Discrimination

An African-American man drinking from a racially segregated water cooler marked "Colored", in Oklahoma City c. 1939

Discrimination is the process of making unfair or prejudicial distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong,[1] such as race, gender, age, species, religion, physical attractiveness or sexual orientation.[2] Discrimination typically leads to groups being unfairly treated on the basis of perceived statuses based on ethnic, racial, gender or religious categories.[2][3] It involves depriving members of one group of opportunities or privileges that are available to members of another group.[4]

Discriminatory traditions, policies, ideas, practices and laws exist in many countries and institutions in all parts of the world, including some, where such discrimination is generally decried. In some places, countervailing measures such as quotas have been used to redress the balance in favor of those who are believed to be current or past victims of discrimination. These attempts have often been met with controversy, and sometimes been called reverse discrimination.

  1. ^ "What drives discrimination and how do we stop it?". www.amnesty.org. Amnesty International. Retrieved October 13, 2020. Discrimination occurs when a person is unable to enjoy his or her human rights or other legal rights on an equal basis with others because of an unjustified distinction made in policy, law or treatment.
  2. ^ a b "Discrimination: What it is, and how to cope". American Psychological Association. October 31, 2019. Retrieved October 13, 2020. Discrimination is the unfair or prejudicial treatment of people and groups based on characteristics such as race, gender, age or sexual orientation.
  3. ^ "discrimination, definition". Cambridge Dictionaries Online. Cambridge University. Retrieved March 29, 2013.
  4. ^ Introduction to sociology. 7th ed. New York: W. W. Norton & Company Inc, 2009. p. 334.