RosaMagika said:
How does one learn prejudice? How do you explain that little children have prejudices? -- They do have them.
Goleman, in his book "Emotional Intelligence" says that prejudices are emotional reponses that we have learned early in our childhood -- from the environment.
(I remember how disappointed I was when I learned there was a book on Emotional Intelligence - I thought it was something I invented!) I have yet to read it, though
I think it's because we learn who we are by relating to our environment. I child growing up in an unprejudiced household is probably exposed to a more diverse range of "acceptance", and less "unknowns" that may give rise to fears - rational or irrational.
A child does not learn prejudices because it would have fear. Children are not able to separate between Jews and Christians -- their parents are, and they teach them to do so.
True, the labels aren't there yet, but actions speak louder than words. If the parents/community are consistently seen hating...dogs, for instance, that child will grow up with an acquired hatred, and therefore prejudice, against dogs.
How parents and people relate to unknowns might have a similar (even greater) effect. If the parents are consistenly fearful/superstitious/distrustful of new or unknown things, children will develop the same attitude towards this "nebulous nothingness". It might even give a name to it - a label that identifies this fear, in order to get some grip on it. Fear of the unknown is a breeding ground for prejudice, if you ask me.
And Goleman remarks that these early resonses stay with us, no matter what we do. We can learn to see that we have prejudices -- but because of the early stage at which they were implanted into our minds, they have a firm and special place, forever. We can learn new behaviours and new values -- but the "first sight" effect will be ruined by that prejudice, no matter how hard we try not to have that prejudice, no matter how well we know that is is just prejudice.
Yes, and it's really sad that people grow up in environments that encourage such reactions. But I grew up in apartheid South Africa without developing the active prejudice that was prevalent in the society of my parents and grandparents. I grew up with the Bible, in a Christian family, and it never once occurred to me to develop a prejudice against anyone. But so did many other Christians, and they were convinced blacks were "naturally inferior" (although I think the evolutionary debate provided more ammunition for it than the Bible ever could).
So the I'm very certain Christianity wasn't the determining factor, although it was used as a crutch. But my parents and grandparents were too involved in addressing the real issues that affected people: healthcare (one grandfather was a missionary doctor) and education (the other was a professor at the only black university in SA, even though he studied under Karl Barth in Switzerland) to have time for egotism. It did creep in sometimes, in the form of politics, but it never overrode their callings.
Fortunately, children have a smaller probability of causing lasting damage with their misconceptions. They feel a greater natural affinity towards love than hatred, and they can be shaped or abused by either until well into their teens; that's why loving authority, healthy families and good friends are so important. It's adults who persist in willful hatred who do the most damage, and to more than just the immediate generation. You can see the hardness in the eyes of someone who's prejudiced - almost as if it's greater than them - and it affects their children.
My point is, people do grow up in paradigms that shape them - and children are under the mercy of many influences. But a change in paradigm
can free them and
is possible. Maybe I do have subconscious racism ingrained in me somewhere, but it doesn't rule my thoughts. I can deal with it when it sticks out its ugly head. Addressing the roots of prejudice - lack of love, fear, anger, and egotism - makes prejudice itself seem a distant enemy. I got my sense morality not from society, or even my parents, but ultimately from Christ. But if it wasn't for a personal relationship, I would have been a product, not a child.
