As the population of older Americans grows, it is becoming more racially and ethnically diverse. Differences in health by racial and ethnic status could be increasingly consequential for health policy and programs. Such differences are not simply a matter of education or ability to pay for health care. For instance, Asian Americans and Hispanics appear to be in better health, on a number of indicators, than White Americans, despite, on average, lower socioeconomic status. The reasons are complex, including possible roles for such factors as selective migration, risk behaviors, exposure to various stressors, patient attitudes, and geographic variation in health care. This volume, produced by a multidisciplinary panel, considers such possible explanations for racial and ethnic health differentials within an integrated framework. It provides a concise summary of available research and lays out a research agenda to address the many uncertainties in current knowledge. It recommends, for instance, looking at health differentials across the life course and deciphering the links between factors presumably producing differentials and biopsychosocial mechanisms that lead to impaired health.
Prejudice: The Target's Perspective turns the tables on the way prejudice has been looked at in the past. Almost all of the current information on prejudice focuses on the person holding prejudiced beliefs. This book, however, provides the first summary of research focusing on the intended victims of prejudice. Divided into three sections, the first part discusses how people identify prejudice, what types of prejudice they encounter, and how people react to this prejudice in interpersonal and intergroup settings. The second section discusses the effect of prejudice on task performance, assessment of ones own abilities, self-esteem, and stress. The final section examines how people cope with prejudice, including a discussion of coping mechanisms, reporting sexual harassment, and how identity is related to effective coping. - Includes an introduction, the consequences of prejudice, and how to cope with prejudice - The editors are top researchers in the field of prejudice - All the contributors are major figures in the social psychological analysis of intergroup relationships
Examines the historical patterns and results of prejudice and discrimination and their effects on such minorities as the homeless, blacks, women, homosexuals, and the handicapped.
Society consists of numerous interconnected, interacting, and interdependent groups, which differ in power and status. The consequences of belonging to a higher-status "majority" versus a lower-status "minority" can be profound. To understand the origins of the problems caused by majority-minority tensions and develop solutions, it is necessary to understand the dynamics of majority-minority relations. This volume brings together leading scholars in the fields of stigma, prejudice and discrimination, minority influence, and intergroup relations to provide diverse theoretical and methodological perspectives on what it means to be a minority.
Estimates indicate that as many as 1 in 4 Americans will experience a mental health problem or will misuse alcohol or drugs in their lifetimes. These disorders are among the most highly stigmatized health conditions in the United States, and they remain barriers to full participation in society in areas as basic as education, housing, and employment. Improving the lives of people with mental health and substance abuse disorders has been a priority in the United States for more than 50 years. The Community Mental Health Act of 1963 is considered a major turning point in America's efforts to improve behavioral healthcare. It ushered in an era of optimism and hope and laid the groundwork for the consumer movement and new models of recovery. The consumer movement gave voice to people with mental and substance use disorders and brought their perspectives and experience into national discussions about mental health. However over the same 50-year period, positive change in American public attitudes and beliefs about mental and substance use disorders has lagged behind these advances. Stigma is a complex social phenomenon based on a relationship between an attribute and a stereotype that assigns undesirable labels, qualities, and behaviors to a person with that attribute. Labeled individuals are then socially devalued, which leads to inequality and discrimination. This report contributes to national efforts to understand and change attitudes, beliefs and behaviors that can lead to stigma and discrimination. Changing stigma in a lasting way will require coordinated efforts, which are based on the best possible evidence, supported at the national level with multiyear funding, and planned and implemented by an effective coalition of representative stakeholders. Ending Discrimination Against People with Mental and Substance Use Disorders: The Evidence for Stigma Change explores stigma and discrimination faced by individuals with mental or substance use disorders and recommends effective strategies for reducing stigma and encouraging people to seek treatment and other supportive services. It offers a set of conclusions and recommendations about successful stigma change strategies and the research needed to inform and evaluate these efforts in the United States.
[TofC cont.] Conclusions, challenging prejudice: Undoing prejudice I, lessons from the three lenses; Undoing prejudice II, empowerment. [In this book, the author uses] historical, sociological, and psychological perspectives [to] help students see a ... complete picture of prejudice. -Pref. [This book first] consider[s] the meaning of differences and how prejudice is structured around dealing with differences.... [It next] examines those efforts to understand prejudice that argue that perhaps there is something about the targeted groups that would explain why they are thought ill of and perhaps even treated differently from the rest of "us." [The book then] refocuses ... from the targeted groups to the prejudiced person, arguing that perhaps there is something about people who are prejudiced that we must examine in order to understand this troubling topic. [Next, the author] argue[s] that because prejudice is an intergroup phenomenon ... perhaps it is best to examine prejudice in terms of intergroup relations. [Finally, the book addresses] two additional issues: the consequences of prejudice ... and what to do to reduce prejudice. -Ch. 1.
Society consists of numerous interconnected, interacting, and interdependent groups, which differ in power and status. The consequences of belonging to a more powerful, higher-status 'majority' versus a less powerful, lower-status 'minority' can be profound, and the tensions that arise between these groups are the root of society's most difficult problems. To understand the origins of these problems and develop solutions for them, it is necessary to understand the dynamics of majority-minority relations. This volume brings together leading scholars in the fields of stigma, prejudice and discrimination, minority influence, and intergroup relations to provide diverse theoretical and methodological perspectives on what it means to be a minority. The volume, which focuses on the strategies that minorities use in coping with majorities, is organized into three sections: 'Coping with Exclusion: Being Excluded for Who You Are'; 'Coping with Exclusion: Being Excluded for What You Think and Do'; and 'Coping with Inclusion'.