Equality Vocabulary
Racism vs Discrimination vs Stereotypes vs Microaggressions
First of: We are all biased. Whether you enjoy talking to attractive people more than unattractive, or
take advice more seriously when it’s given by someone who is wealthy, or you think overweight people
are lazy or dog people are nicer, it’s all still bias.
Bias
Unconscious bias: It’s likely that you have assumptions embedded in your mind about how people are
likely to behave, based on only their race, and that those assumptions influence you subconsciously.
That’s called unconscious bias. For instance, a hiring manager feels a white candidate is more qualified
than a Latino candidate with similar experience.
A stereotype is an assumption. Prejudice is a belief. Discrimination is an action or
behavior
Stereotypes are oversimplified generalizations about groups of people. Stereotypes can be based on
race, ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation—almost any characteristic. They may be positive (when
women suggest they are less likely to complain about physical pain) but are often negative (when
members of a dominant racial group suggest that a subordinate racial group is stupid or lazy).
Stereotype is a generalization that doesn’t take individual differences into account.
Prejudice refers to the beliefs, thoughts, feelings, and attitudes someone holds about a group. Prejudice
occurs when someone has a belief (usually negative) about a person or group based on a stereotype.
The belief is usually based on a person’s membership (or assumed membership) in a certain group.
Prejudice also divides people based on stereotypes. Examples include:
Ableism: negative attitudes based on physical and/or mental abilities.
Cissexism: negative attitudes toward people who don’t identify with the sex they were assigned at
birth.
Homophobia: negative attitudes toward members of the LGBTQ2S+ community.
Colorism is another kind of prejudice, in which someone believes one type of skin tone is superior
or inferior to another within a racial group
Racism: negative attitudes based on race, ethnicity and/or culture.
Sexism: negative attitudes based on gender identity, gender expression and/or sex assigned at
birth.
Anti-Semite" or "antisemitism" Refers to anyone who was hostile or discriminatory towards Jews in
particular.
Xenophobia: negative attitudes based on national origin/country.
Bigotry: intolerance toward those who hold different opinions from oneself
Redlining: systematic denial of various services by federal or local government as well as the private
sector to someone who lives in a poor area. This can be done either directly or through the
selective raising of prices
Discrimination: Occurs when when someone acts on their prejudiced beliefs. This can be intentional, as
when a landlord decides they don’t want to rent to any Latinos. It can also be unconscious, as when
hiring managers disproportionately employ white males while unaware of their unconscious biases and
protesting that they are not racist. It can also be systemic, like the policies and practices put in place to
assimilate
Institutional discrimination occurs when a societal system has developed with embedded
disenfranchisement of a group, such as the U.S. military’s historical nonacceptance of minority
sexualities (the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy reflected this norm).
Institutional discrimination can also include the promotion of a group’s status, such in the case of white
privilege, which is the benefits people receive simply by being part of the dominant group.
*More on Racism*
Racism is a stronger type of prejudice used to justify the belief that one racial category is somehow
superior or inferior to others; it is also a set of practices used by a racial majority to disadvantage a racial
minority.
Racism: is the belief that personality, behavior and morals can be traced back to race, and the belief that
one race is superior to another. Thinking that Asian people are better at math is racist. You are
attributing qualities to another person based solely on their race. Thinking that black people are more
violent or more likely to steal is racist.
Racial steering, in which real estate agents direct prospective homeowners toward or away from certain
neighborhoods based on their race.
Institutional racism refers to the way in which racism is embedded in the fabric of society. For example,
the disproportionate number of black men arrested, charged, and convicted of crimes may reflect racial
profiling, a form of institutional racism.
Other Terms
Privilege
White privilege
Multiculturalism
Oppression
Power differential
Microaggressions
Meritocracy
