PREJUDICE AND STIGMA

Prejudice and Stigma

Prejudice and Stigma

Introduction

Prejudice and stigma are learned, social negative practices that are latent in our society. Richard Schaefer says that prejudice is a negative attitude toward an entire category of people. Similarly, Erving Goffman states that stigma is “the situation of the individual who is disqualified from full social acceptance.” To understand and explain the different ways in which the minority students at Montclair State University perceive the social prejudice and stigma towards them, if they do experience it; this research paper will focus on their daily face-to-face interactions with the general population at Montclair State University. Specifically, it will analyze the responses of those students who participate in the following groups: Connecting across Cultures, ISO (International Students Organization), LASO (Latin American Students Organization) and LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Organization).

Prejudice refers to beliefs, opinions and attitudes that are characterized by inflexibility, dogmatism and narrow-mindedness. These may be learned, copied or acquired beliefs about another group or other groups (or individuals seen as belonging to that group). Such prejudices are usually though not always: (a) acquired before meeting that group/those individuals; (b) negative opinions and judgments; and (c) distorted, misinformed and inaccurate beliefs.

Because of this, prejudiced students can also be described as intolerant (INTOLERANCE), bigoted and doctrinaire. It is an outlook that is unjustified by facts and unlikely to be changed, even in the face of evidence to the contrary. The core elements of prejudice are well summed up by Goldberg (1993: 104) who states that a prejudice is an anti-pathic, hostile attitude, felt or expressed towards a person considered strictly as a member of a group. An individual object of the prejudice is presumed to bear those (usually reprehensible) characteristics supposed to define the group. The prejudicial judgments may be made in inexcusable ignorance of all the available facts, or it may involve the logical error of overgeneralization: persons expressing prejudices may either improperly judge the object of their prejudice a member of the group in question, or they may wrongly infer that an individual is characterized by the designated properties because he/she is a member of the group. Prejudice necessarily involves stereotyping.

Review of the Literature

GOFFMAN provides an in-depth discussion on prejudice and stigma in everyday life, considering the definition of stigma, types of stigmas, and consequences of stigmatization. He returns to the Greek origins of the word “stigma” in providing a definition - the ancient Greeks used it to refer to bodily marks that were cut or burned into the skin to expose infamy or disgrace (if, for example, the bearer was a slave or a criminal). Goffman argues that the term is similarly used today but it focuses on the disgrace itself rather than the marks defining it. He thus sees the term as denoting a discrediting attribute that denigrates the possessor to others.

He argues that Prejudice toward and discrimination against students of other groups can take a variety of forms and are caused by a number of ...