Causes of Prejudices and Bigotry

Causes of Prejudices and Bigotry

We believe they are caused by economic or political conflict, an expression of frustration, conformity to existing norms, xenophobia and illusions of purity and racial grandeur: the tendency to judge people by categorizing them. We now examine these causes closely.

Economic or Political Conflict
When resources are limited and the means of livelihood is hard to come by, we may experience in ourselves a sharp rise in bigotry and regional chauvinism. We feel that we must compete for any scare resources. We are trying to qualify for a job, gain admission to an educational institution, or qualify for a spot on some special team. Yet, we who cannot achieve our ambitions can become conflicted and instead, achieve negative attitudes towards others.

An Expression of Frustration and Insecurity
When we are thwarted, we may express our frustration by speaking poorly about specific groups of people, calling the group's or group’s members cheats or crooks, or badmouthing the members. When we are insecure, we see any setback as an end to our personal hopes and dreams. We feel that our lives are shattered and tend to take out our frustration on the people who seemingly have defeated us or that people’s ethnic group or their community. We, whose hopes apparently have been dashed, feel that we have been denied what we deserve, and instead of trying to critically review our own position, we turn to bigotry. In this confused haze of bigotry, we find it nearly impossible to see the truth, unless our inner strength is developed which can only come from a rational worldview.

Conformity to Existing Norms
One of the most common causes of prejudice and bigotry is conformity to existing norms. Since we have inherited bigotry from their families and the societies to which they belong, we think meanly or poorly of specific groups of people, of specific communities, without thinking of the ramifications of this, the bigotry.

Since Pakistan and India are so often in conflict with each other, many of us in India fall prey to thinking ill of Pakistanis. I use myself as an example.

The first time I met a Pakistani, I was willing to hate him on sight. However, since we were both working in a country, not native to either of us, we were forced to work together as a team. As time went by, we got to know each other and we became good friends. This person eventually became my closest friend.

I had previously considered myself a rational person. Yet, I had been undeniably willing to hate another person whom I did not know at all, simply because I condemn the policies of the nation of which that person was a citizen. I had transferred my hatred for another country into hatred towards its citizens.

Xenophobia and Illusions of Purity and Racial Grandeur: The Tendency to Judge People by Categorizing them
Our tendency, often, is to sort through the world by objectifying others and subsequently, categorising them into groups based on race, nationality, colour of skin, religion, caste, creed, native language, etcetera. Our tendency to judge others, based on the ethnic group, to which they belong, is not only misleading, but clearly, WRONG. Simply put, we are all different. We are all unique individuals. We think differently, act differently, and respond differently because we FEEL differently.

We are reminded of a few groups in recent years and centuries: The Nazis, the Khmer Rouge, many Europeans and Americans. They had illusions of racial purity and they felt morally justified to exterminate millions of Jews, Cambodians, and Indigenous peoples, respectively, in order to carry out `racial cleansing.'

As a group, what is our destiny?