Examples Of Stereotypes In America
Stereotyping in America 1
Stereotyping in America
William Dettman
Ashford University
Prof. Tanya Martin
December 16, 2012
Stereotyping in America 2
Stereotyping in America
Stereotyping is a form of pre judgment that is used everyday in conversations and in the media. There are many groups of people that are being stereotyped in society today. Whether or not you are the one being stereotyped or you are doing the stereotyping, in the end it hurts people’s feelings and brings down self-esteems. There are a few stereotypes in society that I have encountered which include the quality of people with tattoos, Athletes are not good students, and Hispanics working in the landscaping …show more content…
business.
When seeing an individual walking down the street that has tattoos, or see them shopping at the local market, that person is automatically stereotyped as a lesser person in society. But what if you knew that person and he was a doctor, or a police officer, that same stereotype wouldn’t be the same maybe if that person was a construction worker or say a mechanic. Many employers have denied employment to individuals due to having tattoos. Sure there are people in society that are concerted bad that have tattoos, but what about the people that are bad with no tattoos. An individual with tattoos maybe more qualified for a job, but since the other person has no tattoos they look more professional. How does ink on a persons body measure the character or decide whether that individual is good or bad and that is where stereotyping comes in. A simple argument could be Dan has tattoos and is addicted to drugs; Kirk just got a tattoo, so therefore Kirk is also addicted to drugs. This is just one example of a typical stereotype about people with tattoos. Since I have tattoos, I wonder sometimes when I walk around and my tattoos are showing, do I get stereotyped? Do people automatically think I am this horrible person because of my tattoos? Many people also believe people with tattoos are more violent then people with no tattoos. Studies show that once an individual is put in a situation where prejudice and stereotyping is exhibited, the effects with dealing with the situation still remain. One study says “People are more likely to be aggressive after they’ve faced prejudice in a given situation. They are more likely to exhibit a lack of self-control.”(Kemick, 2012) Individuals with tattoos are constantly getting stereotyped for all types of reasons. But tattoos have been around for thousands of years and will continue to be part of our society. The new generation of kids are the future of this society and tattoos are just part of it. This doesn’t mean that these people that are getting tattoos are any less of a person then people without them. Who knows, in next 20 years the president could have lots of tattoos but will he get stereotyped?
The next stereotype is whether or not athletes are good students or are they just getting through school because of their athletic performance.
With this stereotype, I can relate to this topic better then any of the other stereotypes. …show more content…
The
Stereotyping in America 3
common thought in high schools and college is that students that are athletes aren’t as good students as students that aren’t athletes.
Many kids believe that student athletes get treated better and are held to a lower standard in the classroom. Many feel that teachers let things slide with their homework or give exceptions to rules in the classroom and in the school. A slippery slope type argument can be used in this situation. A slippery slope argument can be defined as “ Often the idea is that if an exception is allowed to a rule, then more and more exceptions with follow, leading to the inevitable result that few people, if any, will follow the rule.”(Mosser, 2011) In high school I was tied into this stereotype and I feel that it did affect my grades and attitude. Throughout high school the stereotype was athletes could slack a little and bend some rule so I would try doing those things. Now that I look back at it, my grades where effected by a simple stereotype that was made up by society. The intuition here is straightforward: stereotype threat is, in effect, a negative productivity shock that compromises the return to academic effort, thereby reducing the amount of effort chosen.”(Dee, 2009) Now yes there have been schools that treat athletes differently and students that were athletes didn’t have to do the same amount of work as others but that isn’t the situation of every school in America. A select few occasions have made this stereotype that I feel does affect
students in both high school and college. An example of an argument that has a false conclusion would be Dan didn’t do all his homework because he is a athlete and knows his teacher will let it go, Ralph is a athlete and has a paper due, therefore he doesn’t have to turn it in because he is an athlete. Now once again this is just one of the many stereotypes that have to do with student athletes. Not all student athletes can be put in the same category as others that do the wrong thing and get by in school because being an athlete. That’s why this stereotype cant be logical due to the fact everybody is different in the way they do their studies. When driving past a nice clean looking lawn, the stereotype many people go to be that Hispanics must have worked on that lawn. This is a very common stereotype in America due to a large Hispanic culture that even I am guilty of committing. I first encountered this stereotype when I worked at a landscaping business during the summer after high school. When I worked there I just got drawn into that stereotype that came with working at a landscaping business. My thought process was juvenile and I really steered away from the jokes and stereotype after working with some of the Hispanics that worked there. They were some of the most honest and hard working people I have ever came across. Just one of the many stereotypes that deal with this could be Rodger comes from a Hispanic decent and works at a landscaping company, Juan is also from Hispanic decent, therefore he must work at a landscaping company. “More than one in eight people in the United States are of Hispanic origin. And by all indications, these numbers will continue to grow. According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS), employment of grounds maintenance workers is expected to grow faster than average for all occupations through the year 2010, in response to increasing demand for grounds keeping and related
Stereotyping in America 4
services.”(Ratcliff, 2012) Due to those statics, you can conclude that Hispanics can be drawn into that stereotype because of the unemployment rate and grounds’ keeping is a growing industry that creates jobs. That is just an example of the mistakes in this argument in stereotyping. When dealing with stereotyping, many of the reasons behind the stereotype can be hurtful and affect the way an individual acts in society. Someone’s individual differences such as beliefs, race, religion and cultural background make us all different and stereotypes just attack their lifestyle. At some point, everybody gets drawn into stereotypes due to the fact that our society has created those stereotypes and they don’t get addressed enough because people just feel like it’s normal. In conclusion, stereotypes like the quality of people with tattoos, Athletes are not good students, and Hispanics working in the landscaping business just get added to and set to the side due to our society accepting them.
Stereotyping in America 5
Reference Page
Paul, A. M. (1998, May 1). Where Bias Begins: The Truth About Stereotypes. Retrieved December 16, 2012, from http://www.psychologytoday.com
Dee, T. S. (2009, February). Stereotype Threat and the Student-Athlete. Retrieved December 16, 2012, from The National Bureau of Economic Reasearch website: http://www.nber.org/papers/w14705
Kemick, A. (2010, August 12). Stereotyping has lasting negative impact: Prejudice has lingering effects, study shows. U.S. News. Retrieved from http://www.usnews.com/science/articles/2010/08/12/stereotyping-has-lasting-negative-impact
Mosser, K. (2011). An introduction to logic. San Diego, CA: Bridge point Education, Inc.
Ratcliff, C. (Ed.). (2012). Strength in Diversity. Retrieved December 16, 2012, from http://grounds-mag.com/mag/grounds_maintenance_strength_diversity/
Stereotyping in America
William Dettman
Ashford University
Prof. Tanya Martin
December 16, 2012
Stereotyping in America 2
Stereotyping in America
Stereotyping is a form of pre judgment that is used everyday in conversations and in the media. There are many groups of people that are being stereotyped in society today. Whether or not you are the one being stereotyped or you are doing the stereotyping, in the end it hurts people’s feelings and brings down self-esteems. There are a few stereotypes in society that I have encountered which include the quality of people with tattoos, Athletes are not good students, and Hispanics working in the landscaping …show more content…
business.
When seeing an individual walking down the street that has tattoos, or see them shopping at the local market, that person is automatically stereotyped as a lesser person in society. But what if you knew that person and he was a doctor, or a police officer, that same stereotype wouldn’t be the same maybe if that person was a construction worker or say a mechanic. Many employers have denied employment to individuals due to having tattoos. Sure there are people in society that are concerted bad that have tattoos, but what about the people that are bad with no tattoos. An individual with tattoos maybe more qualified for a job, but since the other person has no tattoos they look more professional. How does ink on a persons body measure the character or decide whether that individual is good or bad and that is where stereotyping comes in. A simple argument could be Dan has tattoos and is addicted to drugs; Kirk just got a tattoo, so therefore Kirk is also addicted to drugs. This is just one example of a typical stereotype about people with tattoos. Since I have tattoos, I wonder sometimes when I walk around and my tattoos are showing, do I get stereotyped? Do people automatically think I am this horrible person because of my tattoos? Many people also believe people with tattoos are more violent then people with no tattoos. Studies show that once an individual is put in a situation where prejudice and stereotyping is exhibited, the effects with dealing with the situation still remain. One study says “People are more likely to be aggressive after they’ve faced prejudice in a given situation. They are more likely to exhibit a lack of self-control.”(Kemick, 2012) Individuals with tattoos are constantly getting stereotyped for all types of reasons. But tattoos have been around for thousands of years and will continue to be part of our society. The new generation of kids are the future of this society and tattoos are just part of it. This doesn’t mean that these people that are getting tattoos are any less of a person then people without them. Who knows, in next 20 years the president could have lots of tattoos but will he get stereotyped?
The next stereotype is whether or not athletes are good students or are they just getting through school because of their athletic performance.
With this stereotype, I can relate to this topic better then any of the other stereotypes. …show more content…
The
Stereotyping in America 3
common thought in high schools and college is that students that are athletes aren’t as good students as students that aren’t athletes.
Many kids believe that student athletes get treated better and are held to a lower standard in the classroom. Many feel that teachers let things slide with their homework or give exceptions to rules in the classroom and in the school. A slippery slope type argument can be used in this situation. A slippery slope argument can be defined as “ Often the idea is that if an exception is allowed to a rule, then more and more exceptions with follow, leading to the inevitable result that few people, if any, will follow the rule.”(Mosser, 2011) In high school I was tied into this stereotype and I feel that it did affect my grades and attitude. Throughout high school the stereotype was athletes could slack a little and bend some rule so I would try doing those things. Now that I look back at it, my grades where effected by a simple stereotype that was made up by society. The intuition here is straightforward: stereotype threat is, in effect, a negative productivity shock that compromises the return to academic effort, thereby reducing the amount of effort chosen.”(Dee, 2009) Now yes there have been schools that treat athletes differently and students that were athletes didn’t have to do the same amount of work as others but that isn’t the situation of every school in America. A select few occasions have made this stereotype that I feel does affect
students in both high school and college. An example of an argument that has a false conclusion would be Dan didn’t do all his homework because he is a athlete and knows his teacher will let it go, Ralph is a athlete and has a paper due, therefore he doesn’t have to turn it in because he is an athlete. Now once again this is just one of the many stereotypes that have to do with student athletes. Not all student athletes can be put in the same category as others that do the wrong thing and get by in school because being an athlete. That’s why this stereotype cant be logical due to the fact everybody is different in the way they do their studies. When driving past a nice clean looking lawn, the stereotype many people go to be that Hispanics must have worked on that lawn. This is a very common stereotype in America due to a large Hispanic culture that even I am guilty of committing. I first encountered this stereotype when I worked at a landscaping business during the summer after high school. When I worked there I just got drawn into that stereotype that came with working at a landscaping business. My thought process was juvenile and I really steered away from the jokes and stereotype after working with some of the Hispanics that worked there. They were some of the most honest and hard working people I have ever came across. Just one of the many stereotypes that deal with this could be Rodger comes from a Hispanic decent and works at a landscaping company, Juan is also from Hispanic decent, therefore he must work at a landscaping company. “More than one in eight people in the United States are of Hispanic origin. And by all indications, these numbers will continue to grow. According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS), employment of grounds maintenance workers is expected to grow faster than average for all occupations through the year 2010, in response to increasing demand for grounds keeping and related
Stereotyping in America 4
services.”(Ratcliff, 2012) Due to those statics, you can conclude that Hispanics can be drawn into that stereotype because of the unemployment rate and grounds’ keeping is a growing industry that creates jobs. That is just an example of the mistakes in this argument in stereotyping. When dealing with stereotyping, many of the reasons behind the stereotype can be hurtful and affect the way an individual acts in society. Someone’s individual differences such as beliefs, race, religion and cultural background make us all different and stereotypes just attack their lifestyle. At some point, everybody gets drawn into stereotypes due to the fact that our society has created those stereotypes and they don’t get addressed enough because people just feel like it’s normal. In conclusion, stereotypes like the quality of people with tattoos, Athletes are not good students, and Hispanics working in the landscaping business just get added to and set to the side due to our society accepting them.
Stereotyping in America 5
Reference Page
Paul, A. M. (1998, May 1). Where Bias Begins: The Truth About Stereotypes. Retrieved December 16, 2012, from http://www.psychologytoday.com
Dee, T. S. (2009, February). Stereotype Threat and the Student-Athlete. Retrieved December 16, 2012, from The National Bureau of Economic Reasearch website: http://www.nber.org/papers/w14705
Kemick, A. (2010, August 12). Stereotyping has lasting negative impact: Prejudice has lingering effects, study shows. U.S. News. Retrieved from http://www.usnews.com/science/articles/2010/08/12/stereotyping-has-lasting-negative-impact
Mosser, K. (2011). An introduction to logic. San Diego, CA: Bridge point Education, Inc.
Ratcliff, C. (Ed.). (2012). Strength in Diversity. Retrieved December 16, 2012, from http://grounds-mag.com/mag/grounds_maintenance_strength_diversity/