On Wed, 9 Jun 1999, kelley wrote:
> the prejudice/discrimination distinction is an old one in the sociological
> literature and these turn out to be rather inelegant concepts for capturing
> a rather complex process, since discrimination doesn't get off the ground
> without prejudice. acts just don't occur in the absence of an interpretive
> framework for understanding the world around you and what you believe your
> acts mean.
I realize Kelley is going somewhere else with this, but I just wanted to emphasize that discrimination is not always based on prejudice. For instance, if a company promotes on the basis of seniority, when there has been systematic racial bias in hiring in the past, then promotion on the basis of seniority is a form of racial discrimination. The intent of the employer is irrelevant; what matters is the unequal treatment based on race.
Other examples: school funding, mortgage loan offers, neighborhood drug sweeps. To me, this is the most insidious form of racism: institutional racism. To assume that racial injustice is solely or primarily based on prejudice overlooks the fact that racism is woven into the fabric of every social institution in our society. If we did away with all the personal prejudice and white supremacists tomorrow, we'd still have a society in which discrimination on the basis of race and other social categories thrives.
Miles Jackson cqmv at odin.cc.pdx.edu