What are norms and prejudice exactly?
Norms are the unwritten rules that control how we are expected to be, look like, and act. Norms arise to make it easier to live in society and understand your surroundings. A norm can be to wait for your turn in a queue, and conflicts are avoided by following the norm. But some norms are connected with power structures, and instead of making everyday life easier, people get restricted, belittled, and undermined.
Prejudice is preconceived notions, attitudes, or stereotypes of another person or group. Prejudice is often based on gender, age, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation and often arises when you lack enough experience or knowledge to make an accurate judgement. Typical prejudice is that all women know how to use make-up and that men know how to change tyres.
It is about:
- Norms guiding our everyday life and how we act towards each other.
- Norms making the interplay between people easier, but can also lead to limitations and impediments.
- Prejudice making us ascribe certain qualities to people in advance.
- Preconceived notions making it much more difficult for people to show their personal qualities and skills.
Why is it important to be aware of norms and prejudice?
Norms and prejudice can lead to unfair treatment, which in turn contributes to discrimination and inequality in society. What women do tend to be less valued than what men do, for example. That has an effect on women’s salaries, career opportunities, and status. People with non-Scandinavian names are not invited to job interviews to the same extent as people with typical Swedish names, which makes it more difficult to enter the job market.
By being aware of norms and by working against prejudice, a foundation to a more inclusive and fair world is laid. Beyond prejudice, people get the chance to show what they can, to develop, and to contribute with their unique knowledge and experience. The world becomes richer and more interesting, and the workplace is more productive.
A few examples of norms
- That women are expected to want to have children.
- That a family consists of a woman, a man, and their biological children.
- That men should not show emotions (except in sport situations).
- That “Swedish” is the same as being fair-skinned.
A few examples of prejudice
- That all people from the Middle East are practising Muslims.
- That men are better at technology than women.
- That people with overweight are lazy.
- That homosexual men are effeminate.
How to start changing
Educate and create awareness
Start with yourself! Raise the level of awareness and then inspire others at your place of work. Take a digital training or use an expert to lead the training. When you have a common understanding and awareness of norms and prejudice, you can identify them and understand how they affect your working days.
Exercises and videos for workplace meetings
Working with diversity and inclusion
Many of the steps in the Schyst method go hand in hand. When you are creating a workplace culture where diversity is encouraged and inclusion prioritised, it is natural for prejudice and some norms to be questioned. The norm-critical thinking becomes a natural part of your everyday life.
Look over your practices
Do some people always happen to get the same work tasks, or are some people never offered the chance to try something else? If so – how come? Maybe Farah never gets to hold any presentations for customers because she has an accent? Or is Johan never asked to prepare coffee because he is a man?
Look over the recruitment process
It can be hard to discover norms as they are deeply rooted in society or in our own work culture. Get help or use an anonymous recruitment process, where the name, gender, and origin of the applicants are not visible during the first steps.
Work continuously
Just as you need regular training to maintain strength and physical fitness, norm-critical thinking needs to be continued over time. Keep the work going and make regular check-ins and evaluations.
Try to detect your privileges
It is natural to start out from yourself when meeting other people. If you are heterosexual yourself, it is close at hand to think that others are too. If you never have been deselected due to your skin colour or gender, it is difficult to understand how others experience it. Think about what you take for granted, and then turn it around. Then it will be easier to understand the situation of others.
