Discrimination Worksheet

------------------------------------------------- Associate Program Material

Discrimination Worksheet

Write a 100- to 200-word response to each of the following questions. Provide citations for all the sources you use.

* What is discrimination? How is discrimination different from prejudice and stereotyping?

Schaefer (2012) defines discrimination as “the denial of opportunities and equal rights to individuals and groups because of prejudice or for other arbitrary reasons” (p. 61). This is essentially when a person is harassed or treated differently because of race, religion, sexual orientation and gender among many other reasons. In employment circumstances, discrimination is something that an employer does that hurts the employees chance of getting ahead in the company. An example of discrimination would be if an employee is being fired or denied a promotion for reasons not related to on the job performance or behavior. Discrimination is different from prejudice and stereotypes because it’s not being negative towards a whole entire group of people. Discrimination denies someone an opportunity to improve their life.

* What are the causes of discrimination?

There are several causes of discrimination such as stereotyping, Ideology, Disparate Impact and Structural Discrimination. Take disparate impact for instance: According to What Are the Causes of Discrimination in the Workplace?
“Discrimination can also be structural rather than individual. For example, a company might promote managers primarily from its sales department rather than its warehouse department, or from its customer service department more often than from sales. The group most represented in the favored department would also be best represented in company management. If certain departments favor a particular gender, race or ethnic group, this kind of structural discrimination can cause unequal outcomes” (3).

* How is discrimination faced by one identity group (race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, gender, sexual orientation, age, or disability) the same as discrimination faced by another? How are they different?

I think that discrimination is based on something a person cannot control like what race they are or their gender. Nowadays, sexual preference by some is said to be something that can be controlled. I think that discrimination faced with race and sexual orientation is sort of the same. There are many times a person may not get a job because of their race; this is also true if a person looks to be gay or lesbian. On the other hand they are different because a person’s race is something they have no control over and is something that cannot be changed. A persons ' sexual preference, however, when asked some people will say is a choice and is something that can be changed if a person is willing to change.

References

Schaefer, R. T. (2012). Racial and Ethnic Groups (13th ed.). : Merrill Prentice Hall.

What Are the Causes of Discrimination in the Workplace?. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://work.chron.com/causes-discrimination-workplace-9696.html

References: Schaefer, R. T. (2012). Racial and Ethnic Groups (13th ed.). : Merrill Prentice Hall. What Are the Causes of Discrimination in the Workplace?. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://work.chron.com/causes-discrimination-workplace-9696.html