(a) Prejudice and discrimination are closely linked and discrimination is a result of prejudice. Prejudice exists because of the beliefs and assumptions of groups in society, and when such roles are not conformed to strictly by members of a group, they view it as wrong and thus lead to discrimination, which arises when actions are taken against the minority.
When a dominant group is established in a group of people, they generally feel more empowered and feel more privileged for having more power. The dominant group holds certain discriminatory beliefs and prejudice, which exist because of several reasons; for example historical conflicts that traditionally make one group more prominent. As a result, the group that enjoys more rights would consciously want to continue dominating and thus act against unconformity by preventing others from the same opportunities and privileges.
Discriminatory norms may also manifest itself through oppressive institutions like apartheid, where the minority group is targeted based on preconceived notions about them, for example, their appearance or cultural practices. Apartheid causes one group to feel superior and another, inferior. Discriminatory norms are conformed to because of the innate human desire to want to belong. Hence, though some may not fully agree with such norms, they end up conforming and ultimately execute these norms by giving themselves more rights.
The normalisation of discriminatory norms eventually culminate into actual class division in society as the basis of such norms is to minimise social interaction and contact with “the other”. This largely divisive mentality causes the members of the groups to become xenophobic and entrenched in an environment where everyone outside of their groups is perceived as undesirable, eventually developing an in-group thinking and repelling anyone in the out-group. This may escalate in to hostility among the groups, and if not prevented it would result in open confrontation and escalate into violence.
To sum up, discrimination persists because of discriminatory norms and prejudice arising out of cultural and religious differences. As mentioned, over time discriminatory norms could become more influential and decisive in the behaviours of the dominant group, and be taken as acceptable. It then becomes difficult to change and eliminate such mentality and behaviour for these are passed down for a very long time and even through generations. Discriminatory norms, as long as they persist, feeds discrimination. With discriminatory norms being a huge part of their identities, it is hard to get rid of such negative perceptions. As such, discrimination persists and is difficult to change.
(b) The Troubles was a violent thirty year conflict between the unionists and nationalists of Northern Ireland. On one side was the nationalists who were fighting for a reunion of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and on the other was the unionists fighting to remain part of the United Kingdom. This was characterised by the identity of the unionists and nationalists, who are mostly Protestants and Catholics, respectively.
In The Troubles, the Protestant unionists were the dominant group and they felt a sense of entitlement and privilege. This was largely because of the historical background they shared with the United Kingdom as Protestant descendants. On the other hand, the mostly Catholic nationalists were the minority and were the targets of discrimination for many years due to historical conflict. They were discriminated against for their beliefs and for being “traitors” after the UK broke free from the Roman Catholic Empire and established itself as a Protestant monarchy. Thus, this sparked the start of anti-Catholicism in the UK, and more prominently in Northern Ireland, which had a higher proportion of Catholics at 40% as compared to the rest of UK. (Cottrell-Boyce, F., 2017)
As a result, Catholics and Protestants were brought up very differently, and were entitled to varying degrees of rights. Similar to what was seen in (a), apartheid was the main cause of discrimination. Discriminatory norms arose from the religious conflict and the Catholics were heavily targeted against. Such norms were inculcated into the education of both Catholics and Protestants, and as such, they were brought up in the environment where discriminatory norms were normalised, accepted and further instituted into their daily lives.
For example, for a long time, the mainly Protestant unionists had enjoyed privileges over the Catholics in various areas spanning from housing size, ease of employment, and sufficient political representation. Unemployment stood at 5.6% for Protestants, but 13.9% for Catholics in 1972, indicating the large unemployment gap between the two groups. (Osborne, R.D. & Cormack, R.J., 1986) Thus, when the call for equality between Catholics and Protestants came about, the greatest fear for the Protestants was losing their existing rights which, undoubtedly made their lives better. The irrational fear of potentially losing all the rights they had motivated the unionists to fight for themselves and against the nationalists. For Catholics who had always been muted politically, they were now trying to speak up for themselves by calling for a “one man one vote” system which ensured income inequality and housing type was not a factor affecting political participation.
This also meant that during The Troubles, the previously longstanding prejudice that each party had of the other manifested into discrimination in real life. This initially began with peaceful protests led by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association in 1968, and although met with objection from the Protestants, did not turn violent. However, as increasing pressure and anger built up amongst both parties, this led to the first major and significant violence of the Troubles. In the Battle of the Bogside in 1969 between the nationalists and unionists, 8 died and almost 800 were injured. (alphahistory, n.d.) British troops were sent into Northern Ireland to prevent and curb the violence and it was seen as a move against the nationalists, which led to the emergence of the Irish Republican Army (IRA).
As a result, widespread violence and disorder followed, and this escalated into larger scaled riots and eventually, Bloody Sunday. This was a significant turning point in the history of conflict as it sparked the start of actual violence in Northern Ireland. The intervention of the UK government changed the nature of the Troubles and made it a national problem. Even so, the British troops failed to uphold peace and instead incited more anger when they fired into the crowd, killing 13 and wounding 13. This was significant for it increased the hostility towards the British army and strengthened the IRA membership. (S., OCurry & A.N., Flood, 2012) Soon, Catholics and Protestants were further socially divided after segregating themselves into housing estates based on their religion. By 1972, 99% of Protestants and 75% Catholics had moved to live on streets where they were the majority. (Wright, 1988)
Discrimination against the other religious sect by the Protestants and Catholics led to The Troubles. The discriminatory education system they were brought up in taught them to conform to discriminatory norms, such as believing that one group was better than the other, and to want to continue protecting their rights. As a whole, the Protestants carried out discriminatory acts against the Catholics, depriving them of any rights to improve their lives. When the Catholics attempted to eradicate these norms, they were seen to be stepping beyond what was expected of them. As such, the peaceful protests were seen as blasphemy and resulted in physical actions being taken to get rid of the Catholics. Such norms have and will continue to be the basis of discrimination. In The Troubles, discrimination did not cease to exist because of the long standing conflict and indoctrinated beliefs that each party had of each other, denying the right of the other to exist. Thus, not only did discrimination not stop it instead escalated and led to full blown violence between the two parties.