Prejudice is the act of forming an opinion about someone without full knowledge of the person expressed through discrimination and stereotyping. Targets of prejudice have characteristics that make them different from the rest as explained by Saul (2008) in Prejudice and Discrimination 1. Such characteristics include religion, gender, social class, race and sexual orientation (Bar-Tal, Graumann, Kruglanski "Streobe, 2013). This essay aims at reflecting on the causes and consequences of prejudice and solving the situation in the statement, “All those women on welfare have it made. All they do is stay home and make babies while the rest of us have to work and pay taxes to support them”.
Reflection
Women on welfare receive assistance because they qualify as needy and incapable of providing for their children. The statement forms stereotype of all women in welfare. However, only a small percentage take advantage of the welfare. The statement is a projection of frustration from societal members who struggle to make ends meet and authoritarian personalities. Instead of solving the situation, the authoritarian personalities resolve to criticism, displacement and sometimes confrontation and violence.
Strategy 1: Conciliation Approach
The situation presented above is a precursor of conflict between the two parties. Before the case escalates into violence, conflict resolution theories can rectify the situation. The first strategy is reconciliation. Reconciliation involves reaching an agreement to avoid compromise for both parties (Ford, 2013). The advantage of this approach is that the involved parties mutually benefit from the agreement
Strategy 2: Legal Approach
Additionally, legal measures may be applied when negotiations become insurmountable. The judiciary system decides by the law that is superior to both the plaintiff and the defendant. Converse to conciliation, legal approaches have winners and losers.
Conclusion
In brief, prejudice, discrimination and stereotyping is not a solution to any conflict. Additionally, judging a person without in-depth knowledge of the person is often biased. Conflict resolution approaches should be both assertive and empathetic to increase its effectiveness. Additionally, other approaches to conflict resolution should be consulted before resulting to the judiciary.
References
Bar-Tal, D., Graumann, C. F., Kruglanski, A. W., " Stroebe, W. (Eds.). (2013). Stereotyping and Prejudice: Changing Conceptions. Springer Science " Business Media.
Ford, D. Y. (2013). Multicultural Issues: Gifted Underrepresentation and Prejudice—Learning From Allport And Merton. Gifted Child Today, 36(1), 62-67.
Saul. M. (2008). Prejudice and Discrimination. Retrieved February 27, 2018, From Https://Www.Simplypsychology.Org/Prejudice.Html
