Group-Prejudice: Sharing Some Thoughts

By Charles Sarvan -December 4, 2014

Charles Sarvan

As is well-known, the word prejudice (pre + judice) comes from the Latin and means to pre-judge; that is, to make a judgement before and without evidence. The prejudiced conclusion may, in retrospect, prove well-founded but in normal use, the implication is the opposite. Being without true grounds, prejudice indicates unreason and emotion; not having a rational basis, prejudice is difficult to dispel with reason: hence its persistence. However, through a process known in psychology as ‘rationalisation’, reasons can be found to justify one’s prejudice. Indeed, it is necessary to find such justification: if not, we are left facing the unattractive truth that we are unjust in our thought and actions, in turn damaging our self-image.

Doris Lessing wrote that there is something in human beings which makes us categorise and, on that basis, to exclude and, if possible, exploit. The phenomenon of group hostility – be it based on ethnicity or skin-colour; religion, sect or whatever – is ingrained and difficult to dismantle. People often don’t recognise that they are prejudiced. As stated earlier, prejudice is not amenable to reason and facts. Group-feelings, to varying degree, seem natural to all species. The challenge and effort is to overcome the (negative) natural in us: this effort is what sets humans apart from the other species. Frederica Jansz ofThe Sunday Leader published (17 January 2010) an article by me on racism and, what I termed, ‘exceptionalism’. The essay is now included in my Public Writings, Volume 2, and I quote from it about one reaction or strategy of the prejudiced when confronted with individuals who contradict their ‘racial’ stereotype:

“He’s not like (all) the other Tamils”. True, he’s Tamil but not one of those Tamils in general whom we distrust and dislike; want to expel or subordinate. “He’s a Tamil but not a Tamil Tamil: you know what we mean?” He or she is turned into an exception, serving only to prove the rule, to confirm the generality. Those individuals whose life and conduct confound the racist (or religious) myth and image are made exceptions so that stereotypes, unquestioned and unchallenged, continue to have their justification and existence. In this way, racist attitudes are preserved and perpetuated. (See the blanket suspicion of, if not hostility to, all Moslems where, in a mode known as ‘Block thinking’, a varied reality is fused into one indissoluble unit.) So it is that, even those who are suspicious of (if not hostile towards) Tamils in general may have a Tamil friend or friends; socialise, and be of mutual company and help. The contradiction, the inconsistency, is “rationalised” away on the basis of their friend (or friends) being an exception. It’s an almost no-win situation: if you “behave”, you are seen as an individual, made an exception; if you don’t, then not just you, but the entire group is blamed.”Read More