“They Can Fight Their Own Fights”: Prejudice, Permissiveness, and Discrimination against Minorities

Andrade, Laura Novaes; Torres, Cláudio Vaz; Safdar, Saba

doi:10.1590/0102.3772e39507.en

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Social, Work and Organizations Psychology • Psic.: Teor. e Pesq. 39 • 2023 • https://doi.org/10.1590/0102.3772e39507.en copy

“They Can Fight Their Own Fights”: Prejudice, Permissiveness, and Discrimination against Minorities

“Ele Luta pela Causa Dele”: Preconceito, Permissividade e Discriminação contra Grupos Minoritários

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

ABSTRACT

The tendency to be permissive in face of a discriminatory situation is called collusion. The present study aimed to define and characterize collusion, and identify the variables connected to it, considering the perspective of different identity groups. Participants were 31 individuals divided in seven focus groups. The analysis indicated four categories connected to collusion: a) Close Relations: valuable interactions through which individuals learn behavioral patterns that lead to permissiveness; b) Group Identity: social identities, and intergroup relations patterns; c) Situation: characteristics of the situation in which discrimination is observed; and d) Cost-Effective Balance: perception the individuals have regarding the impact of their actions on the context and the cost attached to it.

KEYWORDS:
prejudice; discrimination; permissiveness; collusion

	Group	χ²	Text Segment	Comprehensive Speech
CR1	Heterosexuals	173.6	It’s always like that: when they’re together it’s okay, they interact normally, but when we get home, they [the parents] laugh and comment about it [homosexual people].	-
CR2	Homosexual Men	173.6	You’re at the organization and then the other person comes and says something [homophobic] and then you copiously cry. You go home and you cry, cry, cry.	-
CR3	Homosexual Women	134.6	It seems unbelievable. Note that my mother is 57 years old. I still think she thinks about it (homophobia), she sees it. But when it happens in their house, it seems that the parents get defensive. I don't know what’s that reaction about.	[I perform femininity] more than my so-called butch friends […], but I think that even today my mother still thinks that at any time I will want to become a man, something like that, and ‘will it be this week? This month?’. And every time we have an uncomfortable talk… like during the elections, I couldn’t handle my super conservative father, so I would talk to my mom about it, because we are closer and we have a good relationship, and she would reply ‘oh, so you want to become a man now?’. It seems unbelievable. Note that my mother is 57 years old. I still think she thinks about it (homophobia), she sees it. But when it happens in their house, it seems that the parents get defensive. I don't know what’s that reaction about.

	Group	χ²	Text Segment	Comprehensive Speech
GI1	White People	242.1	I’ve been trying to cut out ‘oh, it’s the black guy’ [from my vocabulary]. No, use his name.	I'm starting to try this change of attitude, to call people who eventually had a different nickname by their names. For example, my friend Café, his wife calls him by his name. At work, we use his last name. But among friends, we call him Café, that’s problematic. It's the same thing with words like ‘denigrating’. This was a wake-up call for me. Calling someone ‘the Black guy’ is something I don't do anymore. I’ve been trying to cut out ‘oh, it’s the Black guy’ [from my vocabulary]. No, use his name.
GI2	White People	132.6	But the normal joke… well, not normal, but…. The person can feel… you may think it’s normal but the person may not. Saying like ‘hey, Black guy’ something like that, if you are not close to the person, they can feel uncomfortable.	-
GI3	White People	130	And it's funny I never realized, I never wondered about my uncles and cousins being Black. I never distinguished my uncles and cousins who are naturally miscegenated, some are darker than others.	-

	Group	χ²	Text Segment	Comprehensive Speech
S1	Homosexual Women	73.7	Even at the University we see some micro-aggressions that I get like… come on, people!	Even at the University we see some micro-aggressions that I get like… come on, people! Everyone is there, and the place is a den of diversity and I don’t know if people simply don’t open their eyes to it. It goes so unnoticed and they don’t open their eyes.
S2	Women	55.18	I left the subway and the guy followed me. I was terrified. I was like: and now, what do I do?	This guy was following me. The policeman went there, stopped him and explained that that wagon was women-only. I explained to the policeman what had happened, and I had already sent a message to security. And then he asked me ‘did he touch you?’, and I said no, so he turned to the guy and told the him to go to the back wagon and told me ‘now everything is fine!’. But, like, he didn’t touch me because I didn’t let him, because I ran away. But that’s the point: ‘oh, if he didn’t touch you, then it’s not harassment’.
S3	Homosexual Men	54.7	Because like [they will say] ‘this guy is obnoxious’ or ‘no, he was quiet because he is good enough not to talk about it'	Because like [they will say] ‘this guy is obnoxious’ or ‘no, he was quiet because he is good enough not to talk about it'. And this, within the community, is reflected in the way the more masculine muscular gays are like 'the effeminate [gays] talk too much, they show it [homosexuality] too much, they don’t need to talk so much [about it], not everyone is like them'.

	Group	χ²	Text Segment	Comprehensive Speech
CEB1	Homosexual Men	114.9	Maybe people would confront more, maybe not. I’m very suspicious about it. Maybe I read too much about dialectical materialism.	Maybe people would confront more, maybe not. I’m very suspicious about it. Maybe I read too much about dialectical materialism. I don’t think there’s anything we can do. If it [homophobia] stops, something else will come up because if life doesn’t have fights, it doesn’t flow. […] I think violence against the social minorities will never stop.
CEB2	Black People	72.75	I think it’s an ethical matter, I don't know if it would be possible to do it, to make people go through [discriminatory] experiences.	When it is discussed it causes discomfort, but that discomfort is temporary, so the person discusses that topic, but continues in that inertia: they hear it now but they will continue practicing it [discrimination]. I think it’s an ethical matter, I don't know if it would be possible to do it, to make people go through [discriminatory] experiences that these people (minorities) go through. It is easier to be empathetic when you feel what other people feel.
CEB3	White People	64.58	And every time it [disparaging jokes] has happened specifically in that group, he was the one who said it. Nobody else would say it. And sometimes I feel there’s a discomfort when he says it, because nobody laughs either, maybe only someone here and there	I was thinking of some Whatsapp groups and one of them is from the church, and a colleague who is Black keeps sharing memes about Black people. He does it himself, and I don’t know if it’s a defense thing. […] And every time it has happened specifically in that group, he was the one who shared it. Nobody else would. And sometimes I feel there’s a discomfort when he does it, because nobody laughs either, maybe only someone here and there. There’s no way you can react to that, maybe he talks like that among friends because maybe he wants to protect himself by doing it.

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