Editing Discrimination (section)

{{Short description|Prejudicial treatment based on membership in a certain group}}
{{About| prejudicial treatment|the ability to distinguish one thing from another|Discrimination (information)}}
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{{Distinguish|discriminant}}
{{Redirect |Bigot}}
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{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2020}}
[[File:Negro drinking at "Colored" water cooler in streetcar terminal, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma by Russell Lee.jpg |thumb|272px|An African-American man drinking from a [[Racial segregation in the United States|racially segregated]] water cooler marked "Colored", in [[Oklahoma City]] {{circa|1939}}|alt=]]
{{Discrimination sidebar|state=collapsed}}
'''Discrimination''' is the process of making unfair or prejudicial [[Distinction (sociology)|distinctions]] between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong,<ref>{{Cite web|title=What drives discrimination and how do we stop it?|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/discrimination/|access-date=2020-10-13|website=www.amnesty.org|publisher=[[Amnesty International]]|language=en|quote=Discrimination occurs when a person is unable to enjoy his or her human rights or other legal rights on an equal basis with others because of an unjustified distinction made in policy, law or treatment.}}</ref> such as [[Racial discrimination|race]], [[Sexism|gender]], [[Ageism|age]], [[Class discrimination|class]], [[Religious discrimination|religion]], or [[Sexual orientation discrimination|sexual orientation]].<ref name="apa-discrimination">{{Cite web|date=2019-10-31|title=Discrimination: What it is, and how to cope|url=https://www.apa.org/topics/discrimination|access-date=2020-10-13|publisher=[[American Psychological Association]] |quote=Discrimination is the unfair or prejudicial treatment of people and groups based on characteristics such as race, gender, age or sexual orientation.}}</ref> Discrimination typically leads to groups being unfairly treated on the basis of perceived statuses based on ethnic, racial, gender or religious categories.<ref name="apa-discrimination"/><ref>{{cite web|title=discrimination, definition|url=http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/american-english/discrimination |work=Cambridge Dictionaries Online|publisher=Cambridge University|access-date=March 29, 2013}}</ref> It involves depriving members of one group of opportunities or privileges that are available to members of another group.<ref>Introduction to sociology. 7th ed. New York: [[W. W. Norton & Company]] Inc, 2009. p. 334.</ref>

Discriminatory traditions, policies, ideas, practices and laws exist in many countries and [[institution]]s in all parts of the world, including some, where such discrimination is generally decried. In some places, countervailing measures such as quotas have been used to redress the balance in favor of those who are believed to be current or past victims of discrimination. These attempts have often been met with controversy, and sometimes been called [[reverse discrimination]].