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In this article we will discuss about Race Prejudice:- 1. Meaning of Race Prejudice 2. Theories of Race Prejudice 3. Conflicts.
Meaning of Race Prejudice:
The term ‘race’ refers to distinct human stocks characterised by physiological differences which owe their origin “to a remote separation of ancestry”. Race as such is, therefore, a biological phenomenon which does not concern the sociologists. A sociologist is, however, concerned with social reaction to racial differences, i..e. race consciousness.
Some races, because of their physiological differences from other races, lay claim to superior mental or intellectual ability. In other words, they become conscious of their own racial superiority, and look down upon other races as intellectually and mentally deficient.
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But, however unjustified, race feelings persist which find expression in race riots, racial segregation, and various other discriminations against a race bases upon rights, opportunities and status.
The emotions and feelings involved in these relationships are commonly called race prejudice. Race prejudice is nothing but prejudice applied against a race. Such prejudices are also applied against people of different religious groups. As a matter of fact, number of religious wars fought in different periods of history has probably been much greater than those of racial wars.
Prejudice is, therefore, a general attitude which may be harboured by a group against another group. Race prejudice is widely prevalent because “race carries a label that is visible and can the inherited”, such as colour, hair or any other physical features.
There is an extensive literature dealing with prejudice as a social phenomenon. On the individual level, prejudices may owe their origin to the images about a group that a person may carry from childhood. These images may be derived from such sources as family, school, peer groups, mass media, folk-lore, tales, proverbs, etc.
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On the social level, prejudice is mainly a cultural phenomenon. Prejudice, which is embodied in a culture, is conveyed to children through their parents, teachers, peers, etc. Scientists agree today that the individual is not born with prejudices.
The anthropological, sociological, and psychological researches have established that prejudice “is at bottom the result of social indoctrination, in both its direct and indirect forms, indoctrination that inculcates beliefs and attitudes, which easily take firm hold in his life through the processes of habituation”. But how does prejudice get embedded in a culture? Various theories have been advanced to explain this process.
Theories of Race Prejudice:
Some of these theories are the following:
(i) Ethnocentrism:
The growth of prejudice is explained in terms of ethnocentrism which is “conceived as an ideological system pertaining to groups and group relations”. The members of the in-group have a somewhat exalted opinion of themselves, and display towards members of an out-group a selfish, callous attitude or one of hostility.
Thus the members of the in-group are prejudiced against the members of the out-group. If the members of the two groups are of different races, the prejudice is called race prejudice.
(ii) Economic Advantage:
Sometimes race prejudice is practiced in the hope of economic gain. In the Southern states of the U.S.A., for example, the Negroes supplied cheap labour which was of immense benefit to the agricultural economy of those states.
Hence, race prejudice was used as a pretext for keeping the Negroes in “the bottom rungs of the prestige ladder” and withholding from them equal pay for equal work and equal schooling, so that they might be available for less remunerative and more arduous jobs.
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(iii) The Scapegoat function:
Several investigations and experiments with small children have shown that they are often afraid of anxiety. The child may manifest several possible reactions to this situation and find ways of coping with the new situation or he may react in an unconstructive manner which results usually in a negative effect in the form of fear.
Later on, in the course of his development, the child may learn project his fear on the members of various groups.
The mechanism of projection, as described by Freud, is an important concept in the explanation of prejudice. One’s own fears, failures and deficiencies may be “project” upon others. When one is not able to cope- with others because they are richer or more intelligent, one may, instead of constructively directing one’s energies towards removing the deficiencies, project destructive tendencies upon others.
This is the so-called scapegoat theory of prejudice. The Jews are attacked or discriminated against in certain European countries because “many individual Jewish persons have attained higher social and economic status than that gained by members of other minority groups.”
It has been aptly remarked by a writer that “those whom we consider below us, we may despise or pity, but we neither love nor hate them as we do our equals.”
(iv) Ignorance:
The most prolific source of prejudice is ignorance. Often we make mental images of other people which are not based on facts. Where ignorance is widespread, emotion reinforces our prejudice against a group, because conclusions based on emotion are difficult to change.
“Prejudice means to prejudge. We prejudge readily when emotion forces us to a conclusion without much thought. Indeed, strong emotion can at times block thought and blind us to observation. Once prejudice takes root, even familiarity with the facts may not eradicate it.”
Conflicts of Race Prejudice:
It is not possible to suggest any short-cut device to eliminate race prejudice. We may, however, note, in the first place, that race conflict is of comparatively recent origin which became a serious problem since improvements in transportation threw the races into close contact.
Long periods of enforced isolation have bred in man prejudices about others whom he does not know well enough to appreciate the differences in features, habits of mind or body language and even dress.
Hans Kohn says:
“At the root of race prejudice is an aversion to strange appearances and ways of life which are often held to be proof of inferior standards .”
It has been aptly remarked by Delisle Bums that “if man had no history then we could begin without difficulty to arrange the world upon the best plan conceivable; for then all men would be made according to one excellent definition, all turned out according to one pattern and each easily to be understood by studying the other. But each of us individually and each group of us collectively is a result of the past We are burdened or we are benefited by our descent”
Ogburn and Nimkoff emphasise the role which transportation plays into forcing races into relations with each other in these words:
“In almost all cases, the contacts which bring out the friction are due to the transportation inventions which have thrown the races into close contact. Technology changes first, and the adaptation of the races to these changes occurs much later.”
From this point of view, race prejudice may be viewed as a kind of cultural lag. The only lasting solution of this deep-seated malady seems to lie in proper education of children from an early age so that they may grow up with the conviction that all men are created equal, and that the rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.
It is a moral question, a question of conscience, and not merely a legal or legislative issue, laws are necessary, no doubt, but law cannot make man see right. “Race prejudice is a matter of attitudes, which are often thought to be amenable to education; and the usual approach to the question concerns changing attitudes.”
Hans Kohn says:
“Unless decisive changes are made in the attitudes and practices of dominant toward backward races and such changes are not now in prospect outside of the Soviet Union — wars and revolts must inevitably result.”
We have to note, in the second place, that in so far as race prejudice is mainly concerned with motives of economic or political gain, other effective measures, besides legislation should be undertaken to supplement and strengthen the efforts of pedagogic agencies. Conditions favouring economic or political gains to be derived from race prejudice or race conflict should be gradually removed.
This point of view has been very forcefully expressed by Father Bruckberger while referring to the controversy between Carey and Abraham Lincoln regarding the question of emancipation of Negroes.
Lincoln thought primarily in terms of politics; his chief concern was with the Rights of Man……. Carey saw little use in giving the Negro political freedom, only to have him engulfed in the still more horrible slavery of the economic proletariat. In Carey’s view, the solution was to hasten the industrialisation of the south.
If the south were industrialised, it would no longer depend on the English market or on buying England’s manufactured goods. The resulting prosperity would bring continually increased economic benefits to both planter and Negro, and would therefore very soon make possible the emancipation of the slaves.
Before the Civil War began, and even while it was going on, Carey kept pressing Lincoln to construct a great highway across the whole South, linking it to the North and thereby establishing closer economic relations between the two regions.
If one can resist the seductions of political romanticism and look at the situation objectively, it is impossible not to see how right Carey was. Of course, this does not mean that Lincoln was wrong.
Yet the Civil War did not solve the Negro problem, it undoubtedly could not have solved it, and it is only today and because of the advance of industrialisation in the south and throughout the nation, that the condition of the American Negro is now rapidly improving with the greater diversity of economic choices opened up to him by industrialisation.
Emerging at last from his proletarian servitude, the Negro is better able than ever before to defend and exercise his rights.
Thirdly, Hans Kohn argues that a peaceful and durable solution of racial conflicts “demands equal opportunities for all races in all occupations and professions and equal rights in the exercise of citizenship. It cannot be attained without vastly increased facilities for the backward races in education, in capital equipment and in the development of resources in their interest”.
None of these measures can, however, be expected to resolve race conflicts or to remove race prejudice within a short period of time. The problem is too deep-seated to be resolved quickly. Since emotion and deeply entrenched traditions are involved, the process of change will be slow and gradual, and sometimes even painful.
But patient and determined efforts, coupled with more frequent contacts between groups of men belonging to different races, will certainly help to cut into the darkness of mistrust, hostility, bigotry and hatred.