Mass Medias Effects on Sterotyping

In a study conducted by Ford and Tonander (1998), it was hypothesized that when one’s social identity was threatened by a group who is largely different from them, that individual is likely to form stereotypes. This is based

Stereotypes are socially constructed, over-generalized views regarding a particular group of persons with certain characteristics that are widely accepted, and usually expected, in a society. The dominant group of a certain society, which in this case is probably Caucasians and men, usually creates these social constructions. Claude M. Steele, a researcher from Stanford University, performed multiple research studies on the idea and psychological effects of stereotypes on its victims. In his studies, he coins the term “stereotype threat” as the “social-psychological predicament that can arise from widely-known negative stereotypes about one's group,” which implies that “the existence of such a stereotype means that anything one does or any of one's features that conform to it make the stereotype more plausible as a self-characterization in the eyes of others, and perhaps even in one's own eyes” (Steele 797).

With so many news stories and incidents surrounding the topic of race and the police these days, it is not surprising for people to come to the conclusion that racism may exist within the criminal justice system. We will be taking a deeper look into the problem to find out what other possible determinants may play a role in deciding how an officer makes an arrest or stop and continue to analyze what is happening in those contexts. The issues surrounding the topic of race is like the two faces of the same coin as there are usually two sides that we have to consider: reality and media portrayals. The reality side of situations is always there at the time, but it is so subtly hidden from society that nobody understands it unless they witness it firsthand and with the media spreading filtered information, it becomes even harder for us to identify the key issue; this is especially the case when dealing with the police and racial profiling. If you turn on the news and flip to a channel where it is reporting on the police and their arrests, you will most likely see more arrests pertaining to minorities than other ethnicities. In the news, we can often see a misrepresentation of ethnic minorities, usually African-Americans, being arrested when compared to others and this has caused problems around societies countless times. For this essay topic, I will be discussing the different issues surrounding race within the parameters of criminal justice and inequality; furthermore I will be

For example, 76% of crime report in local news stations in Chicago depicted a black perpetrator for their leading stories (Entman, 1990). This coverage works to provide stereotypes on the assumption of black people as dangerous, sub-human, and inherently criminal. Moreover, in comparison to white criminals who were not shown in holding or mug shots, black criminals are frequently shown handcuffed in police holding (Entman, 1990) The association of black people with symbols of menace increases the apprehensive and negative beliefs required for systemic racism (Entman, 1990). As a result of extensive circulation of negative stereotypes, it becomes imbedded in the social psyche that violence and discrimination are reasonable merits to be employed against these people as they are seen as a threat to social stability. In effect, there is little accountability for violence against blacks by members of law enforcement and many officers are not indicted for the murder of blacks, or else face menial sentences (Chancey& Robertson, 2015). The underlying attitude of disregard towards black lives enables institutionalized racism, which is transferred to the general public, and is justified by the negative stereotypes fabricated by the ruling white class (Chancey& Robertson, 2015). For example, from “January 1

Stereotyping and discrimination are very deeply ingrained in American culture. Even though there have been movements taken to combat stereotyping and discrimination such as the Civil Rights Movement, the Women’s Rights movement, and the Black Lives Matter Movement, it still exists. This raises the question of, how do we end it? While there is no definite answer there is a way to avoid stereotyping and discrimination. The three essayists Bharati Mukherjee, Judith Ortiz Cofer, Brent Staples and show that by learning about stereotyping, people can also learn how to change themselves to avoid discrimination based on stereotypes. By comparing and contrasting these essayists experiences as well as outside research to show the theme of why people

Racial Bias and Automatic Response in the Misidentification of WeaponsOn March 18th, 2018 Sacramento police officers shot and killed 22-year-old Stephon Clark in the backyard of his grandmother’s house after mistaking his cellphone for a gun. The fatal shooting of Stephon Clark is just one of many incidences where unarmed black men have fallen victim to implicit racial biases. When police officers are pressured to make split second decisions their unconscious biases toward black men becomes present and influences their judgement against black men whom they suspect to be armed with guns but are in fact unarmed. With today’s technological advancements and the media’s ability to reach a large population of people there is greater awareness of

The shootings of Michael Brown in Fergusson Missouri and Akai Gurley in New York have evolved into a national issue, complete with conflicting individual evaluations, blame narratives and definitions of racism. In such “racial events”, the tendency for Americans to offer their individualistic analysis blends with the already racialized American culture resulting in a mixture of individual evaluations and widespread claims regarding racial groups as well as institutional liberties and detriments of the various racial groups. However, this process has served more, to reinforce the flawed conceptualizations of race and racism, rather than address the main problem. In this paper a comparison of two news commentary articles on the issues arising from the Fergusson shooting is presented.

In life, there is a common ground on which most every person can relate. At one time or another, we have all been promoters of or victims of the unremitting nature of stereotypes. According to the Webster’s dictionary, a stereotype is defined as “a simplified and standardized conception or image invested with special meaning and held in common by members of a group.” Most stereotypes take on a negative form and are based on characteristics such as age, gender, race, status, and personal beliefs. Generally speaking, the greatest problem that arises with stereotypes is that they judge group of people by the characteristics and actions of their ancestors, rather than on an individual basis. More often than not, these assumptions will

On August 14, 2014, the infamous case of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, took place. A police officer shot an unarmed black teenager after an incident which was clouded in unclear details. At first, no one really knew whether the officer had been in the right to shoot Brown, or what the circumstances were for either side of the incident. However, eventually, the details started to not matter. The events around Michael Brown’s case became the spark that ignited a nationwide movement to fight against police brutality towards minorities, specifically African Americans. Protesters of police violence toward minorities created a phrase that was used all over the country after Brown’s death: “hands up, don’t shoot”. Many have used the events behind Brown’s death as a springboard to consider what makes a criminal. One side of the issue claims that race directly affects criminality, while others believe class to be the cause of criminality.

Stereotypes are used to compartmentalize the vast human race. They allow us to, in the blink of an eye, know about a person without knowing a person, to create the whole narrative of a person from one glance. Though they are often inaccurate, stereotypes are a large aspect of our day to day social interactions, and are commonly used in ways that are offensive or oppressive. In “The Ways We Lie’ by Stephanie Ericsson, she references why and how they are used, and the harmful effects of stereotypes. For those who find themselves a victim of stereotyping, daily life can be significantly affected. These people are treated based on the category that they belong to, rather than based upon their individual qualities and experiences. Judith Ortiz Cofer, writer of “The Myth of The Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria” and Brent Staples, author of “Just Walk on By: Black Men In Public Space” both chronicle their routine experiences of stereotyping and the consequences of such experiences. Though every individual can be stereotyped based upon the category to which they seem to belong, people of minority races or ethnicities face more stereotyping and are adversely affected on a regular basis, as

A number of recent investigations have concluded that news programs often systematically misrepresent black Americans as perpetrators of crime and whites as victims of or defenders against lawbreaking (Dixon 1). According to those investigations by Dixon and Linz (2000a), “Blacks were twice as likely as Whites to be seen as perpetrators, six times more likely to be portrayed as perpetrators than officers, and overrepresented as criminals.”

Racial stereotypes more or less affect our perceptions toward race, and judge people in a certain frame unconsciously, as Omi set forth in In Living Color: Race and American Culture. It greatly impact the images of minorities on the visual media, which the most direct medium to reflect the popular beliefs. Even though the “racist beliefs” have “just recently being reversed”, the portrayal of minorities on visual media is still not exemplary (Horton, et al “PORTRAYAL OF MINORITIES IN THE FILM, MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRIES”).

Welch (2007) instituted her article with details of speculations and theories that coincided to the development of Black criminal labels. Now, the Black criminal labels are basically the stereotypes that black people are commonly involve or associate with regarding with crime. She thought it was a plausible concept to understand the images of crime shown by a society. She explicates on racial stereotypes through crime rates, black involvement in crimes, media, and racial hoaxes. For instance, young black males in America are commonly perceived as violent, gang affiliated, and sustain by other labels everywhere. She mentions “talking about crime is talking about race” which has adapted to the publics’ minds throughout a wide range in history (Welch, 2007; Barlow, 1998, p.151). Welch gives an example of a common white stereotype of African Americans as being less controlled, and more prone to crime than whites which adds to the public’s conception of criminality (2007; Higginbotham, 2002, p.147). Through the various factors, like black involvement in crime have contributed to the criminal stereotyping of blacks. Concerning this, Randall Kennedy interpreted how the reputation of Blacks has been “besieged” by beliefs from white people about inclinations beforehand towards criminal activity that could be traced back to when Africans were held in captivity (1997; Welch, 2007). His statement conveyed that African Americans have had this reputation for decades. The real

When social psychologist Claude Steele began writing about the problem of stereotype threats in the 1990s, many other researchers began to do the same thing. Steele offered that when members of certain groups can be stereotyped in a negative way, they will be seen “through the lens of diminishing stereotypes and low expectations” (1999, p.44). According to Kassin, Fein, and Markus, stereotype threat is defined as “The experience of concern about being evaluated based on negative stereotypes about one’s group.” Steele concluded that stereotype threat can be achieved in two ways: reactions to “threat in the

The presences of stereotypes are overwhelming and are developed by both the environment a subject is raised in and their family. Stereotypes, which are pervasive throughout different societies, become intertwined in the collective values of the society as justification for all forms of social, economic, and political inequality among groups (Devine and Elliot 2000;Kaplan 2004; Operario and Fiske 2004). As people become more exposed to stereotypes they start to become a permanent part of a person’s life, they begin to stereotype themselves almost always involuntarily.