Prejudice

Social Construction of Prejudice

Little thought was given, nor was much research conducted, regarding prejudice before the 1920s. Until that point, discussions regarding prejudice tended to center on attempts to prove white supremacy. Beginning in the 1930s, however, concerns about the anti-Semitism cultivated by the Nazis and other right-wing groups caused psychologists and sociologists to examine the pathological roots undergirding prejudice. These researchers began to explore whether certain personality syndromes could be linked to prejudice. Theodor Adorno posited that prejudice was a manifestation of an authoritarian personality. Those with authoritarian personalities represented rigid thinkers who [Page 288]approached the world as a series of black-and-white decisions, obeyed authority, and sought strict adherence to social hierarchies and rules. This authoritarian outlook caused its adherents to be more likely to be prejudiced against groups who displayed characteristics of lower status, whether those were demonstrated by gender, race, ethnicity, religion, or some other marker.

Building upon Adorno's findings, during the 1950s psychologist Gordon Allport linked prejudice to categorical thinking. Allport, one of the founders of the school of personality psychology, believed that prejudice was a normal process for humans, one of the ways in which individuals make sense of the world around them. As such, prejudice does not necessarily represent hatred for others but instead demonstrates favoritism toward one's own in-group. While categories are necessary for individuals to prejudge new situations, ultimate attribution error, first described by social psychologist Thomas Pettigrew, may also play a role in prejudice. Ultimate attribution error occurs when in-group members attribute negative behaviors in those from other groups (out-group members) to dispositional causes, whereas they attribute positive behaviors in that out-group to luck or special advantage, a fluke or an exception, high motivation and effort, or situational factors. Representations of out-groups, when perpetuated through beliefs of in-group members and reinforced through the media, can become very difficult to shake, and they buttress prejudice against out-group members. While prejudice can arise out of almost any topic, prejudices related to a person's ethnicity, gender, nationality, race, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status are especially difficult to disregard for individuals with a predisposition toward them.

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