Benign Bigotry

Focuses on commonly held cultural myths as the basis for examining subtle forms of racial, sexual, gender and religious bias.
While overt prejudice is now much less prevalent than in decades past,
subtle prejudice – prejudice that is inconspicuous, indirect, and often
unconscious – continues to pervade our society. Laws do not protect
against subtle prejudice and, because of its covert nature, it is difficult to
observe, and frequently goes undetected by both perpetrator and victim.
Benign Bigotry uses a fresh, original format to examine subtle prejudice by
addressing six commonly held cultural myths based on assumptions that
appear harmless but actually foster discrimination: “those people all look
alike”; “they must be guilty of something”; “feminists are man-haters”;
“gays flaunt their sexuality”; “I’m not a racist, I’m colorblind” and
“affirmative action is reverse racism.” Kristin J. Anderson skillfully
relates each of these myths to real-world events, emphasizes how errors
in individual thinking can affect society at large, and suggests strategies for
reducing prejudice in daily life.
Kristin J. Anderson is Associate Professor of Psychology in the Social
Sciences Department at the University of Houston-Downtown. She
teaches college courses on prejudice, discrimination, and stereotyping,
and her work has been published in many academic journals including
Developmental Psychology, Journal of Language and Social Psychology,
Sex Roles, and Journal of Latinos and Education.