There are many forms of discrimination, besides the more familiar forms like race and gender, based on ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, age, disability or handicap, and sexual harassment. The mentioned characterization refers to a situation of the direct discrimination, in which a person is treated adversely directly on the basis of a prohibited ground. Indirect discrimination, refers to a situation in which an apparently neutral provision or practice is discriminatory in its effects. Besides direct and indirect discrimination, we may use the term institutional discrimination. Institutional discrimination refers to the practices or procedures in a company or an institution, or even the society as a whole, which are structured in a way that tends to produce discriminatory effects.
As to the root cause, discrimination appears to be no clear acceptance of any theory of causation but that discrimination often causes a chain reaction of disadvantages. For instance, it should be noted that there is a connection also between discrimination and social distance, given that it is usually psychologically easier to discriminate against people that one is not familiar with. Although there is no wide agreement as to the "cause" of discrimination, there is a consensus that they constitute a learned behavior. The internalization of discrimination starts with parents, and later teachers, the groups’ primary in the formation of attitudes within children. The media and social institutions solidify discriminatory attitudes, giving them social legitimacy, since discrimination is learned. At best, one can reduce discrimination. Society looks most often to education and legislation to alleviate discrimination for reasons still not clearly known, intergroup contact alone is not enough to reduce discrimination. On one hand, multicultural

education, whether direct or