StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Stereotype Prejudices - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
This essay concerns the stereotype prejudices which are harmful and wasteful for those who suffer from stereotypes. It is stressed that mostly Afro-Americans experience a number of social prejudices in the course of daily life and over the course of a lifetime…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER94.5% of users find it useful
Stereotype Prejudices
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Stereotype Prejudices"

? As a black female, one experiences a number of social prejudices in the of daily life and over the of a lifetime. Many people act outof stereotyped images and expectations, and treat black females differently than they would others. Even when that difference is not intentionally harmful or downgrading, it can be insulting. Being called out or singled out makes one feel different from the rest of society, as though the other person in any interpersonal interaction is reacting to an object rather than to a person whenever one speaks or acts. It is disconcerting to find oneself in such interactions. Does a person accept the judgment? Does a person point out the prejudice? In most such interactions, there is an added factor that makes the interaction not only hurtful, but also tragic. That is because in being treated as an object, one is not afforded the opportunity to have input that may be socially useful or personally beneficial. Being overlooked due to stereotypes makes one’s own role in social interactions to be seen as inconsequential. Even when one has expertise or knowledge, or good intentions or specialized experience, one is looked past -- unseen, unacknowledged, and unheard. Much of this problem can be alleviated through a simple reconsideration of social stereotypes, conducted in an effort to see people for what they really are rather than what our stereotyped prejudices tell us they are. In this brief paper, I will consider three short stereotypes that affect a black female growing up, and will point to both the effects of allowing such stereotypes to persist, and the fallacies that underlie their prevalence. I will put the lie to the stereotype, and in doing so, hope to effectively enlarge a place for myself and others like me in the realm of social interaction. Stereotype #1: Girls are not as smart as boys. This is a stereotype that is not specific to a black female, but when coupled with prejudices regarding blacks and their supposed inferior intelligence, it is pronounced. The stereotype begins to be felt and understood as early as the elementary years in school. It basically states that girls cannot do math and science as well as boys can (Campbell and Storo, 1994), and that, since these are among the most difficult of subjects, requiring the kinds of knowledge that our society values as being representative of high intelligence, this indicates that girls are not as smart as boys. There are several problems with this stereotype. First, it does not rely on any scientific proof, such as that which posited at one time in our recent past the existence of a (now proven non-existent) “math gene.” In fact, it does not even square with the results of many educational trends in the past several decades, which show that girls perform better on all subjects than boys as educational reforms have been put in place to promote their growth. Rather, the stereotype rests on a social prejudice that parents, teachers, and other have regarding the relative worth and value of girls and the expectations they have for their futures. Boys are encouraged to go into the maths and sciences, while girls are not. They are given more practice opportunities to develop their schools. Girls are neglected in these areas. The stereotypes can therefore become on a society-wide basis, a self-fulfilling prophecy. Girls are thought to be less intelligent, they are treated as though they, they are denied opportunities to improve, and it is no surprise that that by the time students get to graduate schools, boys outnumber girls in maths and sciences. And even in professional life and beyond. Women’s opinions are looked past in favor of men’s, as their intelligence is thought suspect. And all of this is based on the stereotyping given girls and the training they undergo to remain true to type. Stereotype #2: Blacks commit more crime. This stereotype is driven in large part by the make-up of prison populations in large urban centers and the social portrayals of black neighborhoods in media and literature. From our youngest days, we are raised with social images of blacks as being dangerous and violent, so that even people who have no immediate black people in their daily interactions are led to have feelings of suspicion and caution when they come into contact with the black man as “other.” Of course, there is, in fact, a high percentage of many prison populations made up of blacks, but this begs the question of whether those men went to prison because they were more violent than their white counterparts, or because society was more willing to see their crimes are prison-worthy and thus to convict them. The unequal sentencing guidelines between crimes related to black-favored crack and white-favored cocaine are just one example of a social policy that drives the make-up of prison demographics. Juries made up of people who carry social stereotypes are also causal factors. Quillian and Pager (2001) argue that people view black neighborhoods as less safe, even when factors regarding crime rates are controlled for in social science research. This indicates that the reasoning behind this social view is not based in science and truth, but is founded on racial prejudices and inequality. In practical effect, it means that black people are watched more closely when they enter stores, and questioned more thoroughly by police in their streets. They are targeted for criminal interactions, and the stereotype, like the other, becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Stereotype #3: Black women are strong and nurturing. This is an example of a “positive” stereotype that, nevertheless, does its own amount of damage. McRae (2004) argues that white women, particularly, tend to carry this image. It rests on social images of the black women as a rough and ready single mom who knows how to play tough or soft, and is always capable in the end. McRae states that the stereotype prohibits proper social interactions between women of diverse colors, because it allows white women to view their black counterparts as not just stronger than they, but also slightly dangerous. It allows whites to look past black women because they think such women already have their lives in order. Black women are therefore subject to a status quo that identifies them as outsider, even if the reason for that state is theoretically a positive image. Of course, the stereotype is wrong-headed. Black women are just as weak, neurotic, strong, noble, crazy, sane, and human as the next person. But the society wants to make them into something that they are not, and to ignore them. Ironically, it requires black women to reach down inside of themselves and summon the strength that they are supposed to have innately to confront such challenges; the stereotype therefore grows stronger even though it has no basis in actual fact. Conclusion. Stereotypes are harmful and wasteful. Unfortunately, they tend to be rooted in sociological and psychological interaction that are immunized from confrontation with facts. They tend to become self-fulfilling because they are trained into people from very early ages. In this brief paper, it has been argued that a seeming false-on-its-face stereotype about girls’ intelligence and a tragic racial stereotype about crime among black have become built into social interactions so that they turn out to have some factual echoes even though those echoes are driven by prejudiced training rather than fact. Similarly, a stereotype about black women and their personal inner strength is formed not to downgrade black women, but to isolate them and force them to act out in the ways the stereotype dictates. And that is the inevitable power of stereotyping. It tends to make its own lies turn into false truths. References Campbell, P., and Storo, J., 1994. Girls Are... Boys Are... : Myths, Stereotypes & Gender Differences. Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education. [online] Accessed November 1, 2011 at: http://www.campbell-kibler.com/Stereo.pdf. McRae, M., 2004. How Do I Talk to You, My White Sister. Center for Gender in Organizations. [online] Accessed November 1, 2011 at: http://www.simmons.edu/som/docs/centers/commentaries_2.pdf. Quillian, L., Pager, D., 2001. Black Neighbors, Higher Crime? The Role of Racial Stereotypes in Evaluations of Neighborhood Crime. American Journal of Sociology 107(3): 717–767. Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Stereotype Prejudices Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/psychology/1435301-stereotype-prejudices
(Stereotype Prejudices Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 Words)
https://studentshare.org/psychology/1435301-stereotype-prejudices.
“Stereotype Prejudices Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/psychology/1435301-stereotype-prejudices.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Stereotype Prejudices

Prejudice,stereotypes and discrimination

They thus stereotype any Chinese they come across.... This is because not all Chinese products are fake as the stereotype I experienced in the US suggests.... Some of the challenges that people experience in life include prejudice, discrimination and stereotyping....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

US minority Politics

US minority politics Racism is the belief that each and every member of a specific race possesses characteristics or abilities that define that race.... This leads to discrimination directed towards someone of a different race based on the belief that they are different.... hellip; Racism is the belief that the primary determinants of human traits and capacities produce an inherent superiority of a particular race....
7 Pages (1750 words) Essay

Stereotype and Prejudiced Thinking

hellip; The American Heritage Dictionary (2000) define stereotype as “a conventional, formulaic, and oversimplified conception, opinion, or image.... The ability to stereotype to give illusionary impacts makes them harmful despite their positive characteristics....
1 Pages (250 words) Essay

Prejudice, Stereotypes, and Discrimination

More often than not, discrimination becomes the result of certain prejudices made against particular stereotypes.... Discrimination is the action made by someone due to certain prejudices (Nevid & Rathus, 2010).... I soon realized that my prejudices against him were baseless and from then on, I made it a point to be more accepting and less judging of people.... Prejudice is generally caused by a certain stereotype made about a person or group....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Social psychology-stereotype, prejudice, discrimination

The discrimination is generalized to the whole group of foreigners and this leads to formation of a stereotype.... I found this to be true and especially because of the influence from our peers to stereotype the foreigners and not offer the same service to them as we do to the locals.... Social categorization involves segregating people according to their shared characteristics and this causes discrimination and eventually development of a stereotype (Sanderson 2009)....
1 Pages (250 words) Term Paper

Stereotypes and Prejudice About the Races

The paper "Stereotypes and Prejudice About the Races" discusses that my social and cultural background has also taught me how to get out of sticky situations involving prejudices and stereotypes by not getting too tensed about aspects that do not matter to me much.... It has happened a few times that my friends feel I am too religious as I follow Christianity, or that I would be immersed in my academic work and so they have not asked me out with them however that is not the case as this stereotype is quite different from my inherent personality....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Stereotype, Prejudice, and Discrimination

stereotype, Prejudice, and Discrimination Contribution of Racial Steering and alized Racism Racial steering is when real estate agents direct prospective homeowners towards or away from certain neighborhoods based on their race (Phillips, 2010).... Everyday stereotyping A stereotype is a belief about a certain group of individuals that people apply to any person who is thought to be from that group.... How to eliminate stereotype One of the major ways to reduce discrimination, stereotype and prejudice are cooperative learning that structures positive interdependence in schools....
1 Pages (250 words) Essay

Prejudice, Stereotypes and Discrimination

They thus stereotype any Chinese they come across.... This is because not all Chinese products are fake as the stereotype, I experienced in the U.... This paper ''Prejudice, Stereotypes and Discrimination'' tells that Baumeister and Bushman (393) define prejudice as an incorrect or unjustified attitude (negative) directed toward a person based entirely on their membership in a social group....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us