Racism and Discrimination Analysis

My topic of analysis is racism and dscrimination. The article “Their neighbor allegedly painted a swastika on their driveway. Now they’re getting bullets in the mail'' Written by Andrea Salcedo published in the Washington Post, talks about a military family's recent move to Louisville and a neighbor's racist comments and actions. Recently race and discrimination have become unavoidable as we have a conversation about this issue.

They way racism is perpetuated by ingroup and outgroup, particularly by ingroup bias. One of the behaviors is Ingroup and Outgroup. This is when you have something in common with others(Myers and Dewall 2020). It is also those who you do not identify with as well. It is the way she perceives the people around her. The ingroup that Suzanne identifies with is discriminatory towards Filipinos. The outgroup is the Pineda family who Suzanne is discriminating against (Salcedo 2020). One of the other behaviors is Ingroup Bias. This is where you relate more closely to others within the group you belong to (Myers and Dewall 2020). Most of Craft’s behaviors were non confrontational until they became confrontational. This ended in her serving jail time for contempt of court when she did not follow a non-contact order (Salcedo 2020). With this grouping there can be some extreme ideas and viewpoints of certain groups of people.

Being in a group can cause you to go with the other people and make others adopt your views. One of the behaviors you can apply is Group polarization. With group polarization people are at either end of a spectrum, this can promote and support extreme views (Myers and Dewall 2020). This is seen by the woman targeting the family who are Filipino. They are also a military family as Michella is in the U.S Navy (Salcedo 2020). A Theory you can apply is Scapegoat Theory. This is when prejudice offers someone else to blame (Myers and Dewall 2020). Suzanne was looking for another person or group of people to exert her anger on. She chose to target the Pineda’s with her assault (Salcedo 2020). A term that is similar is Social learning theory. This is where people learn from one another in an environment like observational learning (Myers and Dewall 2020). This is shown by Craft’s 12 year old daughter when she called the children a racial slur (Salcedo 2020). In a group we feel safe and comfortable and may do things we would not when we are alone.

A group situation can allow us to conform as a part of a group in order to gain favor. A term you can apply is Conformity. This is when a person will change their beliefs to fit into a group (Meyers and Dewall 2020). All the neighbors supported the Pineda’s after their Facebook post about the incident(Salcedo 2020). Another theory that can be applied is the Bystander Effect. This is where in a large group of people, you will often defer to others. This is seen when it takes until Pineda's post on Facebook for others in the neighborhood to do something (Salcedo 2020). The last term you can apply is Normative Social Influence. This occurs when a person desires to gain approval or to avoid disapproval. This is seen with all the neighbors suddenly supporting the Pineda’s. They wanted to distinguish and distance themselves from Craft’s actions (Salcedo 2020). All of these relate to how individuals react in a social situation and the way a group can affect that.

The author is bringing up one instance of racism and descrimination to show the overall impact of the growing divide. If these people see the impact of their actions on others, it will cause them to reevaluate their view of the world. This subsection of social psychology gives us insight into why people think the way they do. It may also give us the answer in how to solve this issue.