Exploitation Theory of Prejudice

Author

Institution

Introduction

The history of the United States is carved on prejudice and racial discrimination. This is especially considering that a considerable number of blacks or African Americans went to the United States as slaves and never enjoyed some of the rights until they were freed from slavery. In fact, they have had to fight for some rights, decades after being freed from slavery. Studies show that racial discrimination and prejudice is still rampant in the United States despite its stature as a melting pot. It is, therefore, not surprising that varied theories have been coined to explain the occurrence of prejudice.

Prejudice is defined as an individual’s tendency to think negatively about other groups, attach negative emotions to them, as well as prejudge people based on their group memberships (Alibeli & Yaghi, 2012). It is worth noting that prejudice incorporates the affective or emotional aspect, and the cognitive or thinking aspect. While prejudice may be explained through varied theories, exploitation theory comes as the most fitting for the United States.

The exploitation theory explains that prejudice is economically and rationally motivated based on self interests. It underlines the fact that the dominant group is the beneficiary of the prejudice as the vice has its roots on the exploitation of the minority group. In line with this theory, prejudice results from the competition over resources. Scholars have used this theory to explain the United States’ case where they state that, slave-trade was merely another technique for recruiting labor for exploitation of natural resources (Alibeli & Yaghi, 2012). They note that the search for cheap labor resulted in a system of racial insubordination in which the whites were the masters while black Africans became the slaves. This racial prejudice was established as an ideology that would rationalize the subordination of African Americans (Alibeli & Yaghi, 2012). Every time the elites’ high status needs the exploitation and subordination of minority groups, it comes up with ideologies that would explain, rationalize and justify the relevant arrangements. As an example, the South based slave owners would spread and employ anti-Black prejudice so as to justify their exploitation as slaves (Alibeli & Yaghi, 2012).

References

Alibeli, M.A &. Yaghi, A (2012). Theories of Prejudice and Attitudes toward Muslims in the United States. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Vol. 2 No. 1; January 2012