Society’s creed and norms explain prejudice better than any single theory
Evidence
The answer ‘must be sought in characteristics of society that affect us all, whatever our methodological or theoretical persuasion’ (Becker, 1967 , p. 239). These characteristics include a society’s creed and form of social organization, social norms and also assumptions about justice, dignity, decency, fairness and equal treatment of people, welfare, or solidarity. — Cristian Tileagă, The Nature of Prejudice, 721
Related
- Prejudice is explained by societal characteristics, not only individual traits (similarity 0.88)
- Understanding prejudice requires cultural, not merely psychological, analysis (similarity 0.84)
- American society holds no single anti-prejudice norm across all groups (similarity 0.83)
- Prejudice is public harm to esteem, not merely private attitude (similarity 0.83)
- Prejudice is an interpretive concept lacking fixed definition (similarity 0.82)
- Understanding prejudice requires locating attitudes in collective symbolic contexts (similarity 0.82)
- Prejudices cannot be understood apart from a society’s history and contradictions (similarity 0.82)
- Pervasive prejudice still takes distinct forms across different societies (similarity 0.82)
- Prejudice varies with context yet remains predictable from role requirements. (similarity 0.82)
- Understanding stubborn prejudice requires turning to sociology, history, and anthropology (similarity 0.81)
- Expression of prejudice diverges from private belief depending on perceived social norms. (similarity 0.81)
- Not all prejudices are alike; each is culturally situated (similarity 0.81)
- Social norms shift prejudice only from groups people belong to or aspire to (similarity 0.81)
- Manipulating social norms proves a powerful way to reduce prejudice (similarity 0.81)
- Modern research weights social processes in prejudice even more than Allport did (similarity 0.80)