12 Angry Men

Presentation by Molly Stening

 Prejudice and it’s background

As prejudice and racism have caused enormous suffering across history. Prejudice
and racism both refer to a negative view of one group of people based solely on
their membership in that group. Racism is a specific form of prejudice, involving
disclosure attitudes or behavior towards members of an ethnic group. The
definition of race is somewhat variable but commonly refers to an ethnic group
originating on a specific continent, such as people of African, European or Asian
descent.
 What is stereotyping and how does it relate
to social prejudice?

Stereotyping goes hand in hand with prejudice. The term stereotype was first
introduced by the journalist Walter Lippman in 1922. Previously the term had
been used in the printing business. When we stereotype people, we indicate a
series of traits to them based on the one trait that signals their membership in a
particular group. By definition, stereotypes are limiting and disregard people's
individuality. They also lend themselves to negative and disrespectful
assumptions. When that happens the stereotype blends into prejudice.
 How do we reduce social prejudice?
Given that our universe is diverse and multi-ethnic, it’s of great importance to
understand ways to reduce social prejudice. In the 1950's, Gordon Allport
introduced the intergroup-contact speculation. In this view, intergroup contact under
positive conditions can reduce social prejudice. The necessary conditions include :

1 - Cooperation towards shared goals, equal status between groups 2

- The support of local authorities and cultural norms

Considerable research since then has supported these ideas. In a 2003 review,
Stephen Wright and Donald Taylor also noted the effectiveness of identification
with a super-ordinate group. In other words, different groups can come together as part
of one overarching group, for example as part of one community or of a common
humanity.
 Does cross-grouping friendships reduce
social prejudice?
Positive emotional experiences with members of different groups can also reduce
negative stereotypes. Having close friends from different groups is especially
effective in this regard. There may be several reasons for this. For one, it is near
impossible to hold onto a superficial, negative stereotype of someone you know
well. Secondly, a close relationship promotes identification with the other person
and of the groups they belong to. In other words, your relationships with other
people become part of who you are. This is referred to as

“including the other in the self,”

a notion introduced by Stephen Wright and Arthur Aron.

 Issues with Prejudice to this day

One story from The Independent published on April 4th 2017.

The headline travelled all over the globe about a Muslim family who were told to
leave a passenger plane because of a "flight security issue" has asked for an
apology from the airline. Air crew on a United Airlines flight to Washington told
the family, who were going on holiday, to leave the plane after the parents asked
for an extra safety belt.
12 Angry men
Analysis of prejudice within the play
 Juror’s
Foreman- responsible and organized
2- shy and participating
3- confident and bad relationship with son
4- serious and logic
5- ived in the slums all his life, gives details on the switchblade
6- happy that he skipped work to be there, respects J9 (old)
7- main concern is missing a ball game, only voted simply to try finish the
deliberations faster
8-determined
9- respect towards J8, finally agrees to vote ‘not guilty’
10- aggressive, judgemental and shows no sympathy
11- loyal and talkative
12- constantly distracted
 Juror’s
Foreman- responsible and organized
2- shy and participating
3- confident and bad relationship with son
4- serious and logic
5- ived in the slums all his life, gives details on the switchblade
6- happy that he skipped work to be there, respects J9 (old)
7- main concern is missing a ball game, only voted simply to try finish the
deliberations faster
8-determined
9- respect towards J8, finally agrees to vote ‘not guilty’
10- aggressive, judgemental and shows no sympathy
11- loyal and talkative
12- constantly distracted
 Juror’s 3 and 10
The longer the discussion goes on, the more we realize that jurors (like #3 and
#10) are just really grudge bearing people who want to send the kid to the electric
chair for petty, personal reasons. However, Juror 8 continues his assault on the
evidence by proving that it was impossible for one of the witnesses (an old man) to
have been in the place he was when he allegedly saw the defendant observing the
murder scene. Suddenly (and by suddenly we mean after long debate), there are
just as many votes for Not Guilty as there are for Guilty.
Thank you