a foundation for the work on prejudice; in a 25th anniversary edition of the book, Kenneth Clark, the noted psychologist whose work was used in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case, noted that “its table of contents establishes the parameters for a scholarly social science approach to the discussion and understanding of this complex human problem.”34 Merton’s typology, too, is still widely referenced and used in an array of sociology textbooks.
Reflect and Discuss
1 What is the difference between prejudgment and prejudice?
2 How are group differences, real or imagined, at the root of prejudice?
3 Describe the relationship between prejudice and discrimination.
Diagram 1.1 Prejudice
Diagram 1.2 Merton’s Typology
Key Terms
Category: “An accessible cluster of associated ideas which as a whole has the property of guiding daily adjustments.”35
Ethnic prejudice: “An antipathy based upon a faulty and inflexible generalization. It may be felt or expressed. It may be directed toward a group or as a whole, or toward an individual because he is a member of that group.”36
Group: “Any cluster of people who can use the term ‘we’ with the same significance.”37
Prejudice: “Prejudgments become prejudices only if they are not reversible when exposed to new knowledge. A prejudice, unlike a simple misconception, is actively resistant to all evidence that would unseat it. We tend to grow emotional when a prejudice is threatened with contradiction. Thus the difference between ordinary prejudgments and prejudice is that one can discuss and rectify a prejudgment without emotional resistance.”38
Projection: “Whenever, and in whatever way, a correct-appraisal of one’s own emotional life fails and gives way to an incorrect judgment of other people.”39
Stereotype: “An exaggerated belief associated with a category. Its function is to justify (rationalize) our conduct in relation to that category.”40
Key People
Gordon Allport (1897–1967): A psychologist who was known for pushing the boundaries of the discipline, Allport developed the three-tiered hierarchy of personality traits and a theory of prejudice. Allport is ranked as number 11 of 100 of the most eminent psychologists of the 20th century by the American Psychological Association.
Robert Merton (1910–2003): Merton was a leading sociologist known for coining a series of foundational concepts, such as “roles,” “status set,” and “self-fulfilling prophecy.” In 1994, he received the National Medal of Science for “founding the sociology of science,” and he was the first sociologist to be awarded this honor.
Works Cited and Further Reading
Allport, Gordon W. [1954] 1966. The Nature of Prejudice. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Clark, Kenneth. 1979. “Introduction.” Pp. ix–xiii in The Nature of Prejudice: 25th Anniversary Edition, by G. W. Allport. New York: Basic Books.
Dovidio, John F., Peter Glick, and Laurie A. Rudman, eds. 2005. On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years after Allport. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Gilman, Sander L. and James M. Thomas. 2016. Are Racists Crazy? How Prejudice, Racism, and Antisemitism Became Markers of Insanity. New York: New York University Press.
Horowitz, Juliana Menasce, Anna Brown, and Kiana Cox. 2019. “Race in America 2019.” Washington, DC: Pew Research Center.
Merton, Robert K. 1949. “Discrimination and the American Creed.” Pp. 99–126 in Discrimination and National Welfare, edited by R. M. MacIver. New York: Harper and Row.
Parker, Kim, Juliana Menasce Horowitz, Rich Morin, and Mark Hugo Lopez. 2015. “Multiracial in America: Chapter 5.” Washington, DC: Pew Research Center.
Pettigrew, Thomas. 1979. “The Ultimate Attribution Error: Extending Allport’s Cognitive Analysis of Prejudice.” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 5(4):461–76.
Notes
* Photos of Allport and Merton unavailable.
1. Allport ([1954] 1966:xiii).
2. Ibid. (516).
3. Ibid. (27).
4. Ibid. (89).
5. Ibid. (13).
6. Ibid. (5).
7. Ibid. (9).
8. Ibid. (9, emphasis in original).
9. Ibid. (171).
10. Ibid. (173).
11. Ibid. (139).
12. Ibid. (138).
13. Ibid. (181).
14. Ibid. (179).
15. Ibid. (191, emphasis in original).
16. Ibid. (37).
17. Ibid. (125).
18. Ibid. (103).
19. Ibid. (7, emphasis in original).
20. Ibid. (221).
21. Ibid. (73, emphasis in original).
22. Ibid. (31–33).
23. Ibid. (289–324).
24. Ibid. (380, emphasis in original).
25. Ibid. (387–91).
26. Ibid. (396–407).
27. Ibid. (414–23).
28. Ibid. (57–58).
29. Ibid. (281).
30. Ibid. (512).
31. Ibid. (431).
32. Pettigrew (1979:462).
33. Merton (1949).
34. Clark
