American Culture Stereotypes

A 2006 Today/Gallup poll found that 44% of Americans had the perception that all Muslims were too extreme in their religious beliefs and 22% of the respondents would not want a Muslim as a neighbor. Islamophobia in America skyrocketed as a result of the 9/11 attacks and changed the way that Muslim-Americans and other Americans were able to interact with one another. These statistics show that there was significant fear of Muslims in the years after 9/11. In the years following the attacks, the number of hate crimes against Muslims in America spiked and have not dropped to pre-attack levels since. As Graph 1 shows, in 2001, there were a reported 481 hate crimes and majority of these would have occurred in the months following September. Although

We are always told that we, people in America, are completely free, from speech to freedom of choices. A common known fact by all sociologists is that that way of thinking is completely false. The reason for this is the way we act, from the way we do our hair to the way we treat others, is hugely influenced by our society. To be more specific, the urge to fit in is fueled by the leadership, and crowds we consider “cool” in our society.

Popular culture is defined as “a composite of all the values, ideas, symbols, material goods, processes, and understandings that arise from mass media” (Atkins 131). It is well-known to the public and reinforces the way people see they world, including aspects such as race, ethnicity, and gender. According to Omi, popular culture “deals with the symbolic realm of social life, the images which it creates, represents, and disseminates contribute to the overall racial climate” (540). The individuals or groups belong to a specific race can be perceived based on their behavior portrayed by the mass media, instead of being recognized for who they truly are. Such effect created by the popular culture contributes to what is known as “racial stereotype”, which is “beliefs about differences in behavior associated with racial differences” (Jones 982).

Non Americans may misunderstand Americans and who they truly are. Americans may be stereotyped as obese, non-educated Americans but any American would strongly disagree. Those same non Americans may categorize all Americans by the way they look and dismiss anybody who looks different. An American can be anybody who chooses to become one and it doesn’t require anything that is impossible to accomplish. Now of course to be legally qualified as an American citizen one must have been born in America or been naturalized. But in general there is no barrier to entry. The same American who was born in America or the person who immigrated to the United States will have to pay their fair share of taxes and participate in their communities like what an

"America is the greatest and most powerful country in the world, not just because of our army but because of the values of our people” Obama.

The stereotypes witnessed around the world are far more prevalent in America due to the use of them to characterize a group of people that have historically been at a disadvantage. Now that more individuals are coming to America, the minority class status has grown exponentially, which has led to the wide use of stereotypes to describe not only blacks, but Latinos, Asian Americans, and other represented ethnic groups. These stereotypes change what it means to be a minority in the United States, and alter the way individuals view their racial backgrounds. When looking at racial relations outside of the United States,

Stereotyping is one of the most common and dangerous issues that happens in America. The activity we did and the video we watched showed the same fact. During the activity we get to write one thing and the rest class got to put down something stereotypical based on that one fact about the person. For instance one person wrote saying that she always been a fashion member and people said things like she cares about people’s opinions, she’s dumb and so on. People tend to take one story line and come up with their own conclusion. Like how everyone assume that all black guys are good in sports or that they are marijuana or cocaine addicts, or that every single of them never had any relations with their father. Although number of black men had left

In today’s society judging races and ethnic groups have left stereotypical images on them. Stereotypical images are seen all over, even in contemporary media. Hispanic Americans and Black Americans are two ethnic groups that I’ve recognized on having that stereotypical image in the contemporary media. Hispanic Americans and Black Americans are left with harm because of these stereotypes that have been shown in the contemporary media, for example in the television shows George Lopez and Everybody Hates Chris. It seems to be that stereotypes are being less focused on or just being allowed because of the humor they bring out in those television shows.

Throughout the semester we have learned that Asian Americans have gone through many hurdles and roadblocks in order to establish an identity for themselves. Although these social stereotypes have been established by other people, Asians didn’t allow this to define who they were as people. Either its projected by films, events or social media, we are able to see Asian Americans taking a stand with one another. Through popular Asian American Culture such as Beauty Pageants and films like Saving Face, we are able to see Asian Americans asserting their power by embracing their social identities. Through Beauty Pageants we are able to see Asian women truly embracing their ethnicity and Gender.

From watching the videos and reading the articles about the many different racists tropes that were/are part of American culture, I can see how much of a role that media plays in everyday life. Watching the Ethnic Notions documentary, I realized how racists tropes date all the way back before America was the America that we know now. During this time these tropes were used to justify why an oppression system was okay, and also to lower an entire group of people. It was interesting how there isn’t just one type of tropes in the world. I never knew that there were types such as Anti-Semitic tropes, but it’s so subtle compared to those that are racists. Even though it is subtle, it still carries much importance. Reading the article about “Space

“You’re either a white man or a n*****, here. Now, that’s the whole story. When I first came to the delta, the Chinese were classed as nigras.”

Several times during our interviews, Fe would use her smartphone to look up facts about her culture, so part of me wondered if I could have done the Internet research myself without her. However, Fe mainly used the Internet to confirm the words that she already knew and was able to supplement these general facts with her own personal experience. Some of the words that Fe used to describe the different types of Indian clothing were sal war, sari, jutti, kurta lungi, and achkan.

Video games, card collections, hopeless romanticism, and a hint of social awkwardness. These are the stereotypes of the average geek. The 2008 movie “American Teen” displays the storyline of Jake Tusing, the senior who is portrayed as the geek in the Warsaw Community High School. Jake is a introverted and awkward video game lover, who, in his story, goes through the process of finding a relationship that would last last forever. His first ever girlfriend, who was a girl that just moved to the school, was like the video game princess to him.

People constantly try to gain direction and insight from their evaluations of other people. One such way they do so is through stereotypes. Stereotypes are cognitive constructs involving an individual’s half-truths and distorted realities knowledge, expectations, and beliefs about human groups. As such, racial stereotypes are constructed beliefs that all members of the same race share certain specific characteristics. In America, the media and Hollywood play an integral role in entrenching and dispelling these stereotypes. However, Hollywood and the media create characters according to stereotypes to attract an audience, from which the viewers can reflect on and laugh at the stereotypes recognizable within American society. This paper seeks to discuss the common stereotypes in American society and how the media and Hollywood promotes those stereotypes and their impacts.

Stereotypes have become a prevalent issue in our media. They, without our knowledge, prevent us from moving forward as human. In this essay, I will discuss the effects of stereotypes in media on gender roles, religion, and race.