Preventing Prejudice: A Guide for Counselors and Educators (Multicultural Aspects of Counseling series)

Recipient of the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Human Rights in North America 1994
Outstanding Book Award

Racial prejudice is a universal phenomenon, and it is unlikely that it will ever be completely prevented or eliminated. However, as the global community becomes more interdependent and the United States increasingly heterogeneous, the need for concentrated attention to intergroup relations becomes obvious. Counselors and educators can play a vital role in this process and Preventing Prejudice outlines a model and mechanism for accomplishing that goal.
Influential in the field of counselor education, the authors draw on theory and research in social, developmental, counseling, and cross-cultural psychology as well as sociology and education to develop a volume that is scholarly, up-to-date, and pragmatic. The book provides an excellent resource for understanding the nature of prejudice. It also includes developmentally sequenced exercises and activities.

Those individuals seeking to constructively address this issue will find Preventing Prejudice an accessible and comprehensive guide.

"This book provides a helpful guide on how to prevent prejudice. A number of conceptual and practical points are explained lucidly and concisely. Their aim is not to dazzle, to provide genuine guidance for professionals who are seeking workable solutions to the intractable problem of prejudice. . . .their book is proof that if you understand something you can explain it. No educator concerned with issues of prejudice and racism can afford to be without this book." --Ltd Review

"Ponterotto and Pederson have incorporated a wealth of information into a concise and comprehensive book. . . . Preventing Prejudice represents an important contribution to educators and counselors as they endeavor to work effectively with culturally and racially diverse individuals." --Family Relations

"In Preventing Prejudice, Ponterotto and Pedersen skillfully present a wealth of information to counselors and educators on the subjects of prejudice and racism. The authors draw from a large number of sources and do an excellent job integrating the source material with their original contributions into a book that is readable and has the potential to serve as an important tool for teachers and practitioners. . . . The discussion of prejudice and racism is thorough, clearly identifying forms of individual and institutional racism.

"Preventing Prejudice effectively accomplishes the authors′ purpose. It would be an excellent text in a college student development and services curriculum when accompanied by materials and discussion about sexism, heterosexism, and other common forms of oppression. Readers new to the concepts and those more familiar will find the clear organization, excellent summarization, and convincing integration of ideas by Ponterotto and Pedersen inviting and stimulating. The style of citing sources and bringing the work of others into this book should encourage further reading in depth on the topic of prejudice prevention. The specific suggestions for practice have great potential for effective use in programs for prejudice prevention and intervention." --Journal of College Student Development "

This 170-page volume is a useful extension of the Multicultural Aspects of Counseling Series. . . . The discussion and critique of the material is certainly relevant for most professionals working in the field. This book is a useful and well-written compilation of research into racial awareness and programmes of prevention, and the main bulk of the book is certainly equally relevant to professionals working in other countries as it is to U.S. citizens. There are very few wasted words, and the coverage is interesting, up to date, and well structured. . . . The insights and research represented in this enjoyable book are very useful. For people first entering the field, or for people running training programmes where the participants are expected to read serious accounts of the issues, this book is very useful to have on the shelves." --School Psychology International

"The book provides a good introduction to the topic of racism, particularly in its more subtle modern forms, and demonstrates how prevalent it remains in society today. Also of interest is the description of current thinking about minority and White identity development. This is valuable information for teachers and counselors." --Jean Phinney, California State University, Los Angeles "

Joe Ponterotto and Paul Pedersen have done it again! Their contributions in multicultural counseling and therapy are well established, but their most recent publication, Preventing Prejudice, breaks new ground for the mental health professional and educator. It recognizes the sociopolitical influences that affect a person′s socialization in society, how the role of counselors and educators need to include not only remedial but preventive approaches, redefines the traditional role of the counselor as someone who actively combats prejudice and racism, and outlines strategies and approaches that may best accomplish these goals. This should be required reading in all counselor education, social services, and teacher education courses." --Derald Wing Sue, California State University, Hayward

"Ponterotto and Pedersen skillfully convince us that preventing prejudice is necessary and possible by forcing us to examine a social phenomenon that we would prefer to deny, then offering us hope for change." --Kappa Delta Pi Record

"This book is an excellent start on the road toward true multicultural appreciation on personal as well as professional levels. . . . Preventing Prejudice is an outstanding model for attacking the problem of racial and/or ethnic injustice. The authors state that ′It is our view that no single racial/ethnic group has a monopoly on prejudice and racism. Prejudice transcends all racial/ethnic groups in the United States and all nations of the world. For this reason, combating prejudice is everyone′s responsibility.′ Implementation of the prescription contained in [this book] is a viable method for achieving those results." --NARPPS Journal

"This is an important book that provides insight into the development and pervasiveness of ethnic/racial prejudice and the means by which counselors and educators can systematically examine prejudice. Concrete lessons and activities are presented that allow one to achieve self-insight and the implementation of actions to address prejudice. I highly recommend this book." --Stanley Sue, University of California, Los Angeles

"Preventing Prejudice is an excellent primer on racism and multicultural counseling assessment for both counselors and educators. The numerous exercises in the text are great for stimulating classroom discussion." --Donald R. Atkinson, University of California, Santa Barbara

"This book pulls together a wealth of pertinent information on the background of prejudice and racism, gives an overview of theories and models of racial/ethnic identity development, and includes guidelines for operationalizing the prevention and reduction of prejudice and racism in schools, college campuses, and communities. . . . The book could also be an invaluable tool to helping services professionals seeking to heighten awareness of their own socialization of prejudices." --Bea Wehrly, Western Illinois University

"Prejudice is a problem for all counselors and educators--in direct work with clients and students, in dealing with colleagues and organizations, and in being good citizens. This book provides background for understanding prejudice and how it permeates American society. The exercises offer excellent possibilities for exploring and dealing with problems of prejudice." --Norman D. Sundberg, Professor Emeritus, Department of Psychology, University of Oregon

"A very concise yet comprehensive book that provides counselors and educators with the basic theories an

Joe Ponterotto is Professor and Coordinator of the Counseling Psychology Program at Fordham University’s Graduate School of Education. Prior to his arrival at Fordham in 1987, he was Assistant Professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Active in APA and ACA, Joe is also the author of numerous journal articles and books and coeditor of Sage’s Handbook of Multicultural Counseling.

Paul B. Pedersen is a visiting professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Hawaii and professor emeritus at Syracuse University. He has taught at the University of Minnesota, University of Alabama at Birmingham, and for six years at universities in Taiwan, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Pedersen was also on the summer school faculty at Harvard University, 1984-988 and the University of Pittsburgh “semester at sea” voyage around the world, spring 1992. International experience includes numerous consulting experiences in Asia, Australia, Africa, South America and Europe, and a Senior Fulbright award teaching at National Taiwan University 1999-2000. He has authored, co-authored or edited 40 books, 99 articles, and 72 chapters on aspects of multicultural counseling and international communication. Pedersen is a fellow in Divisions 9, 17, 45 and 52 of the American Psychological Association.