สำนักงานราชบัณฑิตยสภา

79 นพมาศ อุ้งพระ วารสารราชบัณฑิตยสถาน ปีที่ ๓๘ ฉบับที่ ๔ ต.ค.-ธ.ค. ๒๕๕๖ Abstract Prejudice, discrimination and human relations Nopamas Oungphra Associate Fellow of the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, The Royal Institute, Thailand Human nature is extremely complex. While humans possess many virtues and strengths, they also have weaknesses which make many people vulnerable and unable to overcome the influences of the dark side of human existence. The true challenges in life is to live up to the ideals while facing the harsh and demanding reality. Prejudice is a form of negative attitude which testifies to the reality of life that the struggle between the good and the bad, the right and the wrong requires tremendous strength. The interesting thing is even a nation such as the United State of America which was founded on the most liberal, democratic and humanistic philosophical and religious backgrounds, has also fallen victim to the dark side of development and some of the American people failed to live up to the ideals of the founding fathers. Most social systems share the common practice which is to be founded on the basis of ideals. The difference lies in the creation of the social structures that are congruent and supportive of the achievement of the ideals or totally against it. The American social structure and philosophy are basically supportive of the achievement of its ideals. As a result of the scale of damages created by the holocaust in which Adolph Hitler killed 6 million jews based on his prejudice against them and as a process of self-searching and soul-searching among the American intellectuals, prejudice has become a topic that has been intensively and widely investigated as well as trying to come up with research results that help reducing prejudice among the American population. The distinctive characteristic of the American culture is to face reality head on and improve the situation with in earnest and with the support of a sound and liberal educational system. Due to the existence of basic human needs and basic human weaknesses, prejudice has been part of human civilization for a long time and it exists as part of some people’s lives. As long as humans still struggle to achieve self-esteem and to protect economic interests, etc., prejudice will remain to be a convenient mechanism for survival and maintenance of negatively achieved self-esteem. The difference between the American prejudice and prejudice and discrimi- nation that exist elsewhere in the world which might be even more severe is that while the Americans face the problem head on and try to improve, other societies may resort to repression or suppression.