Today inputs where focused around Prejudice and Ideology. Before today I had a vague understanding of this topic, but during the lecture and tutorial I was able to greatly advanced my knowledge of prejudice and ideology, and the factors that underpins these topics.
I was able to consolidate my understanding of the definitions ‘prejudice’ and ‘ideology’. ‘Prejudice’ can be defined as the attitude usually negative views, that involve prejudgements of negative feelings and stereotypes that is held towards a group or individual. Likewise, ‘ideology’ can signify an organised collection of ideas that reflect the beliefs/ attitudes of a group, system, nation and institution towards others. Both prejudice and ideological views are often influenced by the humans around us, groups, culture, religion and media. These influences can by segmented into sectors- Microworld and Macroworld.
· Microworld- This is also known as personal knowledge, this encompasses the views, ideology and prejudice we acquire from our social circles, family, friends and peers.
· Macroworld- This is the scope of people we have knowledge about but have no direct contact with such as celebrities, politicians, footballers and TV, which can influence what we believe. This is term is also known as public knowledge.
· The term in-between microworld and macroworld is mesoworld.
Further to this I obtained understanding of theorist behind prejudice and the theory of social norms and conformity. Social norms are behaviours that citizens are expected to obey, which are cultural and socially accepted, social norms can vary amongst groups and nationalities, which are normally express through rules and laws. Conformity has a slightly different denotation, this is when an individual behaves in a certain way due to pressure from peers or groups, which can result in a possible punishment. There is numerous theorist involved in this facet of prejudice, for instance
· Pettigrew (1959) states we can have prejudice views and ideas but we must always obey to the rules and laws in order not to cause discrimination.
· Minard (1952) highlights that social norms influences prejudice which can progress to discrimination.
· Rogers and Frantz (1962) denotes that prejudice can develop overtime and can change if we migrate to another.
Likewise, the main theorist of ideological views is Karl Marx we contribute that it is class that control views along with religious ideologies can control what people think. He believed that all knowledge and prejudice views are socially constructed.
It is important to bear in mind that prejudice and ideology interact forming agents of socialisation which are media, family, peers, education and technology which can subsequently greatly influence our views different parts of society.
Therefore, today I felt I learnt a breadth of new knowledge which is significant to the world we are part, it always important to keep an opened mind and views. I will definitely need to devote some reading in regards to this topic in order to gain a deep understanding of definitions, theorist and subsequently relate this information to possible exam questions.
