Normative Discrimination: the Foundation of Prejudice

An excerpt from the forthcoming book “Rethinking Misrecognition and Struggles for Recognition”

Discriminations are behaviors in which individuals believe they are acting appropriately.

Normative discrimination is the authoritative core of hierarchical oppression that separates out a social group for exclusion from the benefits accorded to “proper” social groups. What I call “normative discrimination” is the use of recognition-like norms that designate particular social groups as having negative traits that characterize those groups as deficient and inferior. These norms are a form of negative recognition that mediates our interactions with certain groups, dictating that the appropriate response is to deny these groups positive recognition and moral consideration. Because the discrimination is guided by recognition-like norms, individuals perpetrate it believing they are behaving properly.

The negative recognition of normative discrimination differs from a negative response to violations of norms such as disapproving of dishonesty or theft. There, the negative response recognizes the rights of those who have been wronged, and a negative response to wrongdoers is an appropriate upholding of norms. When we punish someone who has been convicted of a crime with imprisonment or fines, we are upholding general norms that recognize the rights of victims of the…