Running head: INSTITUTIONAL BIASES 1

What Roles do Attitudes, Stereotypes, and Prejudices Play in Institutional Biases?

Name

Institution
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What roles do attitudes, stereotypes, and prejudices play in institutional biases?

Basow (2016) argues that Institutions have procedures and practices that impact different

groups differently. Some social factions of the workforce find the ways of operations in their

organizations favourable, while others find themselves disadvantaged and devalued by the same

institutional policies (Basow, 2016). According to Enteman (2003), these practices and

procedures are what scholars in social science call institutional biases. Social profiling is a

typical example of institutional biases in most institutions. This paper discusses the roles of

attitudes, stereotypes, and prejudices in institutional biases (Enteman, 2003).

Stereotypes are simplistic generalizations held on various social groups. These

assumptions are usually anchored on race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, and age

(Marcelin et al., 2019). Stereotypes are generally favourable to the group that holds them but

harmful to groups with different characteristics. For instance, the members of a socially

dominant race may regard those from the minority race as lazy and incompetent (Enteman,

2003).

Prejudices are beliefs held towards the members of other social groups. These

prejudgments are usually not based on experience but just assumed. Prejudices lead to an

assumption that particular social groups are superior or inferior. People tend to treat their social

groups as unique to the other categories (Basow, 2016). Prejudices, attitudes, and stereotypes are

caused by a tendency by various social groups to stick to certain norms. Children are exposed to

prejudiced beliefs from their seniors, including their parents and teachers, at a tender age

(Marcelin et al., 2019).

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Indeed, attitudes, stereotypes, and prejudices lead to social intolerance, closed-

mindedness, and lack of acceptance. As such, institutions with such members lack social

cohesion and teamwork (Marcelin et al., 2019). People in such organizations do not collaborate

to execute the mission of the instruction as one team. Divisions in such institutions are

inevitable, and productivity is usually impacted negatively. Moreover, these behaviours lead to

the discrimination of certain individuals in the institution (Basow, 2016).

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References

Basow, S. A. (2016). Evaluation of female leaders: Stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination.

In Why Congress need women (pp. 85-100). Santa Barbara, CA: Preager.

Enteman, W. F. (2003). Stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination. Images that injure: pictorial

stereotypes in the media, 23-27.

Marcelin, J. R., Siraj, D. S., Victor, R., Kotadia, S., & Maldonado, Y. A. (2019). The impact of

unconscious bias in healthcare: how to recognize and mitigate it. The Journal of

infectious diseases, 220(Supplement_2), S62-S73.