Forum 5 Essay

Submitted By Xukeyi1
Words: 463
Pages: 2

#1) What are the differences between individual and institutional (sometimes referred to as structural) discrimination?
Give two examples from the video.

Individual discrimination is discrimination among individuals. It occurs when a person of a given race or ethnicity have negative attitudes on another individual of different races or ethnicities. Institutional discrimination is that “the institutions of society may function in such a way that they produce unequal outcomes for different groups. It is wider.
In the video, Michelle Alexander talked about her experience of walking out of the election night party after the election of Barack Obama. She saw an African American man handcuffed behind his back and surrounded by many policemen who completely ignored him. And when people passed him, they just took a look at him and did nothing. It is an example of individual discrimination. It was like satire that the man was handcuffed on the night when Obama was elected as President. It meant that black people was still at the bottom of this country.
Bryan Stevenson gave the example of institutional discrimination. He expressed that in poor communities, the police did raids all the time. Most of black people who lived in those places know that it is because they are treated differently. If a colored person happens to appear in someplace where he/she does not belong to, he/she might be targeted. It is institutional discrimination, which is a social issue that depends on the entire society’s cultural beliefs, traditions, and norms.

#2) As stated in Ch 6, social class can determine one's "life chances." Explain what this means and give an example from the video.

From the book, life chances means “the likelihood that individuals and groups will enjoyed desired goods and