle. We must pay attention to our implicit and explicit way of categorizing & dealing with people so the world will be a much better place
1) People usually tend to mingle& co-operate with the ones who share similar qualities or even minor charachteristics such as same Birthday!
2) Categorical thinking can give rise to Prejudice.
3) There are people who blame impoverished people for their povertyand blame women for being raped, because they think this is a just world!
4) Fundamental attribution error: Where people attribute others behavior to dispositional factors rather tgsn situational factors.
5) In a recent study, some white people selected white ones for interviews and skipped interviewing African -American ones especially when their boss prompted them to do so( blind obedience to authority).
6) Stereotyping can be activated: for instance
a) when participants were exposed to violent rap music they marked African-Americans as more violent and hostile than white ones.
b) Similarly, when a group of women was told that they will be tested for gender difference by solving maths problems, they got lower marks than men .This is because in the back of their mind they became aware of the stereotyping of the community against them and that influenced their ability to solve problems!
7) Sexism can be so subtle there's even something called "benevolent sexism" where the perpetrators of this attitude think that women are being who need protection and must be loved, cherished and supported and in this way they put women in conventional gender roles as merely nurturing mothers and many women even accept this!!!!!
8) Prejudice can be instilled early in childhood: Israeli children for example showed anti-Arab behavior even at the age of two and a half years!!
9) Mass media and advertisements can be a great source of stereotyping .
10) Minorities like African-Americans receive minimal healthcare even when they're insured and some physicians can be biased agsinst them !
To minimize racism and sexism the writer suggests many ideas: One is through laws& strict regulations. Another idea is by putting yourself in the others' shoes. A third idea is by accentuating your positive attitudes do you csn be categorized as efficient, or a good person rather than a Jew , muslim, hispanic or Latino.
The book opened my eyes to the fact that each one of us can have a sense of stereotyping aginst others even if it was very subtle. We must pay attention to our implicit and explicit way of categorizing & dealing with people so the world will be a much better place
June 13, 2020
I read this in University and shook me, woke me, changed my life. ANYONE wishing to learn more about prejudice and discrimination NEEDS to read this. Especially à propos for 2020
December 31, 2010
Good introduction.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews