This article is about discrimination in the social science sense. For the act of distinguishing/discriminating between things see distinction, difference, comparison
To discriminate is to make a distinction between people on the basis of class or category without regard to individual merit. Examples include social, racial, religious, sexual, disability, ethnic and age-related discrimination. Some distinctions between people which are based just on individual merit (such as personal appearance) are not discriminatory.
Examples of discrimination by states include: apartheid in South Africa; institutionalized racial segregation in the USA from the Civil War through the 1960s; the "Jewish problem" in Nazi Germany; and reeducation camps in some communist countries.
Many governments have attempted to control discrimination through civil rights legislation, equal opportunity laws and institutionalised policies of affirmative action (called reverse discrimination by its opponents).
Even in western, secular countries, governments practice discrimination. For example, governments may provide better treatment to citizens than to non-citizens. Unemployed citizens may receive welfare benefits funded by taxpayers, while unemployed non-citizens may be denied such benefits. Governments often have the power to forcefully expel non-citizens but cannot expel citizens. Discrimination based on citizenship status is not generally considered illegal.
Merit of Discrimination
Some conservatives, such as Hans-Hermann Hoppe view discrimination as virtuous, since it is natural to want to associate with similar people. Egalitarians favor more multicultural societies, where diversity and tolerance are encouraged.
Religious Discrimination
Religious Discrimination is the act of not associating with people belonging to a particular faith or giving them special treatment. This is to be differentiated with racial discrimination which is based on ethnicity, even if both can be intertwined in some cases.
Today, many western states forbid discrimination based on religion, though this is not always enforced. For example, since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in the United States of America, the EEOC has received more than 800 charge filings alleging religious discrimination by individuals who are or who are perceived to be Muslim, Arabic, Middle Eastern, South Asian or Sikh with the two most common issues being harassment and discharge.
An example of statewise discrimination is non-Muslims bring discriminated against in the few remaining Islamic theocratic states. Jews and Christians have historically had fewer freedoms than Muslim citizens in Muslim states; non-Muslims monotheists have been consigned to the status of dhimmis in some cases. The article on discrimination against non-Muslims in Saudi Arabia discusses this subject in more depth. Marxist states have also discriminated against all religions at some time or another. This continues in North Korea, China and Vietnam, and many former Soviet republics.
Religious students may be said to be discriminated against in some western state schools. For example, names of clubs have been changed due to claims by administrative staff that some part of the name or the symbolism it represents may offend other students, parents, or teachers.
Some others claim that non-religious people (atheists, agnostics, etc.) are subject to the most widespread religious discrimination. During his 1988 Presidential campaign, George H. W. Bush stated that atheists should not be considered patriots or citizens.[citation needed]
Age Discrimination
Age Discrimination is discrimination against a person or 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 two forms: discrimination against youth, and discrimination against the elderly.
In many countries, companies more or less openly refuse to hire people above a certain age despite the increasing lifespans 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 employees' greater experience.
Some underage teenagers consider that they're victims of age discrimination on the grounds that they should be treated more respectfully by adults and not as second-class citizens. Some complain 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 or rap music and do drugs. Some have organized groups against age discrimination.
Gender Discrimination
Gender discrimination is any action that grants or denies opportunities, privileges, or rewards to a person just on the basis of their sex.
The United Nations has 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 per cent of senior managers in the country's biggest corporations are men.
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.
Legislation to promote gender equality is generally complex and varied, with a wide divergence between different countries. The principal legislation in the UK is found in the Equal Pay Act of 1970 (which provides for equal pay for comparable work) and the Sex Discrimination Act of 1975, which makes discrimination against women or men (including discrimination on the grounds of marital status) illegal in the working situation.
Sexual Orientation Discrimination
Sexual orientation discrimination is discrimination against individuals, couples or groups based on sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation. Predominantly, this involves the discrimination of a person who has a same-sex sexual orientation, whether or not they identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual. Sexual minorities are often seen as undesirable or immoral by one or more social groups and, thus, discrimination against them is frequently codified into law. As acceptability of sexual orientation varies greatly from society to society, the degree to which discrimination is sanctioned by society also varies greatly. Discrimination based on sexual orientation is often exacerbated by frustration or anger brought about societal changes that seem threatening to some members of society. In particular, changing gender roles and the increased equality afforded women in most societies is perceived as a threat to traditional patriarchal roles. Similarly, sexual minorities can also be viewed as a threat to gender roles that favor male power in a traditional social structure.
During the last century, as a result of greater acceptance and visibility of sexual minorities in most developed countries, discrimination based on sexual orientation is increasingly seen as unjust and, in more and more nations and localities, has been rendered illegal. The Republic of South Africa is the first nation on earth to embed freedom from discrimination based on sexual orientation into its constitution. In the United States, 17 states have banned discrimination based on sexual orientation with most laws focusing on freedom from discrimination in the work place, housing and public accommodations. Most of these states exempt religious institutions from these anti-discrimination clauses, and several exempt small businesses. Historically, conservative religious leaders and organizations have been at the forefront of fighting legislation to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation. Increasingly, however, progressive religious leaders have joined with gay rights and human rights activists in seeking to overturn laws that sanction this form of discrimination.
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