Discrimination: What It Is and What to Do About It

The world we live in today is characterised by differences in status, wealth, and power. A portion of the human population enjoys greater privileges and has higher status than the rest. Such an inequality is termed as social stratification, a phenomenon that can closely be confused as being discrimination. Nevertheless, it is from this phenomenon that discrimination arises. The term, discrimination, can thus be described as the unfair treatment that is directed against particular social groups or individuals. Discrimination can take various forms, for instance, it can be based on politics, age, religion, ethnicity, gender or even weight. The New York Times has over the years been an implacable advocate against discrimination through its various articles on discrimination. In a more recent article of The New York Times, “F.B.I. Training Instructors Punish Women, Not Men, for Mistakes, Complaint Says” by Adam Goldman, gender discrimination is brought to light (https:// www.nytimes.com/2018/11/23/us/politics/fbi-academy-women-discrimination.amp.html ). Following this article, it can also be understood that discrimination often arises from prejudice, which is a pre-formed negative attitude or judgement towards certain groups or individuals.

Discrimination in the Society

Particular groups in the society are considered to be less powerful as compared to other groups. In this case the group that does the discriminating action is referred to as the dominant group. Such a group often enjoys the highest social status, most power and the greatest privilege. Conversely, the group that is singled out to face unequal treatment are referred to as the minority group. Such a group is often marginalised. The New York Times has captured such a form of discrimination in the society through its various articles on Race and Ethnicity ( https://www.nytimes.com/topic/subject/race-and-ethnicity ). In one of the articles, “Yes, Jury Selection Is as Racist as You Think. Now We Have Proof” by Ronald Wright, racial discrimination is outlined. The article discusses how racial bias is factored into the process of selecting jurors for criminal trials. The bias is concealed under what is referred to as “peremptory” challenges, which gives prosecutors and defence attorneys the ability to block particular potential jurors without the need to provide the court particular reasons for exclusion. In this light, the article reported that judges tend to exclude black jurors (the minority group in this case) “for cause” almost 20% more often as compared to the exclusion of white jurors (the majority group).

Personal Challenges on Survival

Discrimination has greatly affected the livelihood of individuals in the society, especially those from the minority group. An article written by Nate Schweber, “Life on the Streets,” which was published in the The New York Times captures the struggles that individuals in the New York City have gone through due to discrimination in the city shelter system ( https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/09/06/nyregion/07homeless-in-new-york-city.html ). Such discrimination has sent most of the individuals to the streets without shelter. Most of the individuals that the article had interviewed cited that they had experienced discrimination based on their medical conditions, substance abuse among other complications with the city shelter system that left them homeless.

In conclusion, discrimination is an issue that has affected and continues to affect our society. This problem is often heightened by the groups that tend to receive greater privileges and enjoy great power, thus making it hard to counter it. Nevertheless, it is vital for this issue to be dealt with since achieving equality holds benefits that can be enjoyed by the whole society as opposed to a selected number of individuals.