Islamophobia as a Social Problem: 2006 Presidential Address

“Prejudice is an antipathy based on faulty and inflexible generalization. It may be felt or expressed. It may be directed toward a group or an individual of that group.” So the social psychologist Gordon Allport defined prejudice in a 1954 book on the subject. My focus today is on a specific sort of prejudice and discrimination, that against Muslims. Prejudice is generally recognized as similar in meaning to bias, and as having to do with attitudes and beliefs. Discrimination is the practical disadvantaging of the member of a class of persons, not for his or her personal actions but for those associated with his or her group by the majority in society.