What is Discrimination?

Discrimination is well known in all societies. It is treating some people unequally that is treating people differently. Discrimination can be unlawful or legal. Legal discrimination is whereby you discriminate against a person for being who he or she is. However, if you treat a person in an unjust manner due to their race, religion, age, nationality ethical background or gender is said to be unlawful. In businesses, for instance, where an employer may decide to mistreat his or her fellow employees for example, in many cases female employees being paid less than a fellow man for doing the same task.

There various types of discrimination. One of them is direct discrimination where one person may favour another person more than another person. This could be as a result of gender, race, nationality, and age. The other type of discrimination is indirect discrimination. This is whereby some of the rules set disadvantage certain group of people. For instance, in a business environment, the rules and working conditions tend to favour a certain group of people. A rule that people should be dressed is certain way may disadvantage people from a certain religion. Indirect discrimination in most cases is usually unlawful. Victimization is yet another type of discrimination. Victimization is whereby a member of a certain group treats a member in a less favourable way than the rest because they made a complaint about discrimination. Again, being treated unfairly for other reasons is another type of discrimination. This could be bullying which is not acceptable in any situation in life.

Over the past years, a lot of people have argued against these types of discrimination. Many people have viewed the word discrimination as illegal behaviour whereas in another instance is legal. For example, while recruiting new employees may not be accepted in some business if they have visible tattoos. This type is of discrimination is not only accepted, but also legally. Discrimination is not always a Wrongful Act. There is a positive discrimination which helps people make a decision, for instance, in businesses, it helps the employers know who to hire and who among the employees is not favourable for the job. The difference in treatment is not always negative. This means that not all the negative treatment is considered to be discriminatory. In a company, for instance, discriminating employees due to their age and weight can help the employer judge better an employee’s abilities to work. However, discrimination is seen to more prejudice than it is helpful. Despite being helpful to many employees it is an assault on human rights. Discrimination law prohibits the unfair treatment of a certain group of people. Discrimination has many harmful effects on the society when people are treated unfairly due to their race, gender, physical disability and religion. It has violated the people’s rights and led to various people being unable to access social amenities, education, bank loans, and medical service among other services. These discrimination effects have led to fear and depression to victims.

In the society, racial, sexual and religious discrimination has the biggest impact. Many countries, people still discriminated against due to their race some remain unemployed due to their culture and colour. The other thing is religious discrimination which has led to war in many communities. Discrimination poses a threat to the democracy. Democracy acknowledges the equal rights of all people. Discrimination may lead to loss of self-worth, economic inequalities. Prohibiting discrimination in the society is an essential element of the national system. This will eliminates unjust decision-making, for instance, in an organization which supports inclusiveness in decision-making. To prevent discrimination, an affirmative action can be put in place to give a special consideration to women and people who are highly affected by discrimination. An affirmative policy will help in levelling the playing field. Through affirmative action, negative effects which result from discrimination will be reversed as well as ensuring that minorities are represented in the workplace. This will also create opportunities for every person who might have been disadvantaged physically. However, there are some of the people who have been against affirmative action claiming that people in the workplace should be hired based on their qualification and not by gender or race.

In conclusion, discrimination in society is a major issue which needs to be addressed. Although many times discrimination is seen as prejudice there are other cases where it is viewed to legal. However, discrimination has been a big problem in the society economically and politically. It has effects on individuals and business where individuals feel worthless. Various measures should be put in place to prohibit discrimination and help recognize worth and human right. Parents, on the other hand, should educate their children on how to not discriminate other people regardless of their position. This would stop the war between religious groups. The government, on the other hand, should constitute a law against discrimination and the society should also come up with programs to educate people on equality and which will help build to help stop discrimination.

Reference

Becker, Gary S.? The economics of discrimination. University of Chicago press, 2010Thornicroft, Graham. “Shunned: discrimination against people with mental illness.” New York? (2006).

Sellers, Robert M., and J. Nicole Shelton. “The role of racial identity in perceived racial discrimination.” Journal of personality and social psychology 84.5 (2003): 1079.

Karlsen, Saffron, and James Y. Nazroo. “Relation between racial discrimination, social class, and health among ethnic minority groups.” American journal of public health 92.4 (2002): 624-631.

Pager, Devah, and Hana Shepherd. “The sociology of discrimination: Racial discrimination in employment, housing, credit, and consumer markets.” Annu. Rev. Sociol? 34 (2008): 181-209.

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