Difference Between Prejudice and Discrimination

Posted on Apr 5th, 2011 | By olivia

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Prejudice vs Discrimination
Prejudice and discrimination are deeply interrelated words that many take to be synonyms. But in reality they are apart and have different connotations. While prejudice is a preconceived notion or a leaning towards/against someone or something, discrimination refers to action or behavior towards these things and people. Just because we don’t like something or someone, we develop many stereotypes about him, and start to discriminate against him. Discrimination is in our nature and blood. We discriminate among different types of foods, don’t we? But it is harmless as we give preference to some particular types of foods and it does not make any difference to others whether we eat Chinese or Mexican cuisine. Similarly we discriminate among colors and get our home painted in colors for which we have a leaning towards. Some people have likings for a particular dress and abhor others; this is also discrimination. But all such instances of discrimination make no difference to others. It is all about personal liking and disliking.
It is clear then that discrimination is an external representation of prejudice. If we have a popular student in our class and we harbor feelings of prejudice against him, these feelings are translated into actions that reflect this prejudice. These actions refer to discrimination. Prejudice is in mind, discrimination is in action.
Discrimination on the basis of color of the skin is as old as civilizations and has resulted in many revolts and struggles for equality all over the world. The word apartheid represents the way white people in South Africa suppressed and discriminated against blacks and people of colored skins for hundreds of years. This discrimination finally came to an end because of