“What Does Modern Prejudice Look Like” by Shankar Vedatam
The Author, the Date, and the Intended Audience of the Primary Source
The article written by Shankar Vedatam explores the discussion from the Hidden Brain podcast, where several participants explored Mahzarin Banaji’s book about biases in modern society. Banaji was a Harvard professor who specialized in social psychology.
The article was written on April 22, 2013, while Banaji’s book Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People was published earlier in 2013. The article was published on NPR’s website as part of the Code Switch podcast series, while Banaji’s book was published by Delacorte Press.
The intended audience for the podcast includes psychologists interested in the latest research trends and ordinary people interested in science and psychology.
The Reason Behind the Creation of the Primary Source
The history behind the origins of Banaji’s book focuses on her friend’s experience with unintentional bias and favoritism. Banaji’s friend received a higher quality of medical care services when information about her prestigious position as a Yale professor became known to the specialists. Therefore, Banaji’s book presents an alternative view on the psychological research of prejudice mechanisms and the ways they can affect society.
The Perspectives Presented in the Source
Banaji’s position is that modern prejudice can take different forms, and the one that often can be found in the communication of modern people is favoritism. The author also explains that the seemingly insignificant problem of unintentional biases can cause significant harm to society by supporting prejudice. Thus, the podcast and the book explore Banaji’s perspective on the problem of prejudice in the form of favoritism in people who indirectly infringe on the interests of vulnerable segments of the population by practicing favoritism.
Two States. Eight Textbooks. Two American Stories by Dana Goldstein
The Author, the Date, and the Intended Audience of the Primary Source
The article was written by Dana Goldstein; the article also includes examples from different textbooks but does not mention individual authors, primarily focusing on publishers’ work.
The article does not provide additional information about the author’s position in society at the time the primary source was created. However, from the author’s extensive knowledge of the process of publishing textbooks, it can be assumed that the author was a journalist in the field of education.
The article was published on the New York Times website on January 12, 2020. Since the article uses several interactive elements, allowing the readers an opportunity to take a closer look at the differences between textbooks, the article was published on the New York Times website.
The intended audiences for the article are students wondering about the difference between textbooks in different states, educators, parents, and people interested in the modern domestic politics of the country.
The Reason Behind the Creation of the Primary Source
The article explains how political parties can manipulate the weaknesses of textbook publishers to form a favorable political position among the younger generation. The author provides many examples of how the same textbooks are edited differently in California and Texas states. Furthermore, the author explores how the interference of politics and religion in the educational process can negatively affect students’ perception of historical events.
The Perspectives Presented in the Source
The article mainly explores the perspectives of liberal and conservative parties but also includes important information about the publishers’ perspectives on the issue. The author explains that conservatives insist that schools should promote patriotism, while liberals support the idea of studying history from the perspective of disadvantaged groups. Lastly, publishers accept all possible changes to the Learning materials to remain competitive with electronic publications.
The Presence of Bias in the Primary Sources
Both primary sources explore how the spread of negative biases is supported in society. The first article explores how unintentional biases and favoritism harm the unprivileged groups of society and support the spread of prejudices. The second article explores how incorporating political and religious opinions into the educational process supports the spread of prejudices in the future society, hiding behind the ideas of patriotism.
The Representation of the Historical Event in the Primary Sources
Both articles focus on the problem of prejudices and external influence on people’s perception of the world. However, the first article shares a story of personal experience to effectively convey the idea about the potential harm of unintentional biases. On the other hand, the second article features a significant body of evidence to convey the importance of creating uniform learning standards to eliminate the problem of prejudice.
References
Vendatam, S. (2013). What does modern prejudice look like? NPR. Web.
Goldstein, D. (2020). Two States. Eight Textbooks. Two American Stories. New York Times. Web.