question_answer

Explain any two strategies for handling prejudice.

Answer:

Knowing about the causes or sources would be the first step in handling prejudice. Thus, the strategies for handling prejudice would be effective if they aim at:

(a) minimising opportunities for learning prejudices.

(b) changing such attitudes.

(c) de-emphasising a narrow social identity based on the ingroup, and

(d) discouraging the tendency towards self-fulfilling prophecy among the victims of prejudice.

These goals can be accomplished through:

(1) Education and information dissemination, for correcting stereotypes related to specific target groups, and tackling the problem of a strong ingroup bias.

(2) Increasing intergroup contact allows for direct communication, removal, of mistrust between the groups, and even discovery of positive qualities in the out-group. However, these strategies are effective successful only if:

(i) The two groups meet in a cooperative rather than competitive context.

(ii) Close interactions between the groups helps them to know each other better, and

(iii) The two groups are not different in power or status.