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of the dynamics of society, and of the contradicting information society produces.
Inequality and diversity are overlapping but certainly not identical phenomena. The slogan “We are all different—we are all equal”, promoted by the European Union, underlines the necessity to distinguish. Treating different people according to the rule that “all are equal”, without taking into consideration the different status they have in society, enhances inequality. The concepts of “affirmative action” and “reverse discrimination” are based on the understanding that diversity is not only to be respected but also to be seen as a reason for differential treatment in favour of those who are victims of prejudices (Sowell 2004).
Prejudice is not simply prejudice. We can distinguish between prejudices as the outcome of group-level processes and prejudices resulting from individual-level processes (Dovidio et al. 2005, 13f). This distinction does not imply a difference in principle. The group-level processes and the individual-level processes are overlapping—and both shape identities: group identity (based on national, ethnic, religious, gender, regional, generational, class, or ideological factors) is the product of integrated individual identities, and individual identities cannot be dissociated from collective experiences. A Dutch Protestant is influenced in his or her individual identity by being Protestant, and he or she influences a collective Protestant identity in the Netherlands. What he or she thinks of non-Protestants—expressed in a more or less friendly, more or less hostile judgment—will always include some elements of prejudice. Individual and collective experience, individual and collective prejudices form identities on the personal as well as on the group level.
Paul Lazarsfeld, Bernard Berelson, and Hazel Gaudet have explored the phenomenon of “cross-pressures”. In their voting (and general political) behaviour, people who are linked to different, contradictory milieus act differently from others who are rooted in one milieu only. People under intense cross-pressures shift political loyalties more often and more easily than others. Cross-pressures are correlated positively with nonvoting and with late decision-making regarding electoral preferences