Final answer:
While prejudice is a biased mindset, discrimination involves actions that treat individuals or groups unfavorably based on race, gender, religion, or other factors. Unprejudiced people can still engage in discrimination due to societal pressures, workplace dynamics, or economic factors.
Step-by-step explanation:
The statement, 'A person who is not prejudiced may still participate in discrimination', highlights a complex aspect of social behavior where individuals may engage in discriminatory practices even without harboring personal prejudices. Discrimination involves acting upon beliefs that some groups are inferior to others due to factors like race, gender, or religion. In contrast, prejudice is a biased mindset or negative attitude.
For example, in the workplace, an unprejudiced individual could still practice sexism unconsciously by failing to consider women for certain positions, perpetuating a cycle of inequality. Discriminatory actions are not limited to aggressive behavior but can be subtle, like paying disparate wages to equally qualified workers based on gender or race. Similarly, religious discrimination involves treating someone unfavorably because of their religious associations. Prejudiced nondiscriminators may hold racist views but not act on them, serving customers of all backgrounds equally. Prejudiced discriminators, however, both hold negative views and take discriminatory actions, such as hate crimes.
Economic theories, like those of Gary Becker, suggest discrimination can persist in markets due to managerial decisions influenced by the biases of employees or customers, potentially affecting a company's profitability and thus leading to discrimination without personal prejudice. In this way, societal norms play a crucial role in propagating discriminatory practices.