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Racism and Discrimination in Society

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Racism and Discrimination in Society

Issues in Behavioral Science

January 20, 2015

In order to understand how racism and discrimination affects our society, we must first understand the actual meaning of racism and discrimination. Racism accounts for differences in human character. A racist believes certain races are better, or more superior, to others (Yahoo Dictionary n.d). In discrimination, a person looks upon another person based on their class, race, and/or gender, other than their individual worth. Discrimination can also be referred to prejudice or partiality (Yahoo Dictionary n.d). Racism and discrimination effect the United States in a number of ways. First of all, racism and discrimination are taught. There is no specific gene in the body that influences whether or not a person is or is not racist or discriminates against others. Any influence can teach this. Parents, family, jobs, organizations, and influential people are just to name a few. From an early age, people are affected negatively by racism and discrimination. In one study, 120 children were chosen from diverse areas of the United States. From an early age, these children demonstrated their beliefs of their ethnic group influenced how they handled certain situations in the realm of education. For example, many Latino and African American children did poorly on standardized tests. From an early age they were aware that other children within their race did poorly on these types of tests as well, therefore, fulfilling the stereotype that children from these backgrounds had a difficult time passing these tests (Society in Research for Child Development 14 Nov 2009). Discrimination can affect our children’s education in a number of ways. They can be denied entry into schools because of race, gender, disability, religion, etc. Children can be bullied because they are

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