Most broadly, discrimination is the recognition of qualities and differences among certain things or persons and making choices based on those qualities. This article focuses on discrimination amongst people- that is, discrimination based on personal qualities. Discriminating between people on the grounds of merit is generally lawful in Western democracies. Discrimination on other grounds, such as skin color or religion, generally is not. When unlawful discrimination takes place, it is often described as discrimination against a person or group of people.

Social theories such as egalitarianism claim that social equality should prevail. In some societies, including those of many developed countries, each individual's civil rights include the right to be free from government sponsored social discrimination.^[1] Social theory refers to the use of abstract and often complex theoretical frameworks to explain and analyze social patterns and large-scale social structures. ... Egalitarianism (derived from the French word égal, meaning equal or level) is a political doctrine that holds that all people should be treated as equals from birth. ... Social equality is a social state of affairs in which certain different people have the same status in a certain respect, minimally at least in voting rights, freedom of speech and assembly, and property rights. ...

Conservative writer and law professor Matthias Storme contends that the freedom of discrimination in human societies is a fundamental human right, or more precisely, the basis of all fundamental freedoms, and that it is therefore the most fundamental freedom. Author Hans-Hermann Hoppe, in an essay^[2] about his book Democracy: The God That Failed, asserts that a natural social order is characterized by increased discrimination. Ths article deals with conservatism as a political philosophy. ... Matthias Storme (courtesy of Luc van Braekel) Matthias Edward Storme (Ghent, 1959- ) is a Belgian lawyer, liberal conservative academic, thinker and politician. ... Hans-Hermann Hoppe (born September 2, 1949) is an Austrian school economist, an anarcho-capitalist (libertarian) philosopher, and a professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. ... Democracy: The God That Failed is a book by Hans-Hermann Hoppe, containing a series of thirteen essays on the subject of democracy, and concluding with the belief that democracy is a sign of decivilization sweeping the world since World War I and that it must be delegitimized. ...

Unlawful discrimination can be characterised disparate treatment or, by contrast as disparate impact (also known as adverse impact) discrimination. Disparate treatment discrimination involves intentionally treating someone less favourably than another person because of an attribute (such as race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, disability status, or military status), compared with someone without that attribute in the same circumstances. An example of disparate treatment discrimination would be not giving a woman a job because she is more likely to take maternity leave than another applicant. Disparate impact (adverse impact) discrimination involves setting a condition or requirement (without necessarily having an intent to discriminate) with which a smaller proportion of those with the attribute are able to comply, without reasonable justification. The case of Griggs v. Duke Power Company[2] provides an example of disparate impact discrimination, where an aptitude test used in job applications was found "to disqualify Negroes at a substantially higher rate than white applicants". Holding Broad aptitude tests used in hiring practices that disparately impact ethnic minorities must be reasonably related to the job. ...

Race discrimination

"Colored Waiting Room" sign from Racial segregation era in the United States.

In the United States, racial profiling of minorities by law enforcement officials has been called racial discrimination.^[3] As early as 1866, the Civil Rights Act provided a remedy for intentional race discrimination in employment by private employers and state vice and and fags and local public employers. The Civil Rights Act of 1871 applies to public employment or employment involving state action prohibiting deprivation of rights secured by the federal constitution or federal laws through action under color of law. Title VII is the principal federal statute with regard to employment discrimination prohibiting unlawful employment discrimination by public and private employers, labor organizations, training programs and employment agencies based on race or color, religion, gender, and national origin. Title VII also prohibits retaliation against any person for opposing any practice forbidden by statute, or for making a charge, testifying, assisting, or participating in a proceeding under the statute. The Civil Rights Act of 1991 expanded the damages available in Title VII cases and granted Title VII plaintiffs the right to a jury trial. Title VII also provides that race and color discriminationagainst every race and color is prohibited, including whites, blacks, hispanics, and Asians. Description: Colored Waiting Room sign from segregationist era United States Medium: Black_and_white photograph Location: Rome GA, United States Date: September 1943 Author: Esther Bubley Source: Library of Congress Provider: Images of American Political History at the College of New Jersey [1] License: Public domain Misc: Borders cropped with with GIMP... Description: Colored Waiting Room sign from segregationist era United States Medium: Black_and_white photograph Location: Rome GA, United States Date: September 1943 Author: Esther Bubley Source: Library of Congress Provider: Images of American Political History at the College of New Jersey [1] License: Public domain Misc: Borders cropped with with GIMP... Racial segregation characterised by separation of different races in daily life, such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a rest room, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home. ... Racial profiling, also known as ethnic profiling, is the inclusion of racial or ethnic characteristics in determining whether a person is considered likely to commit a particular type of crime (see Offender Profiling). ...

In the UK the inquiry following the murder of Stephen Lawrence accused the police of institutional racism. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Institutional racism (or structural racism or systemic racism) is a theoretical form of racism that is supposed to occur in institutions such as public bodies and corporations, including universities. ...

• Weaver v NATFHE (now part of the UCU) Race/sex discrimination case. An Industrial (Employment) Tribunal in the UK decided that a trade union was justified in not assisting a Black woman member, complaining of racist/sexist harassment because the accused male would lose his job. The Employment Appeal Tribunal upheld the decision. Also known as the Bournville College Racial Harassment issue.

Life after Civil War

African Americans expected that the end of the Civil War in 1865 would mark the end of the division between African Americans and white Americans, but it merely signified the end of slavery.[citation needed] While the formal physical abuse had subsided, African Americans were only given second-class citizenship. Through the Jim Crow Laws, African Americans were given a limited amount of rights. Voting rights were manipulated and through different clauses such as the grandfather clause, it was made so only white Americans could vote. Although African Americans were no longer held against their will as slaves, they were not given equal rights. Image File history File links Question_book-3. ... Image File history File links Acap. ... For the rules of English grammar, see English grammar and Disputes in English grammar. ...

Black people were still used for labor but were able to have some sort of growth. Basically, African Americans would oversee the farms and fields of Caucasians. Although they could keep some profit, they were forced to return most of it to the farm owner. This way of life, though degrading, greatly informed African American culture, which became set on a seven day rhythm: work for five days, Saturday for recreation, and Sunday for worship? Saturday evenings established the Blues because African Americans spent the night together expressing their hurt in an artistic way. Slavery widely informed later African American culture. Back then it was a whole different way of living; there would be separate buses and taxi's for colored persons for example.

Age discrimination

Age discrimination is discrimination against a person or a group on the grounds of age. Although theoretically the word can refer to the discrimination against any age group, age discrimination usually comes in one of three forms: discrimination against youth, which is also called 'adults'; discrimination against those 40 years old or older [3], and; discrimination against elderly people. In the United States, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act prohibits employment discrimination nationwide based on age with respect to employees 40 years of age or older. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act also addresses the difficulty older workers face in obtaining new employment after being displaced from their jobs, arbitrary age limits.

In many countries, companies more or less openly refuse to hire people above a certain age despite the increasing lifespan and average age of the population. The reasons for this range from vague feelings that younger people are more "dynamic" and create a positive image for the company, to more concrete concerns about regulations granting older employees higher salaries or other benefits without these expenses being fully justified by an older employee's greater experience.

Some people consider that teenagers and youth (around 15-25 years old) are victims of adults, age discrimination framed as a paternalistic form of protection. In seeking social justice, they feel that it is necessary to remove the use of a false moral agenda in order to achieve agency and empowerment. This perspective is based on the grounds that youth should be treated with more respect by adults and not as second-class citizens. Some suggest that social stratification in age groups causes outsiders to incorrectly stereotype and generalize the group. For instance, that all adolescents are equally immature, violent or rebellious, listen to rock music and do drugs. Some have organized groups against age discrimination.

Ageism is the causal effect of a continuum of fears related to age. [Citation needed] This continuum includes:

• Pedi phobia: the fear of infants or small children.
• Ephebiphobia: the fear of youth.
• Gerontophobia: the fear of elderly people.

Related terms include:

• Adultism: Also called adultarchy, adult privilege, and adultcentrism/adultocentrism, this is the wielding of authority over young people and the preference of adults before children and youth.
• Jeunism: Also called "youthism" is the holding of beliefs or actions taken that preference "younger" people before adults.

Gender discrimination

Gender discrimination is discrimination against a person or group on the grounds of sex or gender identity.

Socially, sexual differences have been used to justify societies in which one sex or the other has been restricted to significantly inferior and secondary roles. While there are non-physical differences between men and women, there is little agreement as to what those differences are. Unfair discrimination usually follows the gender stereotyping held by a society.

The United Nations had concluded that women often experience a "glass ceiling" and that there are no societies in which women enjoy the same opportunities as men. The term "glass ceiling" describes the process by which women are barred from promotion by means of an invisible barrier. In the United States, the Glass Ceiling Commission has stated that between 95 and 97 percent of senior managers in the country's biggest corporations are men. [4]

Trans gender individuals, both male to female and female to male, often experience problems which often lead to dismissals, under achievement, difficulty in finding a job, social isolation, and, occasionally, violent attacks against them.

Legislation

Main article: Anti-discrimination legislation

In the U.S., Title VII of the CRA of 1964 allows a Bona fide occupational qualifications exemption for gender (contact prison guards, washroom attendants) but such permission is extremely limited. The Equal Pay Act (part of the Fair Labor Standards Act) prohibits wage discrimination by employers and labor organizations based solely on sex. Manifestations Slavery Racial profiling Lynching Hate speech Hate crime Genocide (examples) Ethnocide Ethnic cleansing Pogrom Race war Religious persecution Gay bashing Blood libel Paternalism Police brutality Movements Policies Discriminatory Race / Religion / Sex segregation Apartheid Redlining Internment Anti-discriminatory Emancipation Civil rights Desegregation Integration Equal opportunity Counter-discriminatory Affirmative action Racial... A bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ), in employment discrimination law in the United States, is a quality or and attribute that employers are allowed to consider when making decisions on the hiring and retention of employees–qualities that, when considered, in other contexts would be considered discriminatory and thus violating...

In the UK, the principal legislation is found in the Equal Pay Act 1970 (which provides for equal pay for comparable work) and the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, which makes discrimination against women or men (including discrimination on the grounds of marital status) illegal in the workplace. The adoption of the Human Rights Act 1998 in 2000 provides more scope for redressing all forms of discriminatory imbalances.

Employment discrimination

Main article: Employment discrimination Employment discrimination refers to employment practices that are prohibited by law such as bias in hiring, promotion, job assignment, termination, compensation, and various types of harassment. ...

The federal laws that protect against:

• race, color and national origin discrimination include the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Executive Order Number 11478 among other numerous laws that protect people from race, color and national origin discrimination.
• Sex and gender discrimination include the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Equal Pay Act of 1963.
• Age discrimination includes the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967.
• physical and mental disability discrimination include the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
• Discrimination includes the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
• military status discrimination include the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974

An example of a law suit filed by EEOC in a religion and national origin discrimination case involving Merrill Lynch Company

Language discrimination

People are sometimes subjected to different treatment because their preferred language is associated with a particular group, class or category. Commonly, the preferred language is just another attribute of separate ethnic groups.

In the United States, for example, language causes a huge problem wherever you go. People fight each other because some claim that only English should be spoken in the U.S. Others fight over what they believe is their right to speak in whatever language one would like. Currently, there is no law that says that English is the official language in the United States. The House of Representatives and the Senate are still debating this issue, but nothing is official yet.

"Reverse discrimination", "preferential treatment", and opponents of modern preferential programs

Main article: Reverse discrimination Reverse discrimination is a term that is used to describe policies or acts that are seen to benefit a historically socio-politically non-dominant group (typically minorities or women), at the expense of a historically socio-politically dominant group (typically men and majority races). ...

Reverse discrimination is a term used to describe discriminatory policies or acts that benefit a historically socio-politically non-dominant group (e.g. women, blacks etc), at the expense of a historically socio-politically dominant group (e.g. men, whites etc). Most academic and expert opponents of preferential policies that favor historically-discriminated groups, such as Carl Cohen, would avoid the term "reverse discrimination" on the grounds that "discrimination is discrimination" and that the label "reverse" is a misnomer (a point that experts on both sides of issue generally agree with). Groups such as the American Civil Rights Institute, run by Ward Connerly, have opted for the more legally precise terms "race preference", "gender preference," or "preferential treatment" generally, since these terms are contained and defined within existing civil rights law, such as the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

In this vein, Ward Connerly has promoted and won a series of ballot initiatives in the states of California (California Proposition 209 (1996)), Washington (1998 - I-200), and Michigan (the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative - MCRI, or Proposal 2, 2006). California's initiative was co-authored by academics Tom Wood and Glynn Custer in the mid-1990s and was taken up by Connerly after he was appointed in 1994 by Governor Pete Wilson to the University of California Board of Regents. Each of the ballot initiatives has won, and Connerly plans what he calls a "Super-Tuesday" of five additional states in 2008. The language of these ballot initiatives all use the terms "preferential treatment" as their operative clauses.

Academics such as Cohen, who was a supporter of Michigan's Proposal 2, have argued that the term "affirmative action" should be defined differently than "race preference," and that while socio-economically based or anti-discrimination types of affirmative action should be permissible, those that give preference to individuals solely based on their race or gender should not be permitted. Cohen also helped find evidence in 1996 through the Freedom of Information Act that lead to the cases filed by Jennifer Graz and Barbara Gutter against the University of Michigan for its undergraduate and law admissions policy - cases which were decided by the U.S. Supreme Court on June 23, 2003.

Notable[citation needed] national loggers and internet resources against preferential types of affirmative action include John Rosenberg's Discriminations, Tim Fay's Adversity.net, and Chatty Marko’s Power, Politics, & Money.

Disability discrimination

Main article: Ableism Ableism is a term used to describe discrimination against people with disabilities in favor of people who are able-bodied. ...

Please help improve this article by expanding this section with: further examples of disability discrimination. See talk page for details. Please remove this message once the section has been expanded.

People with disabilities face discrimination in all levels of society. The attitude that disabled individuals are inferior to non-disabled individuals is called "ablest".

Chronic pain is a debilitating condition which is often neglected in modern society. According to the American Chiropractic Association [5], over 50% of all working US Citizens complain of back pain each year. An estimated 80% of the population will experience back pain at some point in their life. Many times pain can become chronic and debilitating. Ergonomic seating and work environments are not only be a reasonable accommodation for those who suffer, the are also a preventative measure to counteract the soaring cost of medical treatment for pain conditions. Ergonomic seating in all public institutions would be a positive step to providing access to public services for all those who need it. In the United States the Americans with Disabilities Act [6] provides guidelines for providing wheelchair access for public institutions, but ergonomic devices for those who suffer from pain are something that has yet to be implemented. This is just one of many accessibility issues still faced by disabled individuals.

Disabled people may also face discrimination by employers. They may find problems with securing employment due to their being disability being seen as a risk to the company, and once in employment they may find they are overlooked for promotion opportunities. Similarly, if an employee becomes disabled while employed they may also find themselves being managed out the company by HR departments. Unsympathetic employers can make life very difficult for such employees and can often make their health problems worse. Disability discrimination laws mean that in theory the employee has a method of redress in such instances.

References

1. ^ Civil rights. Retrieved on 2006.bbb;
2. ^ [1]Hoppe, Hans-Hermann (2001). Democracy: The God That Failed. Retrieved on 2006.
3. ^ "The Roots of Racial Profiling", Reason Online, Reason Foundation, 2001 August-September. Retrieved on 2006-07-27. 

Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 208th day of the year (209th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

See also

• Adultism
• Ableism
• Apartheid
• Allport's scale
• Classism
• Eagle feather law
• Economic discrimination
• English-only movement
• Heterosexism
• Homophobia
• Institutionalized discrimination
• Lookism
• Police Brutality
• Heightism
• Racism
• Sexism
• Speciesism
• Anthropocentrism
• Second-class citizen
• State racism
• Racial segregation
• social issues
• List of anti-discrimination acts
• Equal opportunity
• Egalitarianism
• Affirmative action
• Reverse discrimination
• Equal rights
• Social issues
• Intercultural competence
• Neurodiversity

Adultism is a predisposition towards adults, which some see as biased against children, youth, and all young people who arent addressed or viewed as adults. ... Ableism is a term used to describe discrimination against people with disabilities in favor of people who are able-bodied. ... A segregated beach in South Africa, 1982. ... Allport’s Scale is a measure of prejudice in a society. ... Classism (a term formed by analogy with racism) is any form of prejudice or oppression against people who are in, or who are perceived as being like those who are in, a lower social class (especially in the form of lower or higher socioeconomic status) within a class society. ... There are a number of federal wildlife laws pertaining to eagles and their feathers (e. ... Economic discrimination is a term that describes a form of discrimination based on economic factors. ... English-only movement, called also Official English movement by its supporters, refers to a political movement for the use only of English language in public occasions through the establishing of English as the explicitly only official language in the United States. ... Heterosexism is the presumption that everyone is straight or heterosexual (i. ... A protest by The Westboro Baptist Church, a group identified by the Anti-Defamation League as virulently homophobic. ... Institutionalized discrimination is discrimination which has long been accepted as normal governmental operating procedures, laws, or objectives. ... Lookism is discrimination against or prejudice towards others based on their appearance. ... January 31 1919: David Kirkwood on the ground after being struck by batons of the Glasgow police Police brutality is a term used to describe the excessive use of physical force, assault, verbal attacks, and threats by police officers and other law enforcement officers. ... This box:      Heightism is a form of discrimination based on height. ... Manifestations Slavery Racial profiling Lynching Hate speech Hate crime Genocide (examples) Ethnocide Ethnic cleansing Pogrom Race war Religious persecution Gay bashing Blood libel Paternalism Police brutality Movements Policies Discriminatory Race / Religion / Sex segregation Apartheid Redlining Internment Anti-discriminatory Emancipation Civil rights Desegregation Integration Equal opportunity Counter-discriminatory Affirmative action Racial... This box:      The sign of the headquarters of the National Association Opposed To Woman Suffrage Sexism is commonly considered to be discrimination and/or hatred against people based on their sex rather than their individual merits, but can also refer to any and all systemic differentiations based on the sex... The relevance of particular information in (or previously in) this article or section is disputed. ... Anthropocentrism (Greek άνθρωπος, anthropos, human, κέντρον, kentron, center), or the human-centered principle, refers to the idea that humanity must always remain the central concern for humans. ... Second class citizen is an informal term used to describe a person who is discriminated against or generally treated unequally within a state or other political jurisdiction. ... State racism is a concept used by French philosopher Michel Foucault to designate the reappropriation of the historical and political discourse of race struggle, In the late seventeenth century. ... Racial segregation characterised by separation of different races in daily life, such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a rest room, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This is a list of anti-discrimination acts (often called discrimination acts), which are laws designed to prevent discrimination. ... Equal opportunity is a descriptive term for an approach intended to provide a certain social environment in which people are not excluded from the activities of society, such as education, employment, or health care, on the basis of immutable traits. ... Egalitarianism (derived from the French word égal, meaning equal or level) is a political doctrine that holds that all people should be treated as equals from birth. ... This box:      Affirmative actionrefers to policies intended to promote access to education or employment aimed at a historically socio-politically non-dominant group (typically, minorities or women). ... Reverse discrimination is a term that is used to describe policies or acts that are seen to benefit a historically socio-politically non-dominant group (typically minorities or women), at the expense of a historically socio-politically dominant group (typically men and majority races). ... Equal Rights can be: One of several groups called the Equal Rights Party. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Intercultural competence is the ability of successful communication with people of other cultures. ... Neurodiversity is an idea that asserts that atypical (neurodivergent) neurological wiring is a normal human difference that is to be tolerated and respected as any other human difference. ...

External links

• Transgender Workplace Diversity blog
• Discriminations blog
• Discrimination / Discriminacion in Chile
• Discrimination in the Czech Republic: When A Bookseller Prefers Older To Younger
• Project Lookism
• Legal definitions
  • Australia
  • Canada
  • Russia
  • US
• Employment Discrimination Laws in the United States
• Employment Human Rights, Human Wrongs - Discrimination and Gender Equality
• Weaver v NATFHE (now part of UCU) Race/sex discrimination case. Union justified in not assisting member complaining of racist/sexist harassment because the accused would lose his job. Security of tenure outweighed discriminatory impact of union policy.
• Discrimination of people with disabilities in the insurance sector