Development of Religious Prejudice

Prejudice plays an important role in group relations. Inter group relations are more often characterized by mental suspicion, ill feeling, disagreement and tension. Prejudices are socially learnt. A child acquires prejudice through the process of socialization as the she/he grows in age. In recent times social psychologists have shown considerable interest in the study of the development of prejudice, not only to understand the nature and pattern of its development in children of varying age groups, but also to evolve strategies to control the growth and spread of prejudice so as to help in the development of an egalitarian human society. In a heterogeneous country like India, the problem of religious prejudice should receive attention on a priority basis. The book provides a comprehensive and comparative account of the emergence of religious identify and prejudice in Parsi and Hindu children. This is a piece of pioneering research work on Parsi children – a minority group in India, which had escaped the attention of earlier researchers. The study has been conducted skillfully and systematically. The theoretical background presented by the investigator provides a good rationale and justification for the research. The measuring instruments are sound and developed with a sense of originality without losing the scientific thrust. The research reported in this book has made a valuable contribution to the existing information on the development of religious identify and prejudice in children.