Introduction
Regional discrimination is different from racial discrimination. It is because the people within the nation are usually unfamiliar with people in other regions, and cultural and economic differences and inequalities, which can lead to prejudice and even demonization. For example, the discrimination and prejudice of Chinese urban people against country folks and migrant workers, and the regional prejudice against people from Northeast China, Xinjiang people, Tibetans, Beijingers, Shanghainese, Cantonese, Henanese, etc. When a foreigner comes to an area unfamiliar with him, the local people will explain their character based on the prejudice in the society, which may lead to prejudice and demonization.
Regional demonization is mostly manifested on the Internet as territorial posts, territorial jokes, and territorial attacks. When prejudice and demonization occur through institutional government actions, corporate actions, or personal behaviors such as insulting words, which damage the interests or reputation of others, these behaviors can be regarded as discriminatory behaviors, or even criminal behaviors, called regional discrimination. Regional discrimination is different from territorial demonization. Regional discrimination causes substantial damage to the interests and reputation of the discriminated person. Therefore, it is no longer as simple as a personal impression or a joke. Regional discrimination generally needs to be resolved through legal procedures.
(This image shows that this road has always been forbidden by outside builders in Dongguan.)
Features
1. Regional discrimination can be due to gaps in economic and social development.
Regional gaps exist objectively, and various conflicts of interest will inevitably arise due to competition for resources between regions. The existence of regional gaps and conflicts of regional interests will inevitably be reflected in social psychology, forming a sense of superiority for people in advantageous regions. If this sense of superiority is uncontrolled and excessively inflated, discrimination against backward areas and disadvantaged groups will be unavoidable.
2. Regional discrimination is a manifestation of China’s “social stereotype”.
The so-called “social stereotype” refers to a set of fixed views (usually with one-sided and negative colors) of a certain type of people, and uses this as a frame of reference, subjectively thinking that all members of this group of people conform to this Kind of opinion. “Social stereotype” is the simplest understanding of social groups. Although it is conducive to a general understanding of a certain group, it is also prone to deviations, leading to “preconceptions” prejudices and hindering normal understanding and understanding between people. Associate. “Stereotypes” also often lead to misunderstandings, because “stereotypes” are not based on facts, sometimes due to the rationalization of prejudice, and sometimes infer that individuals must have certain characteristics (not necessarily in fact) based on the fact that the group has certain characteristics. This characteristic is formed.
3. Regional discrimination is the result of herd mentality and collective unconsciousness.
In the modern information “big bang” society, ordinary people are particularly prone to lose the ability to think and judge independently, and often do not make independent thinking and rational judgments about many things, thus forming the phenomenon of herd mentality and collective unconsciousness. For example, some media reports on cases of crimes committed by the floating population have often become the psychological basis for people to judge the people around them, and they have been exaggerated and enlarged, making it easy to treat a certain group in a symbolic and labeled way. This cannot but be said to be an important social and psychological basis for regional discrimination.
4. Regional discrimination is a manifestation of the mentality of “low and poor”.
China is currently in a period of social transformation, and social development has a series of phased characteristics, such as various social contradictions are intertwined, and there are many social problems. In particular, the psychology of “hatred of the rich” and “base and poor” caused by the continuous expansion of the gap between the rich and the poor has widened the gap between the poor and the rich. People in poor places are vulnerable to discrimination when they go to some economically developed coastal provinces to earn a living. In a sense, their hometown is too poor. The rich look down on the poor, and the city people look down on the rural people. This discriminates.
5. Regional discrimination is also a reflection of the consciousness of small farmers.
China has been in an agricultural society for a long time and has formed a deep-rooted consciousness and psychology of small farmers. The typical reflection of smallholder consciousness and smallholder psychology in interpersonal relationships is discrimination between families due to family identity, and rural discrimination due to identification with the countryside. On the surface, regional discrimination shows that people in cities look down on rural people, and people in developed areas look down on people in backward areas, but in its bones and deep down, it is still the peasant psychology at work.
(This image shows that a certain university only admits local students, and does not consider other regions’ students at all.)
Social harm
The social harm of regional discrimination is obvious. Taking Northeast and Henan as examples, regional discrimination not only deprives some people of their right to subsistence to a certain extent, and creates social injustice, but it also tends to cause some low-quality people to breed criminal psychology, thus posing new harm to society. If a China with a population of 1.3 billion, hundreds of millions of people are treated unfairly, the “explosive force” these people will produce after being provoked is conceivable. Therefore, we must take precautions and attach great importance to regional discrimination.
Regionaldiscrimination is contrary to the concepts of fairness, equality, and justice advocated by modern society, and it is not conducive to the protection of human rights. Any society, let alone development, is also the basic foundation in terms of stability. A fair society has at least three levels of fairness: one is the fairness of the starting point, the other is the fairness of the process, and the third is the fairness of the result. If a person is in a situation of being discriminated against, it will have a negative psychological impact on the individual, and even make the individual take some extreme acts of revenge against society. We want to build a harmonious society, and regional discrimination will breed some potential social contradictions, which can easily bring some negative effects to a harmonious society.
First, in China, regional discrimination is not conducive to building a fair, just, and harmonious society. Regional discrimination violates the basic principles of fairness and justice, is unfair to the discriminated person, and lacks justice. Contempt of the dialect on the bus, some shops put up signs not to sell goods from a certain place, and the recruiting unit claimed that they did not want people from a certain place. In 2011, a Shenzhen police station pulled out a large banner to “resolutely crack down on Henan extortion gangs” and other regional discrimination. Phenomena are all illegal acts that are contrary to fairness and justice.
Second, regional discrimination is not conducive to building a harmonious society of honesty and friendship. Integrity requires members of society to consciously abide by social rules, rules and regulations, and public order. Friendship emphasizes the need to advocate equality, fraternity, and harmony among all people in the whole society.
Third, regional discrimination is not conducive to the formation of a social situation in which everyone does their best, gets what they can, and lives in harmony. Regional discrimination will make society a state that is difficult to integrate. After the intensification of contradictions, it can easily lead to a state of tearing in the society, which is what sociologists call “fractured society.” A “fractured society” can never be a harmonious society.
So what should we do?
1. When you are subject to regional discrimination, it means that you are competing for a certain resource with the discriminator. In many cases, the discriminators are the real disadvantaged, because they can do nothing but verbal attack.
2. I agree with and appreciate many people’s peace of mind for years and years, but I still hope that young people have the courage to face confrontation and competition. Contradictions are not terrible, and there is nothing wrong with doing something that is labeled “others”. The most terrifying thing is lying in one’s own comfortable circle, trapped by the verbal and moral shackles of others, willing to be a victim of conflicts in-group interests, and when someone points out a problem, he has to jump out to defend the perpetrator and say that he is in harmony with the perpetrator. Everyone gets along well.
3. Everyone has discrimination in their hearts, but education and life experience will make us calm and restrained when we want to discriminate against others. As far as the discriminated person is concerned, we must be self-reliant, improve our own quality, strive to change our own image, and use actions to change the prejudices of others.
4. As far as the country is concerned. The most fundamental thing to oppose regional discrimination is to rely on development, especially to speed up the development of backward areas, so as to gradually narrow the regional gap.
Reference:
http://k.sina.com.cn/article_6421091740_17eba159c00100b3zf.html
https://www.360kuai.com/pc/9e3459ef8e490d406?cota=4&tj_url=so_rec&sign=360_57c3bbd1&refer_scene=so_1
http://news.163.com/special/reviews/placist.html
https://www.zhihu.com/question/23447238
Zhang, Ran. “Media, litigation, and regional discrimination in college admission in China.” Chinese Education & Society 43.4 (2010): 60-74.
Peng, Altman Yuzhu. “Amplification of regional discrimination on Chinese news portals: An affective critical discourse analysis.” Convergence (2020): 1354856520977851.