discrimination

This concept-which in common usage means simply ‘treating unfairly’-occurs most commonly in sociology in the context of theories of ethnic and race relations. Early sociologists (such as William G. Sumner and Franklin H. Giddings ) viewed discrimination as an expression of ethnocentricism -in other words a cultural phenomenon of ‘dislike of the unlike’. This interpretation is consistent with studies of stereotyping which show how relations between ethnic and racial groups are affected by the socially derived beliefs each holds about the other. However, most sociological analyses of discrimination concentrate on patterns of dominance and oppression, viewed as expressions of a struggle for power and privilege.

There is considerable disagreement about the structural sources of these inter-ethnic and inter-racial struggles. Marxists argue that capitalist societies create racialism to assist exploitation (see, for example,, ‘Notes Towards an Economic Theory of Racism’, Race, 1973). A derivative of this approach is the argument that discrimination is often the result of internal colonialism (as illustrated in’s article on ‘internal Colonialism and the Ghetto Revolt’, Social Problems, 1969). Theories of segmented or split labour-markets (such as that proposed by, ‘A Theory of Ethnic Antagonism: The Split Labour Market’, American Sociological Review, 1972; see also labour-market segmentation ) offer another interpretation of discrimination, suggesting that capitalists benefit by forcing a distinction between cheap insecure labour and higher-paid secure labour, and that it is often convenient to draw from different ethnic or racial groups in constructing these categories. Finally, there are those who have argued that discrimination results from tendencies towards authoritarianism (however caused) among the poorer sections of any population (as, for example, in’s ‘Racial Tolerance as a Function of Group Position’, American Sociological Review, 1981).

In recent years, the concept of discrimination has also been applied widely in the study of relationships between the sexes, where parallel sorts of arguments have often been deployed. Thus, research suggests that women are more likely to be located in the secondary sector of split labour markets, and (according to some) may even form an industrial reserve army . Rather more specialist studies have also looked at discrimination against the elderly ( ageism ) and those with disabilities. See also prejudice ; sexism.