Stereotypes and ethnocentrism

This document explains the various characteristics and examples of Stereotypes and Ethnocentrism

1. BY: UNNATI GARG

STEREOTYPES AND
ETHNOCENTRISM
DESCRIPTION AND EXAMPLES

2. A) Characteristics of Stereotypes
Stereotypes are beliefs or expectations about characteristics associated with a group of people.
Stereotypes often consist of descriptions of traits, abilities and interests, physical
characteristics, and expected role behaviours.
Properties of Stereotypes
1. Stereotypes are basically fixed mental pictures in one’s head.
2. Stereotypes may have some stimulus value, but they are unscientific generalizations.
3. Stereotypes are mostly false elements.
4. Stereotypes are overgeneralized ideas.
5. Stereotypes are linked with emotional experience.
6. Stereotypes are shared by the group.
7. They are mostly negative in nature.
8. Stereotypes originate and grow like attitudes, prejudices and other social concepts.
9. Stereotypes are quite rigid and not easily amenable to change.
10. Stereotypes arise out of ingroup outgroup relationship and personal and group
conflicts into which a good deal of fantasy is attached.
Following are some key characteristics of stereotypes
1. One does not have to believe that all members of a social group have the attribute
in order for it to be a stereotype.
Rather, one has to believe that more people in the group have the attribute than people
in another group.
Example: People may not believe that all or even most Asian people are good at math.
But they may believe that overall Asian people are better at math than White people.
This makes it a stereotype.

2. A characteristic associated with a group does not have to be inaccurate in order
to be a stereotype.
Some argue that if a statement is true, it is not a stereotype. Even if one asserts that a
generalization about a social category is "true," it is still a stereotype.
Example: Some might say that having darker skin is characteristic of African
Americans. This is still a stereotype about African Americans and it can have broader
implications.

3. 3. Stereotypes can be positive, negative, or have both positive and negative elements.
Just as stereotypes do not have to be inaccurate to be problematic, stereotypes also do
not have to be negative to be problematic. Regardless of how favorable a characteristic
may be, it is still a stereotype.
Example: people may assume that "good" athletes are also "unintelligent" or
"aggressive"

4. Stereotypes can be explicit or implicit.
While explicit beliefs are those that you acknowledge to yourself and others, implicit
beliefs are those you unconsciously endorse. This means that you may not even be
aware that you hold these beliefs.
Example: People may explicitly believe that women can do anything men can do in the
business world but unconsciously hold the belief that men are more decisive and
therefore better business managers than women.

5. Cultural stereotypes are often the source of implicit stereotypes.
Cultural stereotypes are beliefs that most people in a particular culture have about
members of a group.
Example: A person might not personally believe that muslims are aggressive, but it is
likely that many others can make this association. This knowledge can still influence a
person’s thinking.

6. Power and Privilege matter.
Those who have power and privilege define what stereotypical characteristics are
important and valued in a culture as well as what are devalued. They also control
cultural displays of stereotypes that influence implicit associations.


B) Ethnocentrism
Ethnocentrism means that one may see his/her own culture as the correct way of living. For
those who have not experienced other cultures in depth can be said to be ethnocentric if they
feel that their lives are the most natural way of living. Some cultures may be similar or overlap
in ideas or concepts, however, some people are in a sense, shocked to experience differences
they may encounter with individuals culturally different than themselves. In extreme cases, a
group of individuals may see another cultures way of life and consider it wrong, because of
this, the group may try to convert the other group to their own ways of living.
Ethnocentrism is a powerful force that weakens human relations.
Example 1: Terrorism and Hate Crimes:
Terrorism and hate crimes take place when one religion or community believes that it is superior, and
better than any other religion or community.
Ethnocentrism tends to blind people from seeing things from another perspective― just because
another community does something that yours doesn't― like a particular style of worship, for

4. instance, doesn't make it inferior to yours, and nor does it make the other community's style of
worshiping incorrect.
Example 2: In Business
Though it is easy to assume that ethnocentrism affects only the lesser- educated, less aware people in
the world, it is not really true. Ethnocentrism can be seen on a large scale in business, and at the
workplace.
For instance, an employee may refer to his client as a 'moron' if the client needed some time to
understand whatever the employee was trying to tell him. A business owner might yell at his foreign
employees and call them stupid because of their different races, cultures, or values that are different
from the boss'.
Example 3: In American Society
The popular belief among American ethnocentric people is that their country, culture, values,
development, and everything else is superior to every other nation in the world, and that every other
nation is inferior to the United States.
This belief has led to political meddling among the matters of other countries, leading to
misunderstandings and miscommunication between different countries in the world.
Example 4: Ethnocentrism and Culture
Every culture on earth tends to impart ethnocentrism, albeit unintentionally.
Various aspects of culture such as mythological tales, folktales, legends, religion, songs, proverbs,
language, rituals, etc. promote the superiority of that one culture over others.
Though this is an unintentional kind of promotion of ethnocentrism, it instils the belief that 'my
race/my culture' is really better than the rest, in so many ways in most of us, especially during
childhood or teenage.
Example 5: Nazi Germany
One of the most well-known and horrific examples of ethnocentrism pertains to Nazi
Germany. Adolf Hitler decided he hated Jewish people, as well as other groups of people, and
had many innocent people slaughtered in concentration camps.
Obviously, they didn't deserve the torture they received, and this was clearly an extreme case
of ethnocentrism. While prejudice certainly leads to problems, very rarely in history has
ethnocentrism led to the mass slaughter of millions of innocent people at the scale witnessed
in Nazi Germany.
Example 6: In Literature
In Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, the main character, Janie Starks, is
a light-skinned black woman. For this, the other black woman in her town are full of
contempt for her. She seems to straddle the line between black and white at various points.
This novel indicates that ethnocentrism is an extremely broad topic because even within one's
own ethnicity, divisions will be found.