Modern Forms of Prejudice

History and Background

Many societies proudly profess that they are founded on principles of democracy and fairness, although prejudice is often a deeply ingrained part of their history and practices. For example, Gunnar Myrdal wrote of the “ever-raging conflict” in U.S society in his 1944 book, An American Dilemma. On one hand are general principles of fairness, Christian precepts, and equality; on the other hand are the realities of individual and group motivations, needs, and habits that foster prejudice.

Historically, individuals' prejudices have been encouraged and legitimized with the support not only of norms and customs but of laws. Such widespread sanctioning of inequality helped to keep any conflict people might experience over their prejudices at bay. Prejudice was expressed in unabashed and uncensored ways during these times, yielding consequences ranging from open verbal disparagement and segregation to lynching and genocide. Such overt prejudice is often referred to as “old-fashioned” prejudice.

After World War II and the Nazis' attempt to exterminate the Jewish people, many started to see prejudice in a different light and to entertain the idea that it might be wrong and illegitimate. In 1954, Gordon Allport published his eminent book, The Nature of Prejudice. Allport treated prejudice as a social problem and, among many other contributions, described the concept of “prejudice with compunction.” Specifically, Allport contended that most people experience compunction or remorse in connection with their prejudices because they realize at an intellectual level that prejudice is wrong.

In U.S. society, important movements soon followed Allport's publication that further reinforced the idea that individual and institutionalized prejudice was unethical and immoral. The U.S. civil rights movement (19551968) especially encouraged greater egalitarianism and reductions in prejudice. The “American dilemma” about which Myrdal had written became a salient reality for many people as the conflict between their self-image as decent and fair people and their continuing prejudice toward certain groups became more apparent.

With changing laws (e.g., desegregation) and social norms, people's outwardly expressed attitudes eventually became less prejudiced. For example, surveys showed that 68% of White people supported racially segregated schools in 1942, compared with 4% in 1995. In fact, this decline was so marked that the researchers claimed that racial stereotypes in the United States were fading. Researchers also noted declines in negative beliefs related to women and, to some extent, in prejudice toward gay men and lesbians.

Despite the evidence suggesting prejudice is becoming a thing of the past, the story is not quite that straightforward. Researchers found that negative stereotypes were not fading but rather changing in content and that prejudice was decreasing in outward expressions only. More subtle measures uncovered biased behavior in many forms. For example, an influential review article published in 1980 summarized many studies of subtle bias conducted around that time. These experiments showed that White people in the United States treated Black people in the United States more negatively than they treated Whites in helping situations (i.e., were less likely to give help to Blacks than to Whites), in interpersonal aggression studies, and in their nonverbal communication.

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