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The challenges of living in a diverse society

Sometimes people with different cultural identities fail to understand each other. Misunderstanding can lead to fear. Fear can cause:

• Prejudice — intolerance and mistreatment of a person because of their race, religion, sexuality, disability or political beliefs.
• Stereotyping — making an unfair assumption or generalisation about a person based on an aspect of their cultural identity. Examples include the belief that ‘women can’t drive’, or describing people as ‘hoodies’ or ‘chavs’.
• Sectarianism — treating a person unfairly because of their religion. In Northern Ireland, this most commonly occurs between Catholics and Protestants.
• Racism — mistreating someone based on their race or ethnicity.
• Homophobia — disliking someone because of their sexual orientation.

These challenges can lead to conflict in a community if they are not properly addressed. If people from different communities do not, or cannot, integrate with one another they may feel excluded and isolated.

Discrimination

Discrimination is an action that denies a person their rights because of their cultural identity.

A common example is when a person who is otherwise qualified for a job is not employed because of their religion or race.

There are many ways that discrimination can affect a young person from a minority group. They may:

• feel that others dislike them, or are against them — this can make them feel excluded, isolated, and lonely
• find it difficult to make friends, as other young people may try to exclude them from their groups
• find it difficult to find employment and support themselves financially
• find it hard to get accommodation or housing in an area that they like.