As far as historical records show, no society or nation has been immune to discrimination, either as

victim or victimizer. The more extreme forms of discriminatory practices include genocide, slavery,
legislated discrimination (such as Apartheid), discriminatory immigration laws, and disenfranchisement.
Less extreme forms of prejudice and discrimination, but nevertheless pervasive and oppressive, include
social exclusion at the institutional level (such as in schools and hospitals), and the more subtle forms
practised by the media.

The keywords that need to be looked into before delving the topic in question are ‘discrimination’ and
‘disturbing’. According to the Oxford Dictionary, disturbing means causing distress or worry or anxiety,
upsetting, an unpleasant mental state by such effects as irritation, unfairness and distraction.
Discrimination, brings the meaning unfair treatment of a person or group on the basis of prejudice and
partiality. It can lead to emotions such as frustration and anger. This essay examines the cause and
effects of discrimination in it’s various forms, on an individual, society or nation.

Our world has always been faced with the problem of discrimination. It is one of the most discussed
topics nowadays and throughout history. In all countries there is most likely at least one type of
discrimination that affects different groups of people. The definition of discrimination is the denial of
opportunity or equal rights for a specific group of people that may be differentiated by things such as
their religion, color of skin, or gender. Discrimination can be confused with other terms such as
prejudice and stereotype. The world we live in has been struggling with this sensitive subject for as long
as we have recorded. Stereotypes are images held in our minds in regards to certain racial or cultural
groups, without consideration of whether the images held are true or false. Stemming from stereotypes
is prejudice. The prejudicial attitude occurs when we prejudge a person, good or bad, on the basis that
the stereotypes associated with the person or group being prejudged are true. Discrimination is the
combination of the terms mentioned above, but involves actually acting out with unfair treatment,
directing the action towards the person or group. Prejudice and discrimination do not just occur racially,
but it is found among gender, religion, culture, and geographical background. Remember that prejudice
is a result of attitude and discrimination is a result of action.

Many people believe discrimination has made big steps forward, but has it really? If it has, why do
people still get turned down, receive hate mail, or get ridiculed simply because they differ from each
other. I guess these are questions we must ask ourselves. I guess you could also ask yourself if you have
ever called anybody a name, looked at them different or judged them when you did not even know
them or understand them. You may be thinking “That is not discrimination,” but, in fact, it is.

CAUSE AND EFFECTS OF DISCRIMINATION

There are many forms of discrimination, besides the more familiar forms like race and gender, based on
ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, age , disability or handicap, and sexual harassment. The
mentioned characterization refers to a situation of the direct discrimination, in which a person is treated
adversely directly on the basis of a prohibited ground. Indirect discrimination, refers to a situation in
which an apparently neutral provision or practice is discriminatory in its effects. Besides direct and
indirect discrimination, we may use the term institutional discrimination. Institutional discrimination
refers to the practices or procedures in a company or an institution, or even the society as a whole,
which are structured in a way that tends to produce discriminatory effects.

The internalization of discrimination starts with parents and, later, teachers–the groups primary in the
formation of attitudes within children. The media and social institutions solidify discriminatory attitudes,
giving them social legitimacy, since discrimination is learned. Society looks most often to education and
legislation to alleviate discrimination–for reasons still not clearly known, intergroup contact alone is not
enough to reduce discrimination. On one hand, multicultural education, whether direct or indirect,
constitute the mainstay of educational efforts to eliminate discrimination. On the other hand, the
emphasis on civil rights, enlightened immigration policies, and mandates for quota hiring are the
cornerstone of legal approaches to alleviating the effects of discrimination.

Discrimination produces immense effects in the psychological, social, political, and economic domains.
Whether intended or not, the effects are compounded by the loss of self-worth, a sense of alienation
from the wider society, political disempowerment, and economic inequalities. Prejudice and ethnic
hostilities constitute a major danger to peace both within a nation and among nations.”

The effects of discrimination in society are reflecting on race, religion, and disable discrimination. One of
the main reasons cause violence is race discrimination. It is easy to find evidence from Hollywood
movies. The black people always fight with white people because they were discriminated.In addition
religion discrimination can endanger the world peace. Different religion has different god and the
numbers of believers are huge. Once the conflict between different religions break out, which can easily
cause a world war. Discrimination is about exclusion and subordination and it effectively conveys an
explicit message of differentness and inferiority of the victim – Humiliation.

Studies carried out in the field of racial discrimination provide also direct proof of this humiliating nature
of discrimination, as it has been found that experiences of racism and racial discrimination have a direct
bearing to the psychological well-being of persons w ho have suffered ethnic discrimination: such
experiences were found to increase symptoms related to anxiety and depression.

Discrimination leads to disunity which results in the dissolving of society, through strife and war. World
peace will elude our grasp while discrimination continue to bedevil the collective life of humanity.

CONCLUSION

Discrimination runs against the most fundamental values of a modern society. In fact, it is a threat to
democracy, which is predicated on the idea of a society in which arbitrary hierarchies and preferences
based on, for example gender, ethnic origin, and wealth have been eliminated with a view to achieving
equality. Democracy recognizes worth and equal rights of all.

Discrimination not only forms a menace to the society, but also to the individual who is subjected to
such an adverse treatment as it is a direct denial of the equal worth of the victim. It is a violation of a
person’s identity. The consequences of discrimination match the severity of the offence, a causal link to
alienation, exclusion, radicalization and decreasing psychological well-being.
Therefore, discrimination is wrong because it is selfish. Discrimination throughout the world today
occurs to many extremes. Discrimination is happening all over the world, today for many reasons. One
being because parents have taught their children to believe and think the way they do. The only thing
we can do about it is to raise our children to not discriminate against others. It could lead to more
tension and fighting within people and groups. To sum up, the discrimination can cause many problems.
The government should constitute laws to avoid it, and society should also set up some organizations,
programs or communities to help build a better plateau – rid of discrimination.