Reflexões sobre o preconceito - em busca de relações mais humanas

This study establishes the principles which generate prejudice present both in subjectivity and actual social relationships. Prejudice is conceived as a distorted appropriation of reality cohen people project in other people, group or society elements no acceptable in themselves. Prejudice could be present in individuals’ actions, language and attitudes. In relationships based in prejudice, the other human being is seen as just an object, and not as an active subject of the human relation and subjectivity. There are different factors which help in the appearance and development of prejudice in our society, for example: dogmatic relations, with no criticism, no history, and no reflection among individuals, poor identification of human beings with humanity, no equality in the relations, and difficulties in dealing with weakness and imperfections that are projected to the prejudice objects. In a capitalist world, based on private property, alienation and narcissism, prejudice alienates both the subject and object of prejudice in a static relation. There are so many examples of prejudice, uncountable as the history of mankind, and vary from the barbarism of holocaust to jokes and proverbs that project the negative characteristics of human kind to minor groups. This way, individuals should try to understand prejudice and its relations, in special the psychologist, should be able to develop such discussions in other to reflect and change prejudice relationships into more human, ethical and equal relations among mankind. Keywords: prejudice, attitudes, ethics, social relationship, holocaust