Discrimination, the intended or accomplished differential treatment of persons or social groups for reasons of certain generalized traits. "We whites created slavery, Jim Crow segregation and contemporary racial discrimination over 400plus years now," Feagin said.Discrimination is an action or practice that excludes, disadvantages, or merely differentiates between individuals or groups of individuals Discrimination is usually the behavioral manifestation of prejudice and involves negative, hostile, and injurious treatment of members of rejected groups. Discrimination in this context refers to the arbitrary denial of rights, privileges, and opportunities to members of these groups. To end discrimination in housing, education, employment, and lending, nondiscrimination laws needed to be enacted and scrupulously enforced. Discrimination is an important problem that results from social causes such as institutions but also from psychological causes such as prejudice.