Prejudice can operate as a social norm internal to a group

Evidence

The view that prejudice is “normal” creates a seeming contradiction – according to popular belief, a “prejudice” is something that breaks social norms; prejudice is deviant. In fact, Allport seemed to concur with this assessment by defining prejudice as an irrational, negative reaction to others based on their group membership. But according to our perspective, prejudice is a social norm. Sometimes this disconnect between viewing prejudice as normative versus deviant occurs as a result of changes in norms over time, creating different segments of society that disagree about what is acceptable. Although most Americans today would see slavery as a violation of decency and tolerance norms, slave owners in the antebellum American South did not think that their attitude toward enslaved Black was prejudiced; it was the common, accepted, prevalent attitude (Jordan, 1977). — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 1901

Following the norms of prejudice is just as pervasive and effortless as following any other social norm. In many ways, conformity to prevailing ethnic, racial, religious, and other beliefs is no different than driving on the right side of the road, paying for items in stores, or acting pleasantly to one’s boss. To the extent that people want to belong to social groups they must adhere to the rules, and new group members will want to – and work to – conform; although they might initially merely “act the part,” they will eventually come to internalize the group’s attitudes and make them their own (Crandall, Eshleman, & O’Brien, 2002; Sherif & Sherif, 1953). — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 1900

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s material on moral panics and on how norms shift across time, creating clashing segments of society. — connects to: Prejudiced people are normal because they are well adapted to their culture. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1834; Egalitarian statements can transmit prejudice between group members — Drew S. Jacoby-Senghor and Michael Rosenblum and N. Derek Brown, Not all egalitarianism is created…, 63; the MOC “The Enemy-Making Machine: Ours, True, and the Identity That Defends Both”
• ADDENDUM: The point that slave owners did not see their attitude as prejudiced because it was the prevailing norm directly parallels ‘Complaints About Immodesty Go Way Back’ on how moral judgments depend entirely on local norms.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years…, 1901; John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years…, 1900