Racism, Sexism and Socioeconomic Prejudice in Harper Lees...

People are not born prejudiced. â€Å"It is something that is learned. It can be learned in the same way other attitudes and values are learned, primarily through association, reinforcement and modeling. For example, children may learn to associate a particular ethnic group with poverty, crime, violence and other negative things† (2006 Anti-Defamation League). Also, prejudice in â€Å"children may be reinforced by listening to derogatory ethnic jokes, especially when others laugh along or think theyre cool†. Lastly, children may simply imitate the prejudices of their older family members and popular friends. Prejudice is to pre- judge. â€Å"Prejudice is a baseless and usually negative attitude toward members of a group. Common features of prejudice†¦show more content†¦One of the main chaacters later on in the novel Bob Ewell accused Tom Robinson of raping and beating his daughter, Mayella Ewell. A few days later, when the case was brought to court, Tom was found guilty although everybody new that Tom did not really do it. Atticus Finch, Tom’s lawyer, had proven to the jury that it was Bob who had raped his daughter, but since Tom was black nobody was going to question it if he was in jail or not. It was clear that Bob had a grudge against Tom because he accused Tom of abusing his daughter when he hadn’t seen anything happen. Overall, racism has been going on for many yeas and although it may not be as much as of a problem it is still happening. Another type of prejudice is sexism is a problem all over the world, just as it is in To Kill a Mockingbird. Sexism is an â€Å"attitude or behavior towards people that judge or belittle them in the basis of their gender†. ( megaessay.com) women have been more effected by sexism through out a number of years, women were to only wear dresses, not aloud to work but to only stay home clean, look after the house and the children. Also they were not allowed out without a male escort and were not eligible to vote in elections. In the novel, Scoutt Finch is always dressing like a boy in overalls. Scoutt’s Aunt Alexander was always trying to get her to wear dresses and telling her to be more lady like. One day Scoutt and her brother were playing and Scoutt got upset