For my presentation, I dove into the more sociological aspect of the book and came up with the question: Why is prejudice harmful to society?

Now this can be argued in two ways. Some might say that because of our unfair society, prejudice is a natural and inherent result. They might say it is almost necessary for diversity among culture, to have different biases about specific people.

On the other hand, others might argue that the whole concept of prejudice is bad—favoring some over others. They might explain the negative effects it has on the individual and society, and that is what we will be talking about today.

Sandra Seitz describes the negative effects of prejudice on not only the victims of bias, but of those who harbor prejudicial attitudes, in her article “Prejudices are Bad for Everybody.” She dives into the connections made between prejudices and poor physical, social, and mental health. We learn in the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, that Tim Robinson and Boo Radley suffer the hardest consequences, yet surprisingly, even Bob Ewell and his daughter, who hold prejudices are terribly hurt.

The idea of discrimination and judgement is proven to correlate to surprisingly, harming oneself. When people say discriminating things or make prejudicial comments, they are subtly trying to elevate themselves, which always connects back to a deeper insecurity in one’s nature. More specifically, researchers measured the increase in “level of depression, presence of physical symptoms, [decrease in] social support network, general perceived health status and self-esteem” (Seitz 8). If you look deeper into the nature of Maycomb’s inhabitants, many a time the hurt and discrimination they induce, is because they have been hurt or discriminated in one way or another.

All of this information and content supports my own belief and opinion that prejudice, in every way hurts society. Not only does discrimination prove dangerous to a population or the victims of It, but also the individual and those who hold prejudices. Sandra Seitz most simply puts it, “Prejudice has a powerful and harmful effect” to everyone (Setz 12). All in all, people desperately need Biblical love that overlooks differences and sees the person behind the skin.

MLA citation:
Lee, Harper. “To Kill a Mockingbird.” New York :Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006.

Seitz, Sandra. “Prejudices are Bad for Everybody.” Umass Lowell, June 2011. www.uml.edu/news/ stories/2010-11/prejudice_affects_health.aspx, Accessed 30 October 2019.