Taken from: Samovar, Larry A., & Porter, Richard E, (1991 ), Intercultural Communication. A Reader, 6" edition. Belmont: Wadsworth. pp. 366-370, ed Prejudice in Intercultural Communication RICHARD W. BRISLIN ‘THE FUNCTIONS OF PREJUDICE, ‘When people react negatively to others on an emo- tional basis, with an absence of direct contact or fac- tual matcrial about the others, the people are said to behave according to prejudice, The concept of pre|- dice has been subjected tofirstrate research inves- tigations by psychologists and sociologists, One of the conclusions ofthis research is that ‘prejudl a far more complex concept than would be judged. from the way the word is used in ordinary, every- day usage. This complextty has to be understood if the problems of prejudice are to be addressed effectively. ‘An understanding of prejuclice can begin if its fmetions are analyzed, Katz’ has written the clearest presentation of the functions of various attitudes which people hold, and these can be applied to the mote specific case of prejudicial attitudes. In addi tion, the functions can be applied to the sorts of in- tercultural contact under scrutiny at this confer: ‘ence, In the past, the majority of research has dealt swith interpersonal contact within countries, espe cially Black-White relations. The four functions that autizudes serve for people are: 1. The utilitarian or adjustment function. People hold certain prejudices because such atitudes lead From imerculuval Theory and Practice Perspectives on Ed cation, Tab and Fesearc, December 1979, pp. 28-36 {ised wth permission ofthe author. Footnotes have been re Dhumbered: Richard W. Bislin i associated with the Caleace earning Inst, asi West Center, Honolulu, Hava to rewards, and lead to the avoidance of punish- ‘ment, in their cultuee. For instance, people want 10 be well liked by others in their culture. If such es teem is dependent upon rejecting members of a certain group, then Ic Is likely that the people will indeed reject members of the outgroup. Or, if jobs are scarce and if people from a certain group want those jobs, it is adjustive to believe that members of a certain group have no responsibility in work set- tings. Thus there will be less competition for the desired employment. 2. The ego-defensive function. People hold certain prejudices because they do not want to admit cer tain things about themselves, Holding the prejudice protects the people from a harsh reality. For in- stance, if a person is unsuccessful in the business ‘world, (s)he may belleve that members of a certain successful group are a scheming bunch of cheaters. ‘This belicf protects the individual from the self admission that (s)he has inadequacies. Another ex: ample involves experiences that most people have during childhood, no matter what their culture People believe, as part oftheir basic Felings of self esteem, that they have grown up ina society where proper behavior is practiced, These people may fooke down upon members of other cultures (or s0- cial classes within a culture) who do not behave “ correctly" This prejudicial atitude then, serves the fanction of protecting people’ self-esteem, 3.The value-expressive function. People hold cer- tain prejudices because they want io express the as- ‘pects of life which they highly prize. Such aspects include baste values of people concerning religion, government, sociey, aesthetics, and so forth. Katz? cemphasizes that tls function is related to an indi. vidual’ “notion of the sort of person he sees him- self to be” For example, people who discriminate against members of a cerain religious group may do so because they see themselves as standing up for the one true God (as defined by their own rel pion), As a more intense example, people have en- aged in atrocities toward outgroup members s0.as to retain the supposed values ofa pure racial stock (gain, thelr ovr). 366 Chapter 7 Communicating Intercultural: Becoming Competent4. The knowledge function, People hold cestain prejudices because such attitudes allow idividuals to organize and structure their world in a way that rakes sense to them, People have @ need to know about various aspects of their culture so that they ‘can interact effectively in It. But the various aspects, are so numerous that various discrete stimuli must be categorized together for efficient organization. Feople then behave according to the category they have organized, not according to the diserete stim: ull? Often these categories are stereotypes that do not allow for variation within a category. For in- stance, if people believe that members of a certain cultural group are childlike and cannotbe given any responsibility, they may employ that stereotype ‘upon meeting a member ofthat group. Given a set of stereotypes, people do not have t0 think about cach individual they meet. They can then spend. time on the many other matters that compete for their atention during an average day. The prejudi- ial stereotypes thus provide knowledge about the world, The problem, of course, is that the stereo: {ypesare sometimes wrong and always overdrawn 4 Certain prejudices can serve several functions, particularly so when an individual's entire life span is considered. Young children develop a prejudice to please their parents (adjustment), continue to hold it because of what they lear in school (know edge), and behave according tothe prejudice since they wish to express their view of themselves (alue), Programs to change prejudice often fll be- cause the most important function, or functions, are not recognized. Most change-oriented programs are concerned with presenting well-established facis about the targets of prejudice. But such a pro- gram will only change people's attitudes which serve the knowledge function. Much more work has to be done on finding ways to change prejudices that serve the other three functions. This is a re- search area that should yield very important payofls to careful investigators ‘THE FORMS OF PREJUDICE In addition to an understanding of the functions of prejudice, itis also important to consider various forms that prejudice takes in its expression, The range of such expression is large. 1.Red-neck racism. Certain people believe that members of a given cultural group are inferior 2c. cording to some imagined standard and that the ‘group members are not worthy of decent treatment, ‘The term “red-neck” comes from the Southern United States where world attention was focused on the White majority's treatment of Blacks during po- litical demonstrations prior tothe Civil Rights Act of| 1964. The type of prejudice summarized by the term “redneck?” however, is found all over the world. ‘This extreme form of prejudice has most often been assessed by asking people to agree or disagree with statements like this "The many faults, and the gen- eral inability to get along, of (insert name of group), who have recently flooded our community, prove that we ought to send them back where they came from as soon as conditions permit” “Unsert name ‘of group) can never advance to the standard of liv- {ng and civilization of our country due mainly their ‘innate ditiness, laziness, and general backwardness" All of us cringe at the thought of such tasteless, ab horrent sentiments, But we all know that such preju dices exist, and all of us can give many examples from the counties in which we have lived, Formal ‘education has had a tremendous influence on low- cering the incidences of red-neck racism, Research has shown that as the number of years of formal ‘education increases, the incidence of racism de- ‘creases, Howeyer, I do feel that we need accurate figures on the current levels of such prejudice, and only large scale surveys can give us this information. Itis possible that attendees at a conference such as this one underestimate the current levels of red- neck racism since they do not normally interact with people who hold such views. 2,$ymibolic racism. Certain people have negative feelings about a given group because they fe! that the group is interfering with aspects of thelr culture swith which they have become familiar. The people do not dislike the group per se, and they do not hold sentiments that are indicative of red-neck ra ism, Symbolic racism® is expressed in terms of Bsn Pjudce ninercuural Communkaton 367threatsto peoples basic values and tothe status quo. When directly questioned, people will assert that members of a cersain group are “moving too fast” and are making illegitimate demands in their quest for a place in society. Symbolic racism is expressed. by responses to questions like these (the answer in- digative of symbolic racism is noted in parentheses): “Over the past few years, (insert name of group) have gotten more economically than they deserve!” Gagree) “people in this country should support ——_ in their struggle against discrimination and segrega- tion” (disagree) 7 are getting too demanding in theit push for equal rights” agree)" Sentiments like these are probably more wide- spread than recbneck feelings among members of the affluent middle class in various counties. Again, however, exact figures are unavailable, and this lack ‘hampers intelligent planning for programs to deal swith this form of prejudice. itis important to under: stand the differences berween red-neck and syn bolic racism, Reople who hold symbolic sentiments do not view themselves as red-necks, and so pro- grams aimed at changing extreme racist views (such programs are presently most common) are doomed {o failure. McConahay and Hough’ are accurate ‘when they state that current change programs seem incomprehensible to holders of symbolic views “and they do not understand what all the fuss is bout This enables racism to be considered 'some- body else’? problem while holders of symbollc views concentrate upon thelr own private Ives! 3, Tokenisma. Certain people harbor negative feel- ings about a given group but do not want to admit this fact to themselves, Such people definitely do, rot view themselves as prejudiced and they do not perceive themselves a3 discriminatory in their be- havior, One way that they reinforce this view of themselves is to engage in unimportant, but post tive, intergroup behaviors, By engaging in such im- porlant behaviors people can persuade themselves that they are unprejudiced, and thus they can refuse to perform more important intergroup behaviors. For instance, Dutton® found that if people gave a small amount of money to an outgroup, they were less willing to later donate a large amount of their time to. "Brotherhood Week” campaign emphasiz. ing intergroup relations and goodwill. Other peo plein the Dutton study donated time tothe Brother hood Week t they had previously not een asked to lve che small sum of money. The small amount of money, then, was a token that allowed some people to persuade themselves that they are unprejudiced and so don’ have to prove themselves again by en- gaging in the more important, tlme:consuming behavior 4. Arms length prejudice. Certain people engage in friendly, positive behavior toward putgroup mem- bers in certain situations but hold those same out- ‘group members atan “arm's length” in other situa tions, The difference across situations seems to be along a dimension of perceived intimacy of behav- {ors? For semi-formal behaviors such a8 (1) casual friendships at a place of employment, (2) interac: tions between speaker and audience ata lecture, oF (3) interactions at a catered dinner pany, people ‘who harbor an arms length prejudice ill actin a friendly, positive manner. But for more intimate be: haviors such as (1) dating, (2) interactions during an Informal dinner hele at someone’ home, oF (3) re- lations between neighbors, people will act in a tense, sometimes hostile manner, Frankly, | have observed this sort of arm’s-length prejudice at places where such bebavior would ideally not be expected, a atthe East West Center. ave observed 4 Caucasian social psychologist (who has long lec tured on prejudice), during a visitto my home, be- come non-communicative and ultimately rude ‘when my Chinese-American neighbor unexpec tedly deopped in for avist. Tis form of prejudice fs bard to detect since people who engage in it seem so tolerant of outgroup members much ofthe time. 5. Rea! likes and dislikes. Certain people harbor negative feelings about a given group because members of the group engage in behaviors that people dislike. This fith category is derived from ‘more common sense than scholarly literature, and 368 Chapter? Communicating Sotereuluraly: Becoming CompetentIt represents an expression of my feelings that not all prejudice should be looked upon as an inclica tion of some sickness of flaw. People do have real likes and dislikes. No one person is 50 saintly as to be tolerant and forgiving toward all who engage in behaviors (s)he dislikes. For insance, lttring re- ally bothers me, and there are certain groups more likely to leave theie trash on the ground after a pic nic. Sometimes they are from cultures where sex- vants or laborers are expected to do such cleanup. But my realization of the group's background does not lessen my dislike of liter. Secing members of a certain group engage in such disliked behaviors, 1 am less likely to interact pleasantly with other mer bers ofthe group in the future. My recommendation, 4 t0 give more attention to this common, but here- tofore neglected, type of everyday prejudice, 6.qhe familiar and unfamiliar, People who ace so alized into one culture are likelyto become fail. far and thus comfortable with various aspects ofthat culture. These people, when interacting with mem bers of nother culture, are hikelyto experience be haviors or ideas that are unfamiliar and hence they are likely to feel uncomfortable, Consequently, the People are likely to prefer to interact with members of their own cultural group. What might seem like Prejudice and discrimination to an onlooker, then, may be simply a reflection of people’ preference for what is comfortable and nonsteessful. Ina stuly of interaction among members of nine ethnic groups on Guam, 1 found that tnformants were able to verbalize this reason for people's choices of fiends. An informant from the Marshall Islands wrote Gultere makes these groups stick together Some- body might not get along with one from anotber coun He likes to find some friends who hewe the saine beliefs be has, and be could only find these characteristics with tbe people from bis own ‘county. And a resident of Truk wrote about the type of strained conversation that can arise when members f different groups interact: A Thukese who bas never experienced the cold win- ‘er ofthe US. could not comprebend and intel. ligently appreciate a Statesider telling him the terrible winter they had in Albany anymore than @ ‘person from Albuquerque who bas never seen an atoll could visualize the smnaltness of the islets that ‘make ip such an atoll. Truk, of course, i an atoll) 1 beliewe that this sort of mild prejudice based on ‘what is familiar and unfamiliar is the sore of phe. ‘nomenon recenty referred to by the United States “Ambassador tothe United Nations, Andrew Young" 4 mid 1977, Young labeled a number of people as “acs! but in explaining his use of the term he clearly was refering toa lack of understanding and an insensitivity regarding other cultural groups When questioned by the press, Young had to admit that the insensitivity and misunderstanding stem {rom unfamiliarity s withthe type of prejudice de- scribed under “real ikes and dislikes, this everyday {ype of behavior deserves more atention ftom be hhavioral scientss and educators thaa lt has here- tofore received NOTES 1.D. Katz, “The functional approach to the study of attitudes} Public Opinion Quarterly, 1960, 24 pe, 164-204 2. Kaz, 1960, 9.173, 3.H.Teiandis, “Culture training, cognitive complexity and interpersonal atitudes." In R Brislin, 5, Bochner, ‘and W. Lonner (eds). Cross-Cultural Perspecttoes ont Learning (New York: Wiley/Halsted Division, 1975), pp. 39-7. 4. The fact that 1 use the term “prejudicial stereo. 'ypes" does not mean that stereotypes and prejudices are isomorphic: Some stereonypes stem from prejud ial attiudes, and only these ae discussed in this para Braph, More generally, stercoypes refer to any cate. ‘gorization of individual clements that maskclfierences ‘among those elements. Stereotypes are absolutely nec «essary for thinking and communicating since people ‘cannot respond individually to the millions of lokted elements they perceive every day. They must group el- ‘ements together into categories, and then respond to Bestia Prejudice in merculwral Communication 369)the categories. Stereotypes are a form of generaliza- tion that involves names of some group of people and Statements about thac group. Thus when we speak of “conservatives” 0 “acidemics” or “educators; we are using stereotypical categories that mask individual di ferences within those categories, Stereotypes will a: sways be a factor ia any sort of communication, a fact. that mast be realized in any analysis of communication berween individuals from different backgrounds. 1 ‘mention this because, recently, I have found difficulty in encouraging multicultural groups co discuss stereo: ‘ypes since the link besween prejudice and stereotypes has become so stvong Stereotypes have acquireda di tasteful status. Refusal to deal with them, however, ‘means a refusal 10 deal with one of the most basic 25- pects of thinking and communication these statements are adapted from the analysis of sich questionnaire ems by.® AShonore, "The prob- Tem of intergroup prejudice in 8, Calin, Social Py ology (Reading, Mass: Addison Wesley, 1970), pp. 265-296, ' 6. MeConahay and J. Hough, "Symbolte racism” Jotirnal of Social Ise’, 1976, 32(2), pp. 23-45. 7.MeConahay and Hough, 1976, p44 8.D, Duton, “Tokenism, reverse discrimination, and ‘egalitarianism in interracial chavior? Jounal of So: cefal Issues, 1976, 32(2), pp. 93-107. 9.1. Telandis and E. Davis, "Race and belief as deter- minants of behavioral intentions" Journal of Person ality and Soctal Psychology, 1965, 2, pp. 715-725. 10,R.Brislin, “Interaction among members of nine ethnic groups and the belieF-similarity hypothesis" Jounal of Social Pychology, 1971, 85, pp. 171179, 1, Playboy, july 1977; also analyzed in Newsweek June 20, 1977, p. 34 12.An “unfortunate” use of the term, Ambassador ‘Young eventually admitted. ‘ 1 370 Chapeee7 Communteaing Inerculuraly: Becoming Com