Views on the Subjects of Prejudice, Racism, and Judgment, Essay Example

Introduction

This paper looks into the perspectives of several interviewees to determine the views on the subjects of prejudice, racism, and judgment. Three individuals were interviewed to determine their response to questions touching on these subjects. Among then there was Dave an African American man aged 35 years working as a mechanic married and with two children. Another interviewee was Mary a white single mother aged 41 years old working as a consultant. Lastly among the three individual’s interviewed was Adams a 53 year old man of Asian origin and a retiree.

The questions asked during the interview aimed at determining if the responses of these interviewees were racial, judgmental, or prejudicial. All the interviewees responded to the same question to gauge their responses in this respect. The similarity of the questions asked seek to measure individual responses against one another to scertain the extent of these concepts. These questions included the view of individuals with respect to racial equality, their perspectives on the concept of discrimination including their perspectives on the existence of discrimination in the society and their views on mixed marriages. Additionally, the individuals gave responses to whether in their perspectives women received equal treatment as their male counterparts and their position on legalizing gay and lesbian marriages and giving them marital recognition similar to heterosexual marriages. A summary of the responses of these individuals reflects their individual and collective views on these subjects. The summary of these comments then forms the basis of determining discrimination racism and prejudice.

Summary

On the issue of racial equality all, the respondents provided that racial did not serve as a barrier to most of them and that there were no privileges or restrictions associated with the individual’s race that this notion. The individuals equally noted that the race of an individual does serve any superior or inferior position and they were comfortable with working with an individual’s irrespective of age. On discrimination, the individuals gave varied responses, and it is noteworthy that then levels of discrimination alluded by the respondents varied widely. Discrimination based on the individual’s social status was the key element noted. It is notewothy that the individuals agreed that the social class of an individual determines whom individual’s associate with, and the social places an individual goes. There was the view that the social class of an individual determines the individual’s social life and then class served to provide divisions in society. Another query put to the individuals was that concerning their views on the issue of mixed marriages. Dave and Mary did not have any issues with interracial marriages and did not support the views against mixed marriages. On the other hand, Adams strongly disagreed with the idea of mixed marriages and insisted that individuals must marry within their races in order to preserve the culture and tradition.

The interviewees also gave their opinion on the equal treatment of men and women. The question sought to determine their perspectives on the practice of gender equality and their general opinion on the matter. Two respondents agreed that the current situation provided any individual an equal opportunity to anyone else and; therefore, both men and women had equal rights and therefore, treated equally. Mary, on the other hand, disagreed with this position and argued that women have been discriminated historically and; therefore, they require protection and the current situation does not treat women as equal to men, and they should be accorded treatment that is equal. Lastly, the interviewees gave responses to provide an opinion on the subject of gays and lesbians and the individuals took the position that homosexuality is unnatural and that marriages between homosexual individuals must not be recognized let alone given the same recognition as heterosexual marriages. These responses from the interviewees provide a basis for determining their perspectives on judgment, prejudice, and racism.

Comments and observations

Racism is the belief of differentiation of humanity into classes based on their race. Race here is determined on biological aspects that individual possesses. The views, perspectives actions, and reflections of individuals in attributing a factor to a group of individuals inform racism. Racism tends to consider other races superior and others inferior and, therefore, other groups are less desirable than others are. According to the responses from the interviewees, their perspectives do not show racism. This is because their views consider all individuals equal despite their races. Racism attaches the view that an individual’s character behavior and ability is determinant of race and not all individuals are equal. The observation of the interviews shows that the responses of any of the three interviewees do not imply racism. Division along racial lines also results in prejudice, which is the vice of making unfavorable decisions regarding something beforehand and without proper knowledge. Prejudice can take various forms but the key among the elements that inform prejudice are race, religion, nationality, social class, sexuality, language, and gender. From the responses of the interviewees, it is apparent that the individuals interviewed showed some elements of prejudice. This is eminent from their respective responses regarding the subject of homosexual marriages where they clearly express their disapproval of homosexual marriages. By disapproving these marriages, the individuals consider homosexuality as against nature and their views are pre-determined by factors of morality. Additionally, the response on equality between men and women portray prejudice in that some interviewees are for the idea that the current situation facilitated equality without factoring in historical gender imbalance and the fact that women are still looked down upon especially in matters of representation.

On the other hand, being judgmental implies the idea of making judgments on a matter. Judgments involve perspectives of individuals and their position on an issue. When an individual is judgmental, that individual tends to arrive at decisions and opinions based on these judgments. In respect to the responses from the individuals, it is imperative to note that these individuals were judgmental especially on the question of homosexuality and marriage. By making responses founded on morality, the individuals showed judgment as their responses reflect on their moral judgment concerning the issues. The understanding of the individuals was that since their moral judgments referred the act as wrong then the whole issue is unacceptable to them based on this.

The respondents were, however, reluctant to answer some of the questions and took considerable persuasion to convince them to respond. The reason for the reluctance was the perspective of the issues and more so the moral issues concerning these issues. In this regard, the respondents did not want to give controversial responses and provided vague responses to avoid the controversial responses.