by Leeanna Haugen

Created on: February 20, 2010

We often hear racism and prejudice used interchangeably. It leads one to wonder if there is a difference in the meanings and if so what the difference is. It is hard to avoid living your life without eventually having a situation that required you to look at your own views, beliefs, and biases. It is only logical that you would want to know what these words mean and how they may or may not apply to you.

According to Wikipedia, "A prejudice is a prejudgement: i.e. a preconceived belief, opinion, or judgment made without ascertaining the facts of a case. The word prejudice is most commonly used to refer to a preconceived judgment toward a group of people or a single person because of religion, line of work or other personal characteristics prejudice is a prejudgement: i.e. a preconceived belief, opinion, or judgment made without ascertaining the facts of a case. The word prejudice is most commonly used to refer to a preconceived judgment toward a group of people or a single person because of religion, line of work or other personal characteristics." 

Racism is a subcategory of prejudice. It is used to describe prejudice against race. You can be prejudice without being racist, buy you cannot be racist without being prejudice. A metaphor to help you understand is: you have to be a woman if you are a mother, but you don't have to be a mother to be a woman.

So, now that you have the definitions, you can look a little closer at yourself. Prejudice and rasism are often subjects that people would rather not talk about. However, looking closer at yourself helps you be more aware of you feelings and how they affect your perceptions of others.

Prejudice does not have to refer to a social issue. You could be prejudice against small dogs because of you belief that all small dogs bark and yip all of the time. Well, there are small dogs that do not do this, however, you may have a hard time believing this because of your prejudice. That was just an example. Taking that example into consideration, ask yourself again whether or not you are prejudice. Chances are, you have your own biases. It is human nature to form opinions about things. Most people have there own little prejudices that do not harm others.

Just because you have prejudice against some things does not mean that you are racist. Racism is harmful to others and is toxic to the the health of society as a whole. Deciding whether or not you are racist can sometimes be a more difficult problem to address. However, you may not be consciously aware of your feelings or the vibe that you give off. It is always a good idea to look closely at ourself and see how satisfied we are.

Racism and prejudice are two words that may seem to have the exact same meaning, yet they are different. Knowing these definitions can help you take a deeper look at yourself and change things that you are not happy with. Self-improvement should always be a goal for you. That is what makes good people great.

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