We explain what discrimination is, the types there are, its causes and consequences. Also, examples and discrimination in Mexico.
What is discrimination?
When we talk about discrimination, we refer to a social behavior carried out by individuals, institutions, organizations or any social actor, which produces and reproduces by action or omission certain inequalities of an economic, social, labor, emotional or political nature, in against a certain type of individuals, human groups or institutions.
That is, discrimination consists of denying an individual or human group access to certain rightsgoods or services, without having a just reason for doing so. It is a social phenomenon that causes a lot of discomfort in those who suffer from it and that impoverishes treatment between human beings, making it less egalitarian, less democratic and therefore less fair.
Discrimination usually goes hand in hand with ignorance, prejudice and other subjective reasons to unfairly prefer a subject or human group over others. Of course, this is not the case when one has specific, individual reasons to reject an individual, without generalizing to everyone who has the same social status.
In the world there are numerous discriminatory traditions, laws, ideas, policies and practices, but also many institutions that fight against them in various countries. Discrimination goes against the richness of a plural and diverse humanityaccept your differences in peace.
Types of discrimination
A first classification of discrimination has to do with direct discrimination, that is, that which actively attacks or segregates the other; and indirect discrimination, which is underground, discreet, invisible, but operates equally, although it is more difficult to perceive. Both are equally harmful.
Another classification addresses the reasons on which discrimination is based, which may be:
- Sexual or gender discrimination. It occurs when a person is rejected because of their gender, sexual choice, or other intimate behaviors. It is very common for it to occur against women, homosexuals or transsexuals.
- Religious discrimination. Similarly, it refers to reasons of religious practice or creed to discriminate against someone. It may be a rejection of those who practice a specific religion, or on the contrary, a rejection of those who do not practice a specific religion.
- Racism. Discrimination based on ethnicity, race or skin color, generally exercised in the West in favor of the white (Caucasian) race, but can also occur in any other sense.
- Xenophobia. The dislike for people of another nationality, or from other cultures or regions. It can even occur between people of the same nationality, depending on cultural regions or provinces.
- Discrimination due to disability. It is directed towards people who suffer from some type of disability, whether physical or other, perceiving them as incomplete or incapable.
Causes of discrimination
The causes of discrimination are not easy to specify. Many can be inherited from previous generationsinscribed in local culture as some type of ancestral enmity or historical rejection. In other cases they stem from negative personal experiences.which instead of being resolved remain and are transmitted in the form of prejudice.
Be that as it may, the generalization of a bad experience, or gratuitous prejudice towards others, are little more than aggressive forms of ignorance, because instead of allowing oneself to know the other and learn from them, one rejects them beforehand.
Consequences of discrimination
The most obvious consequences of discrimination are the pain, the annoyance, the anger, on the part of the person who suffers the injustice. That may not seem like much, but in the long run, discriminatory attitudes engender their counterpart, boomeranging back against those who exercise them.
In some cases, people who are discriminated against tend to resent and remember who discriminated against them, and may then take on the role of discriminator in revenge, thus perpetuating the harmful cycle of discrimination.
Examples of discrimination
Examples of discrimination abound, unfortunately. A woman who is receiving a lower salary that of her co-worker for making the same identical salary, she is being discriminated against. The same a foreigner who is denied a position for which it is prepared, to give it to a local that does not have the same powers.
A person of a specific ethnic group who is You are denied entry to a bar or nightclub because you are differentor a homosexual couple being asked to leave an establishment simply because of his sexual preferenceas if they were second-hand customers.
All of these are forms of unjust aggression, which serve as an example of discrimination, and which occur daily in many countries.
Discrimination in Mexico
Mexican society, like that of many other Latin American countries, is plural in its ethnic composition, given the important pre-Columbian cultures that existed in the region when the Spanish conquistadors arrived in the 15th century.
Many of them still survive today, and must deal with discrimination from many of their Westernized compatriots, who believe that their cultures are “backwards,” and therefore judge indigenous traits as inferior. According to surveys, 5 out of 10 Mexicans claim to have felt discriminated against because of their appearance.
However, This type of racial and ethnic discrimination is constantly combated by the Stateespecially since the creation of the National Council to Prevent Discrimination (CONAPRED) in 2003, as the executing agency of the Federal Law to Prevent and Eliminate Discrimination.
Continue with: Homophobia
References
- “Discrimination” on Wikipedia.
- “Discrimination” at Amnesty International.
- “Types of social discrimination” in E-Equality.
- “What is Discrimination?” at Canadian Human Rights Commission.
- “Discrimination: what it is, and how to cope” in American Psychological Association.
- “Discrimination” in The Encyclopaedia Britannica.
