The two sources highlight factors influencing how ordinary citizens perceive certain workplace decisions as discrimination. McElhattan et al. (2017) assert that the 1964 Civil Rights Act in Title (VII) forbids any race discrimination among employees during the firing, hiring, compensation, and when making the promotion decisions. Title (VII) primary enforcement mechanism is criminal litigation by the individual plaintiffs. However, many people are reluctant to report their potential cases to the legal system, as those reported only a small percentage proceeds to trial (McElhattan et al., 2017). Racism is one of the major obstacles preventing people from reaching out to the legal system.
Race discrimination is also associated with negative health consequences. According to Warren (2020), racism results in various psychological problems such as anxiety and depression. Moreover, it can result in other debilitating health conditions such as substance abuse disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder. More so, stress from racism highly contributes to the development of a variety of physical and cardiovascular diseases. Warren (2020) defines the term race as a way of categorizing people based on their visible physical appearance features. Generally, racism is associated with historical pain, as well as with the acts of justifying one's discriminatory behaviors, thoughts, and institutional actions.
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Legal distrust is another negative consequence of racism. McElhattan et al. (2017) refer to the concept of legal cynicism as the sense of distrusting legal organizations and their capabilities to offer effective and fair remedies to their citizens. The citizen’s cynical views towards law enforcement agencies negatively affect their willingness to call upon police officers’ interventions when the need arises. When an individual distrusts the legal system, they are unlikely to pursue their legal claim even when they are sure their rights are being violated, as well as know the people responsible. According to McElhattan et al. (2017), people are unlikely to pursue a claim due to the fear of retaliation, and their social locations make them accustomed to the harm. Additionally, one is unlikely to seek justice for the crimes committed to them if they lack the confidence in the law enforcement agencies on whether they will believe their problems and thus provide the necessary help. Nonetheless, these people may be incapable to hire the attorney or be unwilling to identify as the victim as the law requires of them.
Latinos, whites, and African Americans perceive racial discrimination as a persistent social issue differently. According to McElhattan et al. (2017), the African-Americans are very vigilant on the anti-black form of discrimination, while there is no significant difference between the whites and Latinos on their perception. However, with the occurrence of various racist practices in the law enforcement agencies, such as the killing of George Floyd on 25 May 2020, many people began questioning the overrepresentation of the African Americans in the prisons (Warren, 2020). Therefore, internalization of the cultural values and norms, which can occur either consciously or unconsciously, affects how one views racism.
Understanding the human perception of racial discrimination is important to know an individual’s responsibilities in seeking criminal litigation. Race discrimination and its effects is a crucial topic in psychology as it helps in the understanding of how certain cultures continue to perpetuate the racism issue in indirect and direct ways to apply the information in implementing change. Therefore, the sources on race discrimination and its effects in psychology are necessary for understanding the origin of legal distrust among certain cultures and the ways of changing such behaviors. (579words).
Similarities of the Primary and Secondary Sources
Secondary and primary sources' findings are both applicable in making informed decisions concerning certain issues in the world. For example, McElhattan’s et al. (2017) and Warren’s (2020) sources on race discrimination and its effects provide information on the origin of legal distrust among certain cultures, thus providing ways of changing such behaviors. More so, Warren (2020) and McElhattan et al. (2017) sources provide the necessary information concerning the consequences of race discrimination, such as negative health problems and distrust of the legal agencies. Therefore, both secondary and primary sources contain valuable information on certain issues that can be used in making informed decisions.
Both primary and secondary sources' information can be affected by the authors’ biases. For example, the experiences and opinions of researchers in certain areas are likely to influence their findings on the place. Authors of both secondary and primary sources can have their reasons for providing more pessimistic and optimistic outcomes in their study. For example, officials responsible for estimating the level of food shortages can exaggerate the results before sending the findings to potential donors. An author’s biases can be influenced by their reasons for emphasizing certain facts over others. More so, biased information can result from the wish to produce a source suitable for a specific audience. Moreover, the author can choose to leave certain information out in both secondary and primary sources. (235words)
Contrasting the Primary and the Secondary Sources
In the collection of first-hand data, the primary source employs the factorial survey technique in examining the relationship between legal cynicism, race, legal mobilization support, and perceptions of discrimination. McElhattan et al. (2017) employ the random digit dialing technique in recruiting the 2,087 sample that provides their information concerning their perceptions of discrimination. Therefore, the primary source provides descriptive statistics and the mean values of legal confidence, discriminative perception, and support for mobilization using the information provided by the sample. Warren's (2020) study, on the other hand, analyzes the race discrimination topic developing their research through exploring information written by other people. In the secondary source, the researchers provide an analysis of the issue using results obtained from other people's work. Therefore, it encourages the broadening of the topic by analyzing other's perspectives, conclusions, and interpretations.
The primary source provides information on race discrimination and its effects specific to the researcher's needs and in real-time. McElhattan’s et al. (2017) source involves various scientists conducting new research on the subject matter in which they try to test the various hypotheses, thus providing up to date information according to the researchers’ needs. Data in the primary sources come from the personal experiences of the researchers’ interactions with the sample in the study in real-time. On the other hand, the secondary sources use past data that may be specific to the researcher’s needs or not. Therefore, the secondary source provides a refined form of information from other people’s data written in the past. Secondary sources employ information from journal articles, books, websites, and internal records.
The primary source provides information concerning race discrimination without interpreting it or commenting to avoid conveying attitudes. McElhattan et al. (2017) study employ various analytic strategies to measure individual confidence in the civil litigation system and perceptions of discrimination depending on the race differences. Therefore, the primary source aims to provide results based on the findings from the hypothesis testing without interpreting it. Warren's (2020) resource is an interpretation and explanation of events that resulted in people questioning the aspects of racism in America, such as the George Floyd killing on 25 May 2020. The secondary source tries to provide an opinion on the race discrimination topic using other people's work and by citing multiple sources. (385 words)
References
McElhattan, D., Nielsen, L., & Weinberg, J. (2017). Race and Determinations of Discrimination: vigilance, Cynicism, Skepticism, and Attitudes about Legal Mobilization in Employment Civil Rights. Law & Society Review , 51 (3), 669-705. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/lasr.12276
Warren, C. (2020). Unconscious Racism: Understanding how cultural conditioning shapes racial bias can help us change. [Blog]. Retrieved 7 October 2020, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/naked-truth/202006/unconscious-racism.
