The definition of a stereotype. Social prejudices and stereotypes

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

In the modern world, having heard the word "stereotype", almost no one remembers the intricacies of organizing printing, printing production, this term is strongly associated with the social and psychological aspects of life.

Meanwhile, the first, historical meaning of this word was exactly printing equipment. A stereotype is nothing more than a part of a printing set, a monolithic form, a copy from a typographical cliché. As a term used in psychology and social theories, the word "stereotype" has only been used since the beginning of the last century.

What is this? Definition

A brief definition of a stereotype is as follows - it is a stable idea about something or someone that can be both true and false.

That is, a stereotype is understood as an opinion formed by one person or a group of people about a phenomenon,character traits, behavioral traits, habits, appearance, and so on. Stereotypes of perception can refer to any sphere of life, to nature, climatic conditions, people themselves.

For example, almost all northerners are sure that it is always warm and sunny in southern countries. This is a stable view of the climate. Many believe that the indigenous northern peoples of Russia lead a nomadic lifestyle, as they are exclusively engaged in reindeer breeding. At the same time, they move between camps on dog or reindeer sleds. This is a sustainable way of life.

How did this term come about? The concept of a stereotype

For the first time as a socio-psychological term, this word was used by W alter Lippmann at the beginning of the last century. He also gave the first definition of a stereotype. According to him, this is nothing more than a pattern of perception of something that has historically developed in the community of people. But besides this, the stereotype is also a model for filtering and interpreting variations of information coming in the process of human cognitive activity.

The phenomenon of a stereotype is based on the individual's life experience and on previous, previously accumulated by human generations ideas about something. The combination of various stereotypes among themselves constitutes a social reality.

This is how the new meaning of the word “stereotype” appeared, which has nothing to do with printing houses and the release of printed materials. Curiously enough, W alter Lippmann, who introduced the new meaning of the word, was not a psychologist and social problems indid not work as a scientist. Although it is he who is the author of the theory of the concept of public opinion, which is still considered the main cognitive material for psychologists and scientists dealing with various social issues. This man was a writer, journalist and political commentator.

How are stereotypes classified?

All existing stereotypes of perception are divided into two large types:

• social;
• customized.

The social features are those features that significant groups of people attribute to others. That is, these are the stereotypes that are characteristic of most of society, and not of one particular person.

Accordingly, an individual stereotype is, in simple words, one that is characteristic of one individual person. As a rule, it refers to those characteristics that an individual ascribes to other people or human communities.

What are the differences between individual and social stereotypes?

The concept of the main difference between these species gives the definition of a stereotype. That is, individual ones are characteristic of one person, and social ones are characteristic of a group, most of society.

But this is not the only kind of difference between these stereotypes. They differ in prevalence. That is, individual patterns of perception experienced by specific people have much less in common with each other than social ones. This means that if the majority of the population has a stereotype of negative perception of migrants, then the characteristicsof this template will be the same, similar when voiced by individual people. When describing individual, personal stable features of perception, there will be no similarity, or there will be negligible commonality in the characteristics of the stereotype.

Besides this, the stable features of the perception of something, characteristic of specific people, can either coincide with general, social patterns, or radically differ from them.

What is the meaning of stereotypes?

The main meaning that any stereotype has is, in simple words, the formative effect it has on the social environment.

The study of social patterns of perception, their changes, territorial prevalence and other characterizing qualities allows us to understand how deeply certain ideas are rooted, and to make social forecasts for the development of hypothetical situations. For example, by studying social stereotypes, one can predict how the local population will react to the migration to their lands of people who differ in religion, lifestyle and culture.

Accordingly, the identification of individual patterns characteristic of the perception of something by a particular person allows us to predict his mental reactions to stimuli and behavior in certain circumstances.

What are prejudices?

The concept of prejudice is a lot like the definition of a stereotype. That is, prejudice is also a stable, deeply rooted opinion, a judgment about something,feature of perception.

However, this word has a narrower meaning than the term "stereotype". For example, the belief that one should not continue moving along the street that a black cat has crossed is a prejudice. In other words, stereotypes may arise from a combination of prejudiced judgments, which are a kind of soil for them. On the contrary, it cannot be, stereotyped perception is a broader concept than prejudice.

These concepts also differ in that stereotypes can carry both negative and positive meanings, while prejudices do not. They are invariably negative.

Which social prejudice is most prevalent?

The most common social prejudices and stereotypes are considered to be:

• in ethnic bias;
• discriminatory behavior.

The latter includes such features of perception as:

• racism;
• sexism;
• ageism.

Each of the manifestations of these features of thinking, stable ideas can form the basis of both prejudice and stereotype.

About racism

Prejudices related to the origin of another person, his nationality or race, are characteristic of each society and individual, considered separately. Of course, their severity is directly related to the social situation in which people find themselves.

Theories of misanthropy, the superiority of some people overothers have found their followers at all times. There are a lot of examples of this in history, one of the most global and close to our days is nicism. Nazi ideas became extremely popular in Weimar Germany at the beginning of the last century, in part because their seeds fell on fertile ground, heavily flavored with prejudice. In each of their personal failures, as well as in the humiliated position of the country, people sought to find someone to blame. The ideas expressed by the Nazis, these "guilty" people were given to society.

It is generally accepted that racism has partly outlived its usefulness. In modern Western society, it is not customary to express misanthropic ideas aloud. Moreover, discrimination is often a reason for filing a lawsuit. For example, if a person is denied a job because of his background, then he has the right to challenge this or demand compensation.

However, silence is not a concept analogous to absence. Racial prejudices of individual members of society have not disappeared, as well as general stereotypes of perception. This problem is especially acute in regions filled with migrants.

On sexism

This manifestation of a stereotyped perception of reality is probably the most ancient of all types of social prejudice. In simple words, sexism is an unequal position in society between men and women. At the same time, people perceive others, judge their abilities, duties and opportunities based on their gender.

Examples of manifestation of this stereotypeand the prejudices corresponding to it are numerous. In order to discover them, it is not at all necessary to delve into history and recall the struggle of women for the right to occupy certain jobs, vote in elections and receive education on an equal basis with men.

Almost every family has ideas about what a woman should do - cook, clean, wash, iron and do other household chores. A man can help, but is not at all obliged to wash the dishes or wipe the dust. This pattern of distribution of social roles is often so strong that it is not noticed at all. Meanwhile, such a stereotype of the perception of domestic duties is nothing more than gender discrimination, sexism.

About ageism

This is a perceptual pattern based on age. As a rule, ageism is understood as a negative and prejudiced attitude towards older members of society.

At the heart of this phenomenon lies the belief in the uselessness of old people. In other words, such prejudices are characterized by an economic background. But this is not the only reason why this stereotype of perception can develop. Prejudice towards old people can also arise due to the peculiarities of physiology, behavior, appearance.

Manifestations of ageism and moments of its formation are many in everyday life. For example, if a person goes to an institute at the same time in a vehicle in which there are a lot of elderly people, then he develops a negative attitude towards the elderly. Often this process in this exampledue to an internal conflict between the requirements of good manners and their own needs, lack of understanding of the situation and other factors that are uncomfortable for the individual. Conflict implies the awareness of the need to give way to an elderly person and the physiological unwillingness to do so. Lack of understanding is not knowing why older people go somewhere at rush hour. The person believes that it would be much easier for everyone if the old people used transport after the rest of the society had gone to work and study places.

There are a lot of such trifles. Faced with them on a daily basis, a person begins to dislike the elderly members of society. A stable prejudice, prejudice is forming in his mind.

On ethnic bias

This concept is not similar to racism, although in many ways it is similar to it. Ethnic prejudice is a stable perception of specific characteristics inherent in a particular nationality.

For example, the belief that the Germans are stingy and prudent, the British are punctual, and the Jews are cunning are ethnic stereotypes. Often the roots of such ideas lie in ancient times and have nothing to do with the culture and traditions of peoples. For example, those features that Europeans attribute to Jews are associated with Armenians in the lands of Transcaucasia. This paradox is easily explained. Prejudice arose because of occupation, and not because of nationality. In the example with Jews and Armenians, the rootsprejudices lie in the attitude of people towards merchants, usurers.

How are stereotypes formed?

The reasons for stereotypes lie in the features of the functionality of the human brain. In other words, stable ideas about something help people cope with the flow of information. This is a kind of ready-made formula for judging and evaluating an external stimulus, an internal instruction that makes it easier to decide how to respond to something. That is, the presence of stereotypes, as well as prejudices, is a manifestation of the protective function of the brain, which saves this organ from overload.

Stable patterns of perception are both initially formed in the human mind and assimilated from the outside. People learn the very first stereotypes in early childhood, watching the life of their parents, communicating with their peers. For example, those prejudices that belong to the category of sexism penetrate the brain precisely in childhood.

The formation of one's own, individual stereotypes occurs on the basis of personal, lived experience. However, they may well coincide with the patterns inherent in most people. For example, if a person was insulted or shortchanged in the market, touched in any other way by a representative of a particular nationality, then the individual will certainly develop a biased attitude towards the entire nationality as a whole. It may well coincide with the general stereotypes of the perception of this nationality.

Can patterns be changed or destroyed?

Changing stereotypes is a long and complicated process. The main difficulties in itlie in a large number of contradictions and variable factors.

In order to change the prevailing opinion about something, you need:

• personal extended contact;
• self-observation or obtaining information;
• rapprochement or even fusion of different cultures;
• lack of inertia, closedness in self-consciousness.

In other words, the destruction of stereotypes depends on the desire of a particular person, his readiness to “step aside” from patterns. Of course, the mass media, propaganda, feature films, books, educational programs, etc., also play an important role both in the formation and in changing or destroying prejudices that have been established in society.