Class 6 Civics

Diversity and Discrimination

Learning Goals

Examples of Diversity in India

Prejudice

When someone judges another person in a negative way it is called prejudice. People often have certain prejudices about other people who may appear different. This difference can be in terms of facial features, accent, eating habit or costumes.

This is a normal human nature that we feel comfortable in the group of people who appear like us and behave like us. We tend to feel uncomfortable in the group of people who may not appear like us.

Since India is a diverse country, people from different regions look entirely different. They not only differ in their appearance but also in eating habit, accent and costumes. Following are some examples of prejudices which happen because of diversity.

In most of the cases, prejudices are harmless. But in some cases, our prejudiced behavior may turn to be harmful for the person at the receiving end. For example; when you do not behave properly with a person because of your prejudices, it can be very bad for self respect of that person.

Stereotypes

When we tend to see some persons into a pre-defined image, this is called making of stereotypes. Many stereotypes are present since thousands of years. Some examples of the prevalent stereotypes are as follows:

Gender based stereotypes are often portrayed in films, advertisements and TV serials. Almost all the advertisements related to detergents, washing machines, dishwashers, etc. show a woman as the main protagonist. On the other hand, all the stunts shown in a bike ad is performed by ferocious looking men.

Apart from gender-based stereotypes, we also see stereotypes based on religion, caste and place of origin. Some examples are given below.