The fight against various forms of discrimination was, is and will be one of the most difficult and important tasks of modern society. Equal coexistence of various strata and groups of the population, mutual respect, equal opportunities are the key to the harmonious development of all mankind.
General understanding of the phenomenon of discrimination
Discrimination is usually understood as such an attitude towards an individual or social groups, which implies an infringement of their rights. But the key to understanding discrimination is that negative and unequal attitudes are based on characteristics that are not acceptable in a civilized society. In other words, in the absence of reasonable and objective grounds for a negative attitude towards a certain social group or its individual representative, signs that are not really significant for such an attitude are taken as a basis.
Forms of discrimination
Discrimination as a socio-psychological phenomenon has accompanied a person in various forms and manifestations since the formation of the first community communities. Discrimination can manifest itself both at the level of individual social groups and at the level of politics of the whole state. With the development of society, when the value of a person as an individual began to increase, with the development of democracy, humanism and existential values, the scale of the fight against discrimination has changed dramatically. It is customary to distinguish between de jure (legal) discrimination, which is enshrined in the relevant laws, and de facto. The latter is an unofficial movement that has developed and spread in social customs.
Example of manifestation of discrimination
One of the most striking examples of discrimination is gender discrimination. It is also defined as sexism, as it implies a whole ideology. Sexism can manifest itself against both women and men, but this term was originally introduced in the 1960s as part of women's struggle for their rights. The ideology of this trend was formed on the basis of the use of stereotypical models of gender roles as the main feature by which the roles, abilities, interests and behavior models of people are determined. Obviously, this approach completely ignores all other characteristics of a person, except for his inherent gender. So, women, at least in Europe and America, up to the 20th century were infringed on their civil rights. They did not have the right to vote, women could not study at universities, and were deprived of the opportunity to engage in certain types of activities. This situation is currently typical for many countries of the East and closed ethnic groups.
Otto Weninger at the beginning of the 20th century wrote the work "Gender and Character", which is an expression of public opinion, clothed in a pseudoscientific form. This voluminous work unequivocally hints at the superiority of men, not only in all spheres of life, but also in terms of moral and personal qualities. A woman is already being born a low, immoral being who, a priori, cannot have high mental abilities. And the best thing she can do is submit to a man. Such a radical expression of the author's ideas made a splash. In the Russian Empire, this work was banned, as there were cases of suicide of several young girls after reading the book.