Tessa PerkinsStereotypes

“GEEK”

“MODEL”

“MUM”

“PUNK”

“TEACHER”

Stereotypes

Stereotypes are assumptions we make based on groups of people. We come to conclusions and categorise people in certain way, as this makes it easier for us to recognise particular people.

Stereotyping is not a simple process and contains a number of assumptions that can be challenged. Perkins identifies 5 such assumptions:

Stereotypes are not always negative (e.g. ‘The French are good cooks’)

They are not always about minority groups or less powerful (e.g. upper class twits’)

They can be held about one’s own group.

They are not rigid or unchanging.

They are not always false.

StereotypesStereotypes are not always negative, people assume that

stereotypes are negative for example, young troublesome youths, ‘hoodie culture’, however youth can also be seen as positive.

People assume that stereotypes are aimed at and targeted towards the less powerful, but this is not always the case, we can make assumptions and stereotypes about the upper class minorities in some way they would make assumptions about lower class people.

They can be held about ones group, for example at college, within our own group we stereotype people demonstrating even though we all belong to the same institution and hold the same ideologies as a whole, within the group we still stereotype based on our assumptions. This makes each of us feel part of the larger community.

Stereotypes

They are not rigid or unchanging, once a stereotype has been created it is very hard to change however Perkins states that over a period of time can change and develop.

For example – a dad being the dominant parent, or a woman being sport and muscly.

They are not always false. Stereotypes have to have some truth in them, otherwise stereotypes would not exist.

We read and witness many stories in the media that help us shape and understand these stereotypes.

We may witness it first hand or second hand, however there must be some truth in a stereotype otherwise the ideology behind them would have not existed in the first place.

Implications of stereotypes

Stereotypes are usually erroneous in content.

They are negative concepts

They are about groups with whom we have little or no social contact; by implication therefore, they are not held about one’s own group – that’s a stereotype of a stereotype, therefore it cannot be completely reliable or believable.

They are about minority of repressed groups most of the time creating negative representation of the lower class possible giving the upper-class more power.

Implications of Stereotypes

People either ‘hold’ stereotypes of a group (believe them to be true) or do not. This can lead to negative behavior or wrong assumptions.

Because someone holds a stereotype of a group, his or her behavior towards a member of that group can be predicted. This can lead to unfair treatment of members of society (celebrity BB white D)

Stereotypes are an invaluable aid to understanding the world and all stereotypes must have a bit of truth or they would not have such an influence.