Today’s lecture was very informative and interesting. Prior to this lecture I did not have a full understanding of what prejudice and ideology were and what they entailed. However, after the lecture and workshops I now have a better understanding and an idea of how I would approach a question involving these two topics in my exam.
Prejudice can be described as someone’s prejudgements or biased thoughts on religion, race, gender, sexuality etc. It is an idea or opinion that is not based on actual fact, it can be referred to as a negative attitude, particuarly when it is a hatred or intolerance to certain kinds of people. However, when someone acts on their prejudice it then becomes discrimination.
Furthermore, we discussed and learned about the 5 agents of socialisation: media, family, peers, technology and education. This is where social interactions in each context help people learn values, norms and beliefs that make up the patterns of their culture. For children, they tend to learn these prejudices either from their parents or upbringing. It is extremely important as inspiring teachers that we have a full understanding of this topic and ensure that we teach children that everyone should be treated with respect regardless of their up-brining, background, culture etc.
A particular part of the lecture that I found interesting was the “Micro and Macro World”. I had never heard about this before and found it particuarly interesting to how it relates with our society and culture.
I enjoyed today’s lecture and feel like I know have a deeper understanding of the theories surrounding ideology and prejudice. I will continue to do further research to deepen my understanding in preperation for my exam.
