Final answer:
Discrimination is the unjust or prejudicial treatment of people based on characteristics such as race, age, or gender. It includes behaviors that treat a group as inferior, leading to unequal opportunities in areas like labor, housing, and education.
Step-by-step explanation:
The unfair treatment of a category of people, usually based on race, age, or gender, is known as discrimination. This involves actions that are taken based on the belief that members of a certain group are inferior or deserve less due to inherent traits such as race, gender, identity, religion, or other protected characteristics. In labor markets, an example of discrimination is when employees with identical qualifications receive different pay or job opportunities because of their race or gender, despite having the same skill levels as measured by education, experience, and expertise.
Discrimination is not only about biased actions in the workplace; it can also occur in other areas such as housing, education, and access to services, and it is classified as being either overt, such as Jim Crow laws that were once prevalent in the U.S., or more subtle, like the exclusion of older adults from certain social circles. Laws and conventions exist on both national and international levels to combat discrimination, including those enforced by the United States and the United Nations.