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 What Is a Stereotype?

Feisty. Seductive. Intelligent. Used to describe individuals, the preceding adjectives pose no particular problem. Used to describe groups of people, however, these same adjectives may constitute stereotypes. What is a stereotype? Stereotypes are qualities assigned to groups of people related to their race, nationality and sexual orientation, to name a few. Because they generalize groups of people in manners that lead to discrimination and ignore the diversity within groups, stereotypes should be avoided.

Stereotypes vs. Generalizations

While all stereotypes are generalizations, not all generalizations are stereotypes. Stereotypes are oversimplifications of people groups widely circulated in certain societies. In the United States, for example, racial groups are linked to stereotypes such as being good at math, athletics, dancing and so forth. So well-known are these stereotypes in the U.S. that the average American likely wouldn’t hesitate if asked to identify which racial group in this country is known for excelling in basketball. In short, when one stereotypes, one repeats the cultural mythology already present in a particular society.

On the other hand, a person can make a generalization about an ethnic group that hasn’t been perpetuated in society. Say, for instance, a woman encounters individuals from a particular ethnic group and finds them to be excellent parents. Based on her encounters with these folks, she may oversimplify and conclude that anyone from this ethnic group must be an excellent parent. In this instance, she would be guilty of generalizing, but an observer might think twice about calling her conclusion a stereotype since no group in the U.S. has the distinction of being known as excellent parents.

Stereotypes Can Be Complicated

While stereotypes may refer to a specific sex, race, religion or country, often they link various aspects of identity together. A stereotype about black, gay men, for example, would involve race, sex and sexual orientation. Although such a stereotype targets a specific segment of African Americans rather than blacks generally, it’s still problematic to insinuate that black, gay men are all a certain way. Too many other factors make up any one black, gay man’s identity to ascribe a set list of characteristics to him.

Stereotypes are also complicated in that when they factor in race and sex, members of the same group may be pegged very differently. Certain stereotypes apply to Asian Americans generally, for example. But when the Asian American population is broken down by sex, one finds that stereotypes of Asian American men and Asian American women differ drastically from each other. Stereotypes involving race and gender may peg the women of a racial group as attractive and desirable and the men as the exact opposite or vice versa.

Even stereotypes applied to a racial group become inconsistent when members of that group are broken down by national origin. A case in point is that stereotypes about black Americans differ from those about blacks from the Caribbean or blacks from African nations. Such discrepancies indicate that stereotypes make little sense and aren’t useful tools by which to judge others based on just a few aspects of their identity.

Can Stereotypes Ever Be Good?

Both negative and positive stereotypes exist, but even the latter do harm. That’s because all stereotypes are limiting and leave little to no room for individuality. Perhaps a child belongs to a racial group known for being highly intelligent. This particular child, however, suffers from a learning disability and struggles to keep up with his classmates in school. Because his teacher buys into the stereotype that this child is supposed to excel in class because “his people” are highly intelligent, she might assume that his poor marks are because he’s lazy and never do the investigative work needed to discover his learning disability, saving him from years of struggle in school.

Is There Truth in Stereotypes?

It’s said that stereotypes are based in truth, but is this a valid statement? People who make this argument often want to justify their use of stereotypes. The problem with stereotypes is that they suggest that groups of people are inherently prone to certain behaviors. Arabs are naturally one way. Hispanics are naturally another. The fact is, science doesn’t back up these kinds of assertions. If groups of people have historically excelled at certain activities, social factors no doubt contributed to this phenomenon. Perhaps a society barred a group of people from practicing certain professions but welcomed them in others. Over the years, the group became associated with the professions in which they were allowed to practice. This came about not because of any inherent talent in these fields but because they were the professions that allowed them to pay for food, housing and other necessities. In short, their survival depended on them excelling at the professions in question. Those who spread stereotypes, however, ignore social factors and make links between groups of people and certain skills, activities or behaviors where none inherently exist.

Wrapping Up

The next time you’re tempted to stereotype a group of people, think about the groups to which you belong. List the stereotypes linked to those groups. Does each of those stereotypes apply to you? More than likely you’d disagree that all of the qualities commonly attributed to those of your gender, racial group and sexual orientation describe you. That’s why it’s important to judge specific individuals rather than the groups of which they’re part.

http://racerelations.about.com/od/understandingrac1/a/WhatIsaStereotype.htm

As if that wasn’t enough…….

stereotype |?ster???t?p, ?sti(?)r-|
noun
1 a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing: the stereotype of the woman as the carer | sexual and racial stereotypes.
• a person or thing that conforms to such an image: don't treat anyone as a stereotype.
2 a relief printing plate cast in a mold made from composed type or an original plate.
verb [ with obj. ]
view or represent as a stereotype: the city is too easily stereotyped as an industrial wasteland.
DERIVATIVES
stereotypic |?ster???tipik|adjective,
stereotypical adjective,
stereotypically adverb
ORIGIN late 18th cent.: from French stéréotype (adjective).