Neither race and social class, nor religion and sexual orientation: the reasons why Argentines say they suffer discrimination are related to their political beliefs. After years of polarization around the Kirchnerist governments, now deepened around the figure of the far-right president Javier Milei, a study by the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) indicates that 45.2% of the people who felt discriminated against were excluded because of their ideology. The majority of cases affected women and were recorded on social networks and public spaces.
Carried out by the Applied Social Psychology Observatory of the Faculty of Psychology (UBA), the study covered 1,747 people from all over the country between June 19 and 22. 35% of those consulted said they had experienced some type of discrimination during the last year. “These values may be reflecting only the ‘tip of the iceberg.’ Many discriminatory acts are naturalized and made invisible and, unfortunately, are not perceived and condemned as such,” warns the report by Conicet researchers Joaquín Ungaretti and Edgardo Etchezahar.
57% of the total people who suffered discrimination identified as women. “The difference in the levels of perceived discrimination based on gender is a constant in studies on discrimination and constitutes a real problem. Systematically, women report having been victims of discrimination to a greater extent than men,” the authors of the work indicate.
The main reason for discrimination alleged was “ideology or political beliefs.” Ungaretti and Etchezahar detail that a previous study, dated 2020, had shown similar results “despite the fact that the actors and political parties involved were different. This would indicate that decades of extreme political polarization have not been innocuous for relations between Argentine citizens. On the contrary, it has become the central axis on which the problem of discrimination in Argentina revolves,” they conclude. The “rift” is the name with which the systematic confrontation for political reasons became popular in Argentina.
Other discrimination factors were, according to those consulted, age (18.8% of cases), physical or mental condition (14.4%), gender (12.4%), religion (5. 7%), skin color (1.8%), sexual orientation (1.1%) and ethnicity (0.6%).
The acts of discrimination were recorded mainly on social networks and the internet, according to what 23.7% indicated. Public space was indicated by 21.1%. Then followed the work environment (16.5%), the family environment (14.3%), the educational environment (12.3%) and the friendship environment (12.1%). From the correlation between the reasons and spaces of discrimination, the researchers infer that today on social networks “political polarizations are enhanced and emotional discharge is conveyed.” Also there “stereotypes about youth and prevailing ideals of beauty are enhanced.”
Victims and perception
![Buenos Aires, Argentina](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/v2/KMDUP7L7BTCBPZHR42Q4SNWPAY.jpg?auth=2b867962c2d2c228a70bdec9ce28e1912585002e5e862ad0327c46188d407976&width=414)
The study also investigated the perception of those consulted about who are the most discriminated against. The highest level of prejudice is suffered by the inhabitants of popular settlements—known as “villeros”—, with 6.84 points on a scale of 1 to 10. People in poverty (6.5) and indigenous people (6. 24) are also among the most discriminated groups. Other groups targeted as victims are people with obesity (6.16), people with disabilities (6.04), homosexuals (5.92), Latin American immigrants (5.62), older adults (5.54), feminists (5.52) and women (4.82). “In a context of profound economic crisis,” the researchers explain, “it is not surprising that the groups perceived as most discriminated against are those who have the greatest scarcity of economic resources.”
Another chapter of the UBA study set out to track the prejudices of those consulted regarding six social groups. The highest levels of discrimination were directed towards Latin American immigrants, with 6.02 points on a scale of 1 to 10. Then followed prejudices towards people with intellectual disabilities (5.92), towards women (4.96) , obese people (4.76), the elderly (4.76) and homosexuals (4.22).
A salient fact from the report’s conclusions was that “male people presented higher levels of prejudice towards almost all groups considered compared to the female gender, with the exception of prejudice towards homosexuality.”
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