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by spacemanmatt 1489 days ago
> In ordinary usage

Sounds like you are referring to a connotative value which is common to a subculture of English speakers. I learned to use the dictionary definition from sociology 101.

1 comments

You definitely didn’t learn the “dictionary definition” in any sociology class, but rather a redefinition of the term developed in social sciences circles that’s used mainly there.

https://www.google.com/search?q=racism&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=...

> noun prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against a person or people on the basis of their membership in a particular racial or ethnic group, typically one that is a minority or marginalized. "a program to combat racism"

That's nice that you think the dictionary definition is an newer academic construct
> That's nice that you think the dictionary definition is an newer academic construct

If you have to change the dictionary meaning of a word to make your argument work, it's your argument that is broken, not the dictionary.

I’m not sure I understand your point. The dictionary definition, as I quoted above, refers to prejudice. Is that what you learned in sociology?
The definition you quoted included discrimination which is another umbrella term like disproportionate effect. Why is it so hard to understand that racism is what racism does?
Discrimination is also another term that in ordinary usage requires intent to discriminate.

I don’t find the concept “hard to understand” I’m just talking about what commonly used words mean. “Racism” is a word that describes individual animosity. It’s confusing to try and overload it with other meanings.

> ordinary usage requires intent to discriminate

Disagreed. Our laws about discrimination against protected groups do not care about intent, nor do I care about intent when I am talking about a piece of code that serves to discriminate between one chunk of data and another in some fashion. In fact, even when I talk about people who discriminate, I rarely care about their intention.

> overload it with other meanings

I find the dictionary definitions suitable. I believe you have been arguing in favor of the overloaded social (connotative) meaning on this thread. Color me impressed.

Yes, prejudice was discussed, but prejudice is not descriptive of the social force that we talked about in sociology.