Attitudes And Perceptions Of Immigrants

Everyone in life wants a better life for themselves and their next generations. Many people in different countries are migrating to The United States for one or two main goals. Those two goals are a better opportunity for employment and education. Which in turn, accomplishing either one of these goals will provide a higher quality of life and a sense of importance for themselves and their family. However, Americans view the immigrants differently from what they are. Some Americans view the immigrants with different stereotypes and prejudices such as being lazy system abusers, dangerous criminals, and job thieves, just to name a few. However, these stereotypes are not true and does not represent the majority of immigrants. In actuality, immigrants are very disciplined hard workers whom are also highly motivated opportunity chasers, where in these ways they should and need to be viewed by Americans.

One of the biggest goals Americans today set for themselves is to lose weight. It is a quest which many seek out and never reach. The twentieth century has brought about many changes in the world, but it has also brought about many self image problems. With waif-thin models walking the runway, and anorexic fourteen year olds as our role models it is not a wonder. Many young and older women are feeling threatened to fit this particular image.

Obsessing with Weight in America The essay written by Cheryl Peck, entitled “Fatso,” was written to bring to the forefront the discrimination that many people of substance face today. American society has long been obsessed with people’s body sizes. People with larger body sizes have to contend with discriminatory comments and emotional problems because of the attention that they receive from others. Physical beauty is described in a manner that is not appropriate for all body sizes.

Today we live in a society that over the years has become so obsessed with body image and how an individual should look. Different cultures have different standards and norms that help to define their ideal body image. African Americans because of their differences in culture have gone against most cultural norms and have set their own definitions of beauty, body image, and body satisfaction. Because of these key differences, the African American community is less likely to feel the pressures that come with body shaming that typically leads to many eating disorders. Through research of different studies, surveys, and interviews, we can begin to learn why African Americans have set their own set of standards and how they have decided to fit into todays society.

The attitudes of immigrants who have arrived recently differ from those who have arrived earlier in many ways. From 2002-2009 the percentage of votes from a series of questions has changed drastically. One of the questions that was asked if the immigrant spent most of their time with another native from their country. The next one question was if they called another immigrant in their country at least once a week on the phone. The final question was if that immigrant spoke their native language at home.

In the article “Distorted Images: Western Cultures are Exporting Their Dangerous Obsession with Thinness,” author Susan McClelland’s mainly focuses on how many young women idolize the women they see on T.V. The media is making many women feel as if they need to look a certain way to fit in with the world. Also the fact the western culture is spreading to other countries is a big issue because sicknesses, like bulimia, were not an issue before. Many women in other countries are starting to look at the women in the United States and want to be just like them. In this article, the author says that television, magazines, and media show

I find it interesting that a lot of Americans claim immigrants are harming the economy and come to our country to commit crimes. I feel the reason why Americans think like this is because how the media represents immigrants. When the media talks about immigrants, they always mentioning how immigrants are taking Americans jobs, not paying taxes, are working for cheap labor and come to America to do illegal activities. Most often, Americans hear these negative stereotypes associated with Mexicans but not another ethnic or racial groups. Becerra’s articles shown immigrants who come to American decreased the amount of crime compare to native born Americans. In addition, there is less crime in when there are more immigrants in urban areas. This

They found that black women overall prefer a more voluptuous and robust body shape; the women seem to correlate this with wealth, stature and fitness across cultures (Ofuso, Lafreniere, Senn, 1998). Another study that looked at how women view their bodies supports these findings. This study shows how perceptions of body image vary between African American and Caucasian women. African American women tended to be happier with themselves and have a higher self esteem. The women were all college women from two small community colleges in Connecticut; this is very important that their surroundings are essentially the same (Molloy, Herzberger, 1998). Although these studies reveal that African American and Black women across the world have different cultural constraints and body image ideals than other ethnic groups, other studies urge researchers not to forget that Black women are not unsusceptible to eating disorders and low self esteem. One literature review cautions that the dominant culture of a society may impose its views on individuals and cause a deterioration or change in values and perceptions (Williamson, 1998). Interestingly, Black women with high self-esteem and more positive body images also possess more masculine traits than other women studied.

In the American culture, obesity is seen as a bodily abnormality and deviance that should be corrected. Obesity has indeed become one of the most stigmatizing bodily characteristics in our culture (Brink, 1994). In the Western culture, thinness does not just mean the size of the

Whether Americans will admit it or not, there is an everlasting bad opinion toward immigrants. Because most immigrants do not fit the stereotype of a lazy, welfare mooch, Americans should change their poor attitude toward immigration. Migration Policy states that, “In 2016 the U.S. immigrant population stood at more than 41.3 million, or 13 percent, of the total U.S. population of 316.1 million.” We have such a large population of immigrants that it is the actual norm and the bad judgement needs to change in order to ensure liberty, justice and the pursuit of happiness for all.

The media group that retouches images skews the “normal” body image of people through many of its outlets, including models in advertising and magazines, and actors in TV and movie productions. “The average model portrayed in the media is approximately 5’11” and 120 pounds. By contrast, the average American woman is 5’4” and 140 pounds” (Holmstrom, 2004). This statistic shows how the media manipulates consumers into believing that because they are not what the average model looks like, they are not living up to a certain standard which implies that they need to look like that to be beautiful. Another research fact that shows a similar concept is that, “In the United States, 94% of female characters in television programs are thinner than the average American woman, with whom the media frequently associate happiness, desirability, and success in life” (Yamamiya et al., 2005). This association of female thinness and happiness, desirability and success makes consumers believe they must achieve this unrealistic thinness to achieve more ultimate goals and fulfillment in life. “The media also explicitly instruct how to attain thin bodies by dieting, exercising, and body-contouring surgery, encouraging female consumers to believe that they can and should be thin” (Yamamiya et al., 2005). This idealization of thinness in the media is seen so much, and is extremely harmful to women’s self confidence and is often associated with body image dissatisfaction, which can be a precursor to social anxiety, depression, eating disturbances, and poor self-esteem (Yamamiya et al.,

“To be happy and successful, you must be thin,” is a message women are given at a very young age (Society and Eating Disorders). In fact, eating disorders are still continuously growing because of the value society places on being thin. There are many influences in society that pressures females to strive for the “ideal” figure. According to Sheldon’s research on, “Pressure to be Perfect: Influences on College Students’ Body Esteem,” the ideal figure of an average female portrayed in the media is 5’11” and 120 pounds. In reality, the average American woman weighs 140 pounds at 5’4”. The societal pressures come from television shows, diet commercials, social media, peers, magazines and models. However, most females do not take into account of the beauty photo-shop and airbrushing. This ongoing issue is to always be a concern because of the increase in eating disorders.

A woman called "Twiggy" by the press was one of the most popular fashion models in the 1960's. Twiggy was a very appropriate title for her, considering her stick-thin body. She slowly began exposing more and more of her skeletion-esque stature to the camera, and to the world, no doubt inspiring young girls to become like her, because she was in style, yet she was strikingly different; but perhaps most importantly: She was "beautiful." The ultra-skinny image, although not a healthy one, is still consistently portrayed today in the media. While researching articles for this paper, I came across a magazine headline that read, You Can Never Be To Thin, in bold, capital letters. Unfortunately, some women actually began believing that statement, and a great deal of them have since suffered from Anorexia nervosa and some have even died of starvation. Can you imagine starving yourself to death? It is terrifying to me that young minds are so easily driven to take drastic measures when they are told that they will be accepted and loved by society as soon as they are thin. Teenagers are directly targeted because, being at a very impressionable time in their lives, they tend to conform to whatever is currently considered fashionable by their society. <p>Alison Bell hit the nail on the head when she wrote in an article for "TEEN" magazine in 1999, "We live in a society where it is considered standard for a teenager to worry excessively about her body especially at

While it’s fashion week in London, the size “zero” models start to prepare for the big show by purging to be as thin as possible. Most models starve themselves in order to achieve the “waif”, stick-thin figure; it becomes so addictive, almost like second nature that it further leads to serious eating disorders. From recent studies, today’s model weighs about 23% less than the normal woman. Clearly, most models do not depict the average woman. Men and women all over the world follow the influences that the fashion industry provides. They believe that the fashion industry depicts on what society should be acknowledged as, picture-perfect thin.

From the late 1950s European countries adopted the ‘Guest Worker Programme’ and have hosted many people from all over the world; as the number of immigrants has increased, domestic economic growth has been likely to decline (Hatton, 2014b). In particular, the regional integration has remarkably deepened and widened for the last two decades; as a result, the EU citizens have been allowed to move within the area freely without complicated registration and immigration including people from outside of the EU has been an emergent concern for the EU members (Pinder and Usherwood, 2013: 93). Some researchers investigated public attitude towards immigration at supranational, national and regional level in Europe. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate those empirical researches on public attitude towards immigration. First of all, this paper will analyse public’s general attitude in the EU countries. Secondly, British general attitude will be examined; finally, Scottish attitude will be dealt with for the purpose of the further research.