Study: Prejudicial attitudes not reduced following legislation
Prejudiced attitudes towards minorities have not reduced as a result of equality legislation, say researchers at the University of Sheffield, UK.
In a study part-funded by the European Research Council, scientists found that prejudiced attitudes have ‘just been privatised’. The investigation looked at attitudes towards minority groups and legislation in the UK and identified widespread hostility towards laws and regulations which were viewed as unfairly privileging minority groups. The review found that people alter how they relate to others in public out of an obligation to comply with the law, rather than because they believe in or accept the values enshrined in it.
Many of the respondents claimed their ‘true’ opinions about minority groups could only be freely voiced in the private setting of their home amongst people they trust where they are immune from legal constraints and the expectations of society.
Commenting on the study, author of the report and pro-vice-chancellor of the faculty of social sciences, Professor Gill Valentine, said: “Equality legislation produces an expectation that the UK has a progressive and cosmopolitan public culture yet rather than prejudiced views disappearing, as a consequence of the obligation to comply, it is just changing its form. Blatant public expressions of intolerance are becoming less commonplace but privatised and discrete forms of prejudice persist. A privatisation of prejudice is taking place.”
The majority of those asked in the study acknowledged they know little about the specifics of the Equality Act 2010, but expressed hostility to the form and content of the equality law which they dubbed ‘political correctness’. The research revealed a perception that behaviour in public is regulated and controlled by equality legislation, and was seen as restricting natural or normal ways of behaving in public space.
The research found that the workplace was named as an area where people viewed these forms of regulation as being particularly prevalent and feared expressing prejudice there because of the risk of legal sanction or disciplinary action. It was also felt these forms of legislation unduly privileged minority groups.
The study was carried out as part of a wider research programme at the University of Sheffield called LIVEDIFFERENCE.
