Racial Discrimination

PREJUDICE IS the attitudinal element in enforcing racial and ethnic stratification, while discrimination is the active, or behavioral, element. Discrimination involves behavior aimed at denying members of particular ethnic groups equal access to societal rewards. It may be of an individual or institutional nature and de jure (in law) or de facto (in fact).

Actions taken by individuals or groups of limited size to injure or deny members of minority ethnic groups are perhaps the most easily understood form of discrimination. The employment manager who refuses to hire Asians, the judge who metes out unusually harsh sentences to African Americans, and the homeowners' group that agrees not to sell in the neighborhood to Jews are examples of discriminators at this level.

In these cases, actions are taken by one or few with the intent to harm or restrict in some way members of minority groups. In cases of individual discrimination, the actions taken against minority groups' members are intentional. At first glance, we might assume that the employment manager thinks unfavorably of Asians, the judge dislikes African-Americans, and the homeowners hate Jews. This may, in fact, be the motivating force behind the discrimination in all these cases, but we cannot be certain until we understand more fully the context in which these actions occur. The employment manager, for example, may have no ill feeling toward Asians but may feel compelled to carry out what he perceives to be the unwritten, yet generally understood company policy of not hiring Asians. The judge may feel that sentencing African-Americans more harshly will gain her votes among her predominantly white constituency in the next election. And the members of the homeowners' group may simply be responding to what they fell are neighborhood pressures.

Discrimination, however, may be legal or customary, in which case it is not socially unexpected or disapproved of, but is legitimized. This is called de jure (in law) discrimination. In the United States before the 1960s, there were centuries of a well-institutionalized system of racial discrimination in the law. This blocked the access of African-Americans and other racial minorities to economic, political, and social opportunities afforded to whites.