Sterepotypin and Prejudice

As we have seen, a person’s identity cannot be summed up in just one label. Often though we tend to concentrate on limited or disorted aspects. This is because the responses of different human groups to each other are the product of a complicated system of social relations and power. To discover some of the mechanism at work, we need to examine the role of stereotypes and prejudice. Prejudices and stereotypes are schemes that help us to understand reality. Stereotype and Prejudice are two types of beliefs about different classes of individuals. These two types of beliefs show considerable difference between them. Stereotyping and prejudice are not the same thing, but are somewhat linked to one another[1]. In everyday language it is sometimes difficult to tell the difference between stereotypes and prejudices. We absorb prejudices and stereotypes about other cultural groups sometimes unconsciously, but they come from somewhere and they serve many purposes : - To help us evaluate our own cultures - To evaluate other cultures and ways of life - To govern the pattern of relationship our culture maintains with other cultures - To justify the treatment and discrimination of people from other cultures

Another way to explain prejudice and stereotypes in daily interactions by Alexander Thomas : function of prejudice in the social context: Function of Orientation :
- fast orientation in the complex world
- easy to categorize persons and objects
- people seek for control Function of Resistence :
- possibility to a fast adaption to living conditions Function of Resistence :
- prejudice as protection against guily feelings
- because of depreciation of other there is an increase of self-evaluation Function of Self Expression :
- if prejudice is required or shared by the society Function of Identity :
- prejudice you share with other people promote a strong solidarity Function of Justification :
- prejudice justify the behavior control

Development and Structure of Prejudice and Stereotypes

|Social Attitude |
|Emotion |Cognition |Behavior |
| |Stereotype | |
| |
|Prejudice |
|Typed reaction of feelings |Typed knowledge |Typed reaction of behavior |
|- denegation |- Lazy |- Avoid somebody |
|- mercy |- uneducated |- attack sb. With words |
|- embarassed |- criminal |- agression |
|- fascinated | |- sceptical |

At this point we want to related anxiety theory with stereotype and prejudice as we know, consequences of stereotype threat can contribute to educational and social inequality of some groups including ethnic minorities in academic environments. Research has shown that stereotype threat can harm the academic performance of anyindividual for whom the situation invokes a stereotype-based expectation of poor performance. Everyone belongs to at least one group that is characterized by some sort of stereotype. Any salient social identity can affect performance on a task that offers the possibility that a stereotype might be confirmed. Stereotype threat effects have been shown with a wide range of social groups.[2] Anxiety and Uncertainty Management focus on encounters between cultural in groups and strangers. Assumptions : people experience uncertainty in interpersonal settings, uncertainty is an aversive state, generating cognitive stress, and when strangers meet, their primary concern is to reduce their uncertainty or to increase predictability .

Allport's (1954) hierarchy of prejudiced actions

[pic] A. Stereotypes

“summary impression of a group of people in which a person believes that all members of a group share a common trait or traits” ( Wade and Tavris 2000 ) It is interesting to note that the word ‘stereotype’ is derived from the Greek word ‘stereos’ meaning ‘firm’ or ‘solid’. They are standardized beliefs about people based on some prior assumptions. Stereotypes consist basically in shared beliefs or thoughts about a particular human group, a stereotype is an ensemble of characteristics that sums up a human group usually in terms of behaviour, habits. A "stereotype" is a generalization about a person or group of persons. We develop stereotypes when we are unable or unwilling to obtain all of the information we would need to make fair judgments about people or situations. In the absence of the "total picture," stereotypes in many cases allow us to "fill in the blanks." Our society often innocently creates and perpetuates stereotypes, but these stereotypes often lead to unfair discrimination and persecution when the stereotype is unfavorable[3]. Stereotyping is defined as a preconceived or oversimplified generalization about an entire group of people/person without regard for individual differences. Even when stereotypes are positive, they always have a negative impact and can lead to discrimination.

Stereotyping is the act of labeling a specific classification or trait to a person strictly based on a person's ethnic background, gender, age, socioeconomic status, or role. Generally speaking when people think about stereotypes they automatically think racial, or in the negative . However thinking that African Americans are good dancers can be seen as an offensive stereotype. Even though it appears to be a positive comment, people are very uncomfortable with specific labels of competency or incompetence solely based upon things like race and gender. By stereotyping, we assume that a person or group has certain characteristics. Quite often, we have stereotypes about persons who are members of groups with which we have not had firsthand contact.

Everyone, no matter who you are, has been stereotyped whether they choose to acknowledge it or not. Interesting enough, most stereotypes have been formulated from very commonly shared traits of a specific race, gender, or professional background.

B. Prejudice

Prejudice as defined in our text is an irrational, negative attitude toward a category of people. Prejudice is a kind of prejudgment or assumption about somebody before having sufficient knowledge to judge with accuracy.

A prejudice is a judgement we make about another person or other people without really knowing them. Prejudices can be negative or positive in character. Prejudices are learned as part of our socialisation process and they are very difficult to modify or eradicate.

Allport’s definition about prejudice :

- Prejudice is a negative attitude

- Prejudice puts the object of prejudice at an unjust disadvantage (i.e., prejudice is negative, unjust, and a source of disadvantage for its targets)

Prejudice is not just about ethnicity e.g. sexism, homophobia, ableism, religionism, classism, geographicism, adultism, etc.

Allport ( 1954 ): Ethnic prejudice is an antipathy based upon a faulty and and inflexible generalization. It may be felt or expressed. It may be directed towards a group as a whole or towards an individual because he is a member of that group.

Worchel et al. ( 1988 ): an unjustified negative attitude toward an individual based solely on that individual's membership in a group.

Brown (1995): the holding of derogatory social attitudes or cognitive beliefs, the expression of negative affect, or the display of hostile or discriminatory behaviour towards members of a group on account of their membership of that group.

C. Examples of Prejudice and Stereotyping

Ex : One of the example is from our team’s member experience. When she go attend conference in Hiroshima I met a friend from Thailand in Hiroshima airport. We waiting for the people who suppose to pick us up. We wait for him inside the waiting room in airport. Actually even he was living in Thailand he is a Pakistanese and resemblance the profile of people in middle east. When we are waiting suddenly there is a japanese man who giving a glare to my friend. He brings an umbrella and without a reason he pointed the umbrella to my friend and he looks like trying to hit my friend. I am shock and trying to grab my friend to go away from the japanese man. But my friend resist and keep standing near the japanese man. I was worried and him the reason he keeps resist. He said that it wasn't the first time he experiencing the action like that from foreigner. He told me that maybe it because of his face that people stereotyping him and think negatively of him. He get used to it and told me to not worried. The reason is how people can easily misunderstood and do the action without speak a word. The Japanese man proven to be the example of how sterotype or prejudice can giving a very bad impact for the society composure.

Ex : To say all Doctors drive nice cars is a form of stereotyping. I did not say all white doctors or Mexican doctors so it had NOTHING to do with race or gender. The fact that a person has received an extensive education and now holds a professional position that is known to provide very promising wages therefore providing the means to buy nicer things, the public generally assumes they have purchased themselves a high end vehicle.

Ex : Television, books, comic strips, and movies are all abundant sources of stereotyped characters. For much of its history, the movie industry portrayed African-Americans as being unintelligent, lazy, or violence-prone. As a result of viewing these stereotyped pictures of African-Americans, for example, prejudice against African-Americans has been encouraged. In the same way, physically attractive women have been and continue to be portrayed as unintelligent or unintellectual and sexually promiscuous.

Ex : 1965 British Gov. findings ( mock job application )

[pic]

Turner, 1991 : White applicants in Washington and Chicago received three times as many job offers as black or hispanic applicants (hispanics got slightly more than blacks).

[pic] [pic]

Based on that two pictures, which would you rather have as a lecturer ? Why ?

D. Danger Implication From Prejudice and Stereotyping

The negative implications of the stereotype and prejudice in the intercultural communication is that there is some country that giving a strong regulations for people from certain ethnic before they got a visa or in the immigration post.

Accentuation of group differences, Production of selective perception, Underestimation of within group differences.

Effects on the prejudiced person: Positive effects :

- Intra-personal effects (personal effects) : increase in status in own group, provided prejudiced behaviour is a group norm

- Create a sense of belonging : emphasizes us/them distinction

- Avoid a sense of inferiority “At least I’m not a…” : works because inferiority is a commonly perceived trait of target groups

- Material group gains: Specifically for majority groups, Spoils of discriminatory economic practices.

Effects on the prejudiced person: Negative effects : - Curtailment of individual personality : Won't adopt tendencies/attitudes perceived as opposed to the group, Fear of ostracism by group - Conflict with value systems : Dilemmas set up by own values / group values, Especially true for religious beliefs - Restriction of talent or social advances : Disallowing oneself privileges by own actions, Loss of freedom to pursue particular activities or hold particular attitudes

Reducing Prejudice and Stereotyping

← Education, self-esteem, and religious/spiritual conversion

← Contact hypothesis

← Law

← Working toward a common goal

Effective Strategies for Reducing Prejudice & Conflict

← Both sides must cooperate for a common goal

← Both sides must have equal status & standing

← Both sides must believe they have the moral, legal, and economic support of authorities

← Both sides must have opportunities to work and socialize together formally & informally

(Amir, 1994; Brewer, 1986; Kohn, 1992; Stephan & Brigham, 1985; Stephan & Stephan, 1992)

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[1]. http://www.studymode.com/essays/Stereotyping-And-Prejudice-893397.html akses pada 27 September 2012, pukul 17.42 WIB

[2]S, Stroessner & C, Good, STEREOTYPE THREAT: AN OVERVIEW EXCERPTS pdf file

[3] http://remember.org/guide/History.root.stereotypes.html akses pada 27 September 2012, pukul 20.00 WIB