STUDENTS’ OPINIONS ON THE DISCRIMINATION RISK OF DISADVANTAGED GROUPS

Abstract

The issue of social discrimination (e.g.
exclusion, social injustice, labeling, etc.) continues to
affect the Romanian society, despite the consistent efforts
made in recent decades. According to the European
citizenship philosophy, the new generation must be
equipped with appropriate social skills, required for an
inclusive society, the higher education sector having a
critical role in this area. The purpose of our study is to
identify students' opinions and attitudes regarding
discrimination risks of disadvantaged groups, according
to ethnical/racial criteria, age or sexual orientation. The
study sample included 140 students from the “Ovidiusâ€
University of Constanta, aged between 19 and 37 years
old (both women and men), 70 from humanities faculties
and 70 from applied sciences and mathematics. Our
research aims to investigate the correlations that exist
between the risk of discrimination and certain variables
such as age, sex, year of study and the field of
competence. Our results confirm to a great extent prior
research findings to which we have reviewed in the
paper.