Prejudice And Color Blindness: A Multicultural Approach

Over the past century, prejudice and stereotyping continue to be two of the most important topics studied in social psychology. Today, more than ever people are living in a more culturally diverse world, where individuals come from different backgrounds and have different life experiences and personal beliefs. Culture diversity has many benefits for society, as it teaches individuals to recognise and respect people’s differences and similarities. However, research has found that perceived similarity is an important factor in determining how attracted one person is to another. The social group an individual belongs to, helps them to form their identity (Tajfel, 1979). As a consequence, differences between groups may lead to prejudice, negative
Despite efforts striving to improve intergroup relations, in some cases interactions between different groups continue to be characterised by aggression, anxiety and prejudice feelings towards other groups. While efforts have been made to significantly reduce old fashioned racism in western society, this may have allowed more subtle forms of prejudice to take place (Bonilla-Silva, 2003). Multiculturalism and colour-blindness are two distinct ideologies that attempt to address inequality. Both ideologies have dominated public debate and led to discussions about which strategy is more effective in improving interethnic
For example, a study by Schofield (2001) examined the nature of peer relations in an interracial social setting. In particular, he has chosen carry out his research in a school setting in which the colour-blind ideology was widely endorsed by the teachers and administrators. His findings revealed that the colour-blind perspective was not particularly effective in improving intergroup relations. Teachers were hesitant to notice or even discuss racial differences even when race was relevant to the topic they were teaching (Schofield, 2001). He also argued that failure to acknowledge or embrace racial differences among students is likely to lead to greater ignorance, which may negatively impact racial attitudes rather than improve them. As a consequence, this may hinder their ability to engage in critical thinking and inadvertently affect their cognitive