Psychological Explanations of Racism - Assignment Example

Psychological Explanations of Racism In the world we are living in today racism plays a huge role in shaping people’s lives and way of thinking. This happens in many countries, many neighborhoods as well as places of work. Racism being the prejudice directed to people of different races is a vice in its own right and its practice is rather widespread worldwide. A rather appropriate definition of racism is offered by (Roentsch 1985b) whereby he states that racism occurs where one attributes people of a certain race as to inherently manifest certain traits. Racists usually intend to give racist comments and even actions where severe cases of beating and to some extents murder are committed. To this far it is now evident that racism is a vice that needs to be uprooted from the society as it only breeds hatred and misunderstandings among people of different races. In explaining deeper into racism the paper shall explore theories that seek to explain the various discriminations perpetuated by white Australians on Muslim and indigenous Australians. Racism is an anecdote and can as well be traced back many years ago in many ancient civilizations. When taking the Australian case it is evident the above two mentioned groups are discriminated against because of their skin color and religious affiliations. For the case of Muslims their discrimination ranges worldwide and more so in the western countries where the tensions between the two groups are pegged on the accusation of terrorism on the Muslim communities (Griffith & Pederson 2009). They have been accused to be a people who are prone to violence and terrorist activities. On a rather unfortunate tone, some terrorist attacks that have happened in the world and especially in the recent history, it is the Muslim followers who have come out to claim responsibility. An example is the bombings in India, Spain, London and many others. The above in no doubt has heightened the blame levels on the religion and it followers worldwide and that as much as some would try hard to dissociate themselves from these activities, prejudice has taken root to override rational reasoning (Griffith & Pederson 2009). Their place of worship have been time and again destroyed or vandalized which makes the followers quite bitter since the fellow Christian’s places of worship are never touched. These attacks are at times extended to their homes which creates a sense of insecurity on their part. Cases of arson against properties owned or run my Muslims have also been reported in Australia although at a relatively lower magnitude than the usual and regular mosque and home attacks (Akbarzadeh & Saeed 2001). Muslim women on the other hand face discrimination from people as they are mostly in their religious attire that identifies them as Muslims. These are cases that are documented by the Australian police and it clearly shows that this is a group that is targeted for some reason by the other members of the society. The indigenous Australians also termed as the Aborigines is the other group of people from Australia that has been receiving wide scale discrimination based on them being of a different race from the whites. This discrimination dates back from the days that the whites set foot in Australia as a continent. They were colonized and set their own areas to settle while the whites took the fertile land with better weather and the like (Griffith & Pederson 2009). They were pushed to the ghettos of Australia and other areas and regions that are less prestigious for example South Brisbane and Redfern (Pedersen, 2000: Broome, 2002). The case of marginalization is worse in the rural areas where the women and men have been exploited sexually and for cheap labor respectively. The government has been trying to allocate funds in order to elevate their living standards and provide them with social amenities but in deeper sense the allocations made are less than adequate and more so when a comparison is made with those disbursed in improving standards for those in the better regions inhabited predominantly by the white population. In other terms it is seen that the aborigines are more prone to be under police custody as well as being in prison (Griffith & Pederson 2009). There is also the widely known scandal that the ones involves have never been prosecuted; that which saw more than 30 million dollars varnish from the aborigines’ welfare bank accounts (Broome, 2002). There can be no explanation as to how not even a single individual has not been prosecuted considering that it was a massive theft case. This shows how the group is discriminated against even in the issues of justice. This was hard earned money by the aborigines which they used to deposit at fixed rates monthly into various bank accounts to cater for their welfare. These and more particular cases show how this group too has been racially discriminated against in Australia (Griffith & Pederson 2009). It is important to note here that a great deal of research has been conducted in relation to all facets of racism and more so in the field of etiology. These studies have been conducted mostly by social psychologists whereby two theories have been developed. The groups are group-based and individualistic theories. On taking individualistic theories, the main focus is on the hypothesis that frustrations breed aggression whereby in many occasions the aggrieved party tries to look for a scapegoat so as to lay some blame (Baron and Byrne, 2008). The theory suggests that it is almost inevitable to come up with the person or object to blame for the frustrations that one is going through. The concept of scapegoat on the other had is not acceptable as the blamed party or object is not involved in bringing in the frustrations but rather they are as a result of ones failures to adhere to certain rules or guidelines or mere misfortune in respect to the situation in question (Gross, 1990). This theory is biased and prejudice is encouraged through it therefore it is not justified at all for one to direct their anger issues on others simply because they stand a position that is vulnerable or weak. It is taken that the individuals who are authoritarian to others are in most cases fearful towards certain personalities or individuals. A case in point according to Adorno (1950, in Baron and Byrne) is the issue that these authoritarian people fear their parents unconsciously and in turn direct their anger issues toward other people who are weaker that they are. This is a case which is predominant in the places of work and in the general life instances where the boss is so authoritative and tries to direct his frustrations to the junior staff. On the issue of racism many people feel inferior when sentiments from mostly an authoritative figure give racist comments regarding them and that there is little they can do due to their submissiveness and irrational attitude towards the authoritative figures or race. This is the case that happens in factories comprising of people from many ethnic backgrounds. The study conducted by Adorno et al. was quite bias in the questionnaires that they provided since their design was such that it tended to equate the right with the authoritarian alone. This was also noted to involve so much of their ideologies that were personal to them (Eysenck and Wilson, 1978). Another theory is that which stipulates that social learning also plays a key role in perpetuating racism in children through to adulthood. Children learn a great deal of activities from their environment and if those around them practice racism of some sought then they shall adopt it (Baron and Byrne, 2008). The more likely influencers of a child to racism are the parents, the media and their peers. Peers in this case influence as a result of having learnt to be racist there before making it a continuous process. It is therefore important for those around children to exercise caution as any racism remark or activity shall be copied and exercised by them in future. This needs to be sealed up by providing to the child some negative reinforcement in cases where they show racist tendencies (Reber, 1985). The other theory is that which is group based. Under this one we have the realistic conflict theory whereby individuals compete for the limited available resources. It is this competition that at some levels heightens to turn to hatred between the different groups that form out of the similarities that they bear (Baron and Byrne, 2008). Prejudice is the other thing that crops up and before everyone knows it a once peaceful competition for resources turns to an ugly struggle among the parties involved. Individuals in this case develop groups for solidarity and commonality of interest in order to enforce their opinions and actions onto others; in this case without their free will. In Australia the whites, the Muslim Australians and the indigenous Australians fight for the opportunities available in the offices and industries and the regarded minority group tries as much as possible to access these opportunities and amenities on equal terms (Griffith & Pederson 2009). The whites being the presumably the majority group in terms of seizing the available opportunities and resources try to oppress the minority in order to maintain the status quo. Therefore, as long as this happens and continue to dominate the struggle for the limited resources, then racism shall continue to prevail and show its ugly heads in these regions according to Hovland and Sears (1940, in Baron and Byrne, 2008). These kind of conflicts can be done away with at low levels of competition where the concept of super-ordinate goals are introduced where all cooperate in doing similar or same tasks since this shall bring in the sense of equality. Under the group approach to explaining racism studies have shown that people tend to organize themselves into us and them categories and at some other times out-groups and in-groups (Augoustinos & Reynolds 2001). In this respect people are taken to be more prone to homogenizing out groups whereby stereotypes are formed and certain characteristics labeled to the out groups which are basically negative or opposite to those of individuals in the in groups. This concept is so much predominant in neighborhoods that harbor the groups that rival on the basis of race. It is also a concept that is well manifested in areas with secluded neighborhoods where people of a certain race dominate or wholly occupy an area or region. Taking and example of Australian cities, it is clear from this theory that there are neighborhoods that are predominantly aborigines or Muslims inhabited (Griffith & Pederson 2009). Here it is quite difficult to find a white roaming about in the streets for fear of attack by insults or at some point assault. The scenario here shows how intense out-group in-group tensions and hatred can develop to pure segregation and perpetual disrespect of people from a different racial backgrounds that is in actual sense baseless when reflecting on it origin. It has also found that within the in-group, it is easier and more often to make comments that are flattering than doing the same for the out-groups. These theories therefore emphasize more on the concept of racism from a group perspective as opposed to the earlier discussed ones under the individualistic theories. Taken together it is important to note that racism is brought about by prejudice that is baseless. It is as a result of failure for an individual or a group to rationally think about the motive behind racist attitudes, utterances or actions (Griffith & Pederson 2009). The researches done on the topic have detailed the reasons as to why and how racism comes about and perpetuated by people in the society. The governments as well as the various authorities should play a key role in ensuring that this vice is curtailed and stern measures taken for those involved in its perpetuation. References Akbarzadeh, H. & Saeed, A. (2001). Muslim communities in Australia. UNSW Press. Augoustinos, M. & Reynolds, K. J. (2001). Understanding prejudice, racism, and social conflict. SAGE Publications Ltd. Baron, R. A. and Byrne, D. E. (2008). Social psychology: Understanding human interaction. 12th edn. Allyn and Bacon. Broome, R. (2002). Aboriginal Australians: Black responses to white dominance, 1788-2001. Allen & Unwin. Eysenck, H. J. and Wilson, G. D. (eds.) (1978). The Psychological Basis of Ideology. Lancaster: MTP Press. Gross, R. (1987). Psychology: The Science of Mind and Behaviour. London: Hodder and Stoughton. Griffith, B. & Pederson, A. (2009). Prejudice and the function of attitudes relating to Muslim Australians and indigenous Australians. Australian Journal of Psychology. 61, 228-238. Pedersen, A. (July 2000). Attitudes toward aboriginal Australians in city and country settings. Australian Psychologist. 35(2), pp. 109-117. Reber, A. (1985). Dictionary of Psychology. Penguin, Harmondsworth, Middlesex. Roentsch, D. (1985b). ‘Racists define racism’. The Radical Capitalism. USA. 3(4). Read More