Why people discriminate?

Ever wondered why people discriminate in the first place? so do I.

Not just Racism. But it seems that people use every excuse to set themselves superior, different and more special than others.Even to the point of hurting others

People use any silly escuse to feel superior money,gender, skin color, Even whether or not you buyed a free to play videogame!!

Discriminating is bad no doubt.But the real quuestion is "why?". My best guess is a lack of self steem. People with low self steem neeed to humiliate others in order to feel better with themselves.

What do you think?

edited 5th Jul '11 12:48:05 AM by FallenLegend

Natural urge to create a them to compete against?

A lack of empathy, perhaps?

That too.

edited 5th Jul '11 12:50:29 AM by Ekuran

Because we like other people who "more like us". whether its listen to same music, have same skin color, or have same dialect.

People naturally form groups, discrimination against outsider will make the group stronger. so discrimination is side effect of our "group instinct".

"We want more, but there isn't more, so we'll take the more from them".

Also for the lolz. Can't forget the lolz.

People like making up reasons to think they're better than others because it strokes their egos. It's essentially mental masturbation.

Various reasons:

• People like to feel superior to others (for example, the people in this thread seem to be telling each other how superior they are to those evil people who discriminate). Sometimes people are right to feel superior to others because they are superior (though the human brain is also likely to actively look for reasons to believe so)

• The human brain is a pattern matching machine, it will see patterns that exist, even if it's rude to point them out aloud (it will also often see patterns that don't exist, Jesus on the fridge and all that)

• Social blame is a tool for regulating behavior and enforcing cooperative behaviors, like law and morality but weaker; it's providing a useful function.

• People like other people to be like themselves, because it makes them more understandable, and they are more likely to trust each other and predict each other's behavior; whereas weird people are unpredictable, which doesn't facilitate social cooperation.

The last bit is probably the best argument that "discrimination" is a socially useful function.

Simple: in order for people to actually feel some comradery with each other, they have to find an Other to more or less band together against. Combine this with the fact that people literally have a limited capacity for empathy and you get people having a massive hate-on for others due to utterly asinine reasons.

Discrimination is a vital part of life. You have to be able to distinguish between what benefits you and what harms you if you wanna keep breathing.

Also, discriminating between likes and dislikes does not automatically entail being a dick about the dislikes.

^ This.

Discrimination isn't inherently bad, and doesn't mean the same as bigotry necessarily. Bigotry's more an ugly side-effect.

I want to point out that people also discriminate against themselves sometimes, which doesn't always put them in a superior position.

For example: a woman who says that women are too weak to hold a high paying job or a political job.

Or a man who says that since men are tough it's justified to send them off to die in war (although that does give this man the feeling of being superior).

You know that's not what discrimination means when discussed in this context. Stop it.

edited 5th Jul '11 8:04:12 AM by Gault

I don't think the two are meaningfully distinct. One is the dark side of the other.

Discrimination is most definitely not known by the definition of simply being able to tell one thing from another. To treat it as if it is is ridiculous and pointless. Are you technically right? Well yes, but using that definition will do you no use if nobody else uses it also.

Best to say exactly what you mean at the start, instead of getting all bad faith on people's arses when they interpret a multi-definition term differently from you.

edited 5th Jul '11 8:11:19 AM by MRDA1981

Oh, come on, it looks quite obvious what kind of discrimination the OP is talking about.

Pardon me for not being hooked up to the hive mind, here.

edited 5th Jul '11 8:18:12 AM by MRDA1981

Why is it our fault that you don't use the most commonly understood definition of the word? It's not at all a stretch to expect that you'd have the same understanding of it that we do. What you were saying really sounded like intentional obfuscation.

Please don't escalate this. Hug and call it quits on that topic, and discuss titular topic with this new knowledge in mind.

edited 5th Jul '11 8:33:40 AM by AllanAssiduity

Whatever pleases you, Gault. If you want to believe that cultural Marxists hold monopoly over the English language, I won't stop you.

As for the reasons why folk might be racist, sexist, whateverist: I put it down to evolutionary residue, bad experience (pattern-recognition as SED said), media generalizations and/or lack of contact.

edited 5th Jul '11 9:11:15 AM by MRDA1981

But discrimination necessarily entails more than simply distinguishing. We also judge.

Bigotry is simply the error of judging too harshly for bad reasons.

It often involves what is known in Psychology as a fundamental error in attribution. We attribute negative characteristics or make judgements about people that could better be explained by circumstantial factors rather than whatever it is being the direct fault of the person in question.

^ A very good point. I think that likely is a major contributing factor.

Similarly, confirmation bias. Once you suspect that a certain group of people behave a particular way, it's natural to favour information which supports that view and dismiss contradicting information as a fluke.

Agreed, but despite those biases, it may still be that some "stereotypical" statements about groups are true on average (for example "gypsies are more likely to be thieves", "ghetto blacks and white trash are more likely to beat up homosexuals", "girls who were sluts in their teen years are more likely to divorce" ... I don't know to what extent those are true, but it's conceivable that some are). In that case, acting on those beliefs (for example by paying extra attention to the gipsy kid in your store, avoiding the ghetto with your gay friend from Europe, and not marrying a slut) may be discrimination, but it's rational discrimination.

The line is fuzzy between what is evil bigoted discrimination, and what is rational discrimination - the fact that some try to score political points or feel virtuous by accusing others of bigotry doesn't help clear things up.

edited 5th Jul '11 9:14:33 AM by SlightlyEvilDoctor