We are all human. All of us eat and drink. We breathe in the same air and have feelings. All of us are same in this way. So, what makes us different and discriminate with each other?
Well, culture, beliefs, appearances, and languages are some of the reasons for it. Some disability also becomes the cause of the discrimination. The effects of discrimination on an individual are severe. You may also face discrimination or may get indulge in it. So, here we will describe the potential effects of discrimination in this article.
Types of discrimination
To have a better understanding of how discrimination affects the lives of the people. It is a must for you to have an awareness of the types of discrimination. So, let’s learn the same in this section.
Direct discrimination
Direct discrimination is the common type of discrimination. In this type, a person may treat another person unfairly due to some specific protected characteristics. It may also happen because of some perceived characteristics. A person may discriminate if another person has an association with the people with that protected characteristics.
Indirect discrimination
Some laws and policies may not prove advantageous for you. Every person in your society of country has to follow these rules. However, you may find it tough to follow those rules than others. It may happen if you have some specific characteristics. In such situation lawmakers make the rules to disturb the people with some particular characteristics. This way administrators discriminate with the people with specific characteristics if things turn out this way.
Victimization
You may face such times where people may discriminate against you if you claim the discrimination. You also have to face the same if you support the claim of an individual. People may also discriminate against you if your intentions do not seem favorable for them. All of it comes under the victimization type of discrimination.
Harassment
Harassment is the type of discrimination that hurts victims both mentally and physically. You may have to deal with the acts of offense, humiliation, and intimidation. People may do it with you due to your age, gender, race, religion or some disability. Rude gestures, written or spoken words and images or jokes are the ways people take to harass others.
Sexual harassment
It is also a harassment that a person may face just like the one mentioned above. But, this discrimination is sexual. It is the type of discrimination that may make a person lose self-esteem. You can call it as one of the cruel things that can happen to an individual. We will describe the potential effects of discrimination on families or friends of the individual later in this article. Make sure to read that as well.
Factors influencing discrimination
Two factors are the major reasons that spread the fire of discrimination. So, let’s learn about the same here.
Prejudices
Some people form the opinions about some people or something without even knowing the real story. It leads you to treat people differently. For example, what will you think if the son of a footballer makes debut with a normal kid? You will think that footballer’s child will play better. It is prejudice.
Stereotypes
Stereotypes are the next level of prejudice. When you are a stereotype, you may have a distorted view bout something. For example, sports are for boys only or pink is for girls. You get under the influence of stereotype at an early age. It leads you to have strong ideas about things, people, and ideologies. As they age, their hate for particular things, people, cultures, beliefs, and languages get deeper. It leads them to discriminate or show bias.
The places where discrimination occurs
People are everywhere, so do discrimination. But, there are some specific places where you have to deal with discrimination most. Let’s learn about the same here.
Workplace
Workplace is one of the common places where you may have to face discrimination. The effects of discrimination in the workplace are severe. You may not get a promotion at work due to having an association with a particular group. Your colleagues or junior may get better treatment instead. Some companies may not hire you due to your race, gender or religion, etc. Or your employer also refuse to renew your contract or can terminate it.
Housing
Lots of people complain about the unfair behavior of the landlords and housing officials. You may also face it if you live in a rented place. These people may come up with stupid reasons to help intolerable people live with you on the same floor or place. They may discriminate against you due to your association with a different group. Or they may also support the other people due to their relationship with them.
Public places
You may often hear the news of disrespectful treatment of the people by a group. It may happen in the public places such as market, hospitals, and sports facilities. People may direct wrong words at you. Or they may avoid you just because your are not same as them. You may face discrimination in the school as well. The effects of discrimination in schools or anywhere are tough to deal with.
Politics/ Voting
In many countries, you may not have the right to vote or may disenfranchise. Things may turn out this way because you belong to particular religion, society or culture. Or if your political views do not match with the active government. Furthermore, a government may not allow you to enter politics if you have a negative image.
Access to funds or credit
People often face discrimination when it comes to getting funds or credit. If you come from backward or low-income family, you may have to deal with the same. It may also happen due to your race, religion or some other reasons.
Law or police
Law and police are also not behind when it comes to discriminating against the people. They may treat you differently due to your religion or culture. They may also have a problem with your skin color or dress often.
Travel or tourism
Moreover, you may not get a visa or may face harassment from the security officials at the airport. Or they may not treat you in the right way. It can happen because you have a different name or live in a specific country, etc.
Effects of discrimination on an individual
Now we are back to where we started that is to describe the potential effects of discrimination. So, let’s start with the effects of discrimination a victim.
Effects of discrimination on the victim
Emotional and physical impacts
Whether you are an adult or a youngster, discrimination may have a severe impact on you. You may get injured, or things can go even worse if the harassment is too much. It may hurt your physique much.
Furthermore, the emotional or mental impact is even tougher to deal with. You may feel anxious, sad, guilty, empty or depressed. You may not have an interest in doing the tasks you enjoy doing, and you may also lose hunger. Mental or emotional are long term effects of discrimination. It gradually affect your physical health.
Social, educational and financial impacts
Harassment or discrimination may also hurt victim socially as well as financially. It may also affect your educational life. As a victim, you may feel confused and broken. You may lose trust on the people. It is also possible that you may take to drugs to runaway from what happened.
Furthermore, you may make your own opinions about others. You may start avoiding people or may feel hatred towards people. It may lead you to lose your job or lose interest in the studies.
Effects of discrimination on society and businesses
It is not possible for a society to develop at a fast pace if it is not free of discrimination. Conflicts due to race, gender and religion, etc. hinder the progress of the society much. Racism is one of the common problem in the society now. The effects of racial discrimination on society are severe So, the effects of racial discrimination on society are severe. You can say the same for other factors as well.
Businesses may also find it tough to achieve their goals if they do not take action strict actions against bias. Employees may feel disappointed, and their interest can get lower in work. Discriminate may also affect the trust and confidence of the employees. This way companies may lose the talented people.
Impacts of discrimination on politics
Harassment and victimization have led to many wars and conflicts in many countries. You may feel fed up with the politicians or a particular group’s actions in such situation. It may lead you to counteract and it neither good for you or the country.
Effects of discrimination on the culprit
Lawmakers have made strict laws for the people who discriminate. Whether you are aware of your acts or not, you have to face the actions from the judiciary. Any individual can take the legal action against the culprit. The culprit has to obey the decision that Judiciary takes.
Techniques to prevent discrimination
In the above section, we described the potential effects of discrimination in health and social care. Now, let’s us give you some tips to stop or prevent discrimination.
Know your beliefs
Our beliefs play a vital role in shaping our lives. It takes some people in the right direction or vice versa. So, to prevent the discrimination, it is a must fir you to identify your beliefs. You should find how you got these thoughts or beliefs. You must ask yourself are these beliefs are important for you? If yes, then why?
You must also find out how much significance your family, friends, and society gives to the beliefs you share with them.
Expand your view and challenge yourself
Some people keep living they way they are. They don’t bother to look at the world in a broad way to change their views. It leads them to discriminate or do some other unethical activities.
Hence, you must meet the new people, especially the ones who you have a problem with. You should visit the areas you don’t often visit due to your beliefs. It will help you to change and expand your view about the world.
Ask and listen
Lots of people grow bias against someone or a community without knowing about them. Furthermore, they don’t seek knowledge about them. This way bias keeps growing.
Asking questions and listening to the other people can help you to overcome negative thinking. To know a person or community better, you can ask them about their history. You can ask them why they do some particular things. Also, make sure not to indulge in a debate with the people.
Learn to share with everyone
You have plans to celebrate your job promotion or exam success. But, you have not invited some of your well-wishers due to their race or religion. This way you just spread the fire discrimination.
The ideal thing is to include every one of your well-wishers in all your celebrations. It will help you to clear your differences with them. Moreover, you will feel at peace.
Take action against the wrong of the society
Lots of are people live with injustice in the modern times. They face injustice for their culture, race, religion and many other reasons. You can help such people to get justice. It may help you to change your views about certain people or culture.
Ways to deal with discrimination
How to deal with the discrimination
Love yourself
Knowing the negative views of the people about your race, gender or religion can prove hurtful for you. But it is not ideal to hate for yourself for you being who you are. Instead, you must look at the things that make you a lovable person.
You must stick to your beliefs and must stay happy with the other things that bother people about you. You must think that it is the people who need to change thinking not you.
Get the hang of yourself
Discrimination and Harassment can fill you with the negative thoughts. You may feel anger, sadness, and embarrassment. You may keep thinking of the revenge. Your frustration can get even worse if you can’t take revenge. An overdose of these emotions is not helpful for you mental and physical health.
So, you must make sure not to think much about what happened. It is a must for you to take care of yourself. You should eat nutritious food and exercise regularly. It will help you to relieve the stress.
Raise your voice
Taking action against the wrong is better than taking the unwanted stress from it. If you face discrimination and bias, you may think of many ways to take revenge. But, it may not be ethical, and your frustration can increase even more if you do something wrong.
What experts suggest to the victims in such situation is to take action. You should make your well-wishers aware of what happened. Next, you must think of the right way to get justice. It will help you to become a mature and thoughtful person.
Make plans and learn about the consequences before taking action
Due to the negative impact of discriminate, you may make some decisions in a hurry. Such decisions can prove harmful for you. Thus, it is better for you to think of what you can do to teach a lesson to the culprits.
You must ensure that any of your actions don’t cause problems for you in the future. It is also a must for you to consider whether your actions will hurt other people like you. Or how fruitful your efforts can prove to you and the people similar to you.
And reach the right people
If something disturbs you, then it can prove same for other people tomorrow. So, it is a must for you to make the people aware of the wrongs of the society. You should reach the people such as social activists, lawyers and other individuals who can help you.
This way you will find it easy to make the concerned people hear your voice. It may lead to quick and right action.
So that sums up this article. Here, our focus was on to describe the potential effects of discrimination. Hope you learned well about the same. You can check other articles on our blog to gain some academic or general knowledge.