Miss Label Stereotypes Essay

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

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

“Everyone wants to be seen. Everyone wants to be heard. Everyone wants to be recognized as the person that they are and not a stereotype or an image.” (Loretta Lynch). What are stereotypes; they are oversimplified opinions of a person/group that is based on culture, race, personality, and interests. Now, who are those who struggle the most with stereotypes? The answer is rather simple: high schoolers. I firmly state, that stereotypes, among all things, shouldn’t be an extra burden in the life of teenagers, especially those already dealing with other problems.

Every public school lunch room is filled with many tables, every day these tables are the perfect place for a student to find where they “belong”. Like Beverly Daniel Tatum states in “Why Are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?”, part of the social groups forming in high schools goes to thank adolescents. Tatum writes, “As children enter adolescence, they begin to explore the question of identity, asking ‘Who am I?’ ‘Who can I be?’”(375). At this point in their life everyone begins to see their own interests and hobbies that makes them a little different than others. Because students are starting to realize their differences, in modern day high schools there are many social groups that students can identify with and feel the most comfortable being themselves.

One of the main themes that I noticed when I was reading through the fairy tale texts was the theme of stereotypes. Firstly, what are stereotypes? Stereotypes are essentially an offensive generalization or an over exaggerated view that is used to categorize a group of people. I noticed that in two of the three texts that I have selected for this paper, the authors, Jakob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm, tend to portray women as being very dependent on men. In addition, to being depicted as being very dependent, they were also shown to be weak and very naïve. My goal in this paper is to highlight the numerous accounts of stereotypes that are cast mainly upon women and sometimes men as well, whether it be fictional or

Social labels are very common in the world. In the book, The Ugly Duckling, one of the ducklings turns out to have a different appearance than the others, and is defined by the social label ‘ugly’. This can relate to The Outsiders by S.E Hinton, the Greasers, a lower class gang, are looked down upon because of their level of income. For example, Ponyboy wanted to break free of his social label as a Greaser, except his lower financial status challenges him, so he must act to be perceived in a different way. In The Outsiders, S.E Hinton uses social labels to determine how one is perceived and how they must act.

Labels are everywhere. Whether conscious or subconsciously, they are a fundamental part of our lives. We label together foods, clothing, colours and things that are alike. But what happens when we expand this form of “labelling” to split up types of people? When we assume character traits about those who belong to a certain group, this can intensely affect the way many react in life. Those who are judged for their sexual orientation, gender, income, mental problems etc., may eventually begin to conform to a stereotype that they belong to. In turn, this stereotyping may be the reason for certain people to partake in deviance acts.

Stereotyping is a commonly encountered occurrence at schools and in our daily lives. Stereotyping is when someone believes something about you or treats you differently based on a popular belief. There are three common stereotypes that RMHS students experience or are affected by. They are all related to race and ethnicities of students. Mexicans are lazy, must play soccer and must not be good at school. White people must love Starbucks, must be dumb blondes, and are racist. Black people must be lazy and not good at school. These are just a few of the many stereotypes students face on a daily basis. I believe that these stereotypes have a negative effect on teens because they bring down performance in school and outside of school. We got this

Identity is a substantial component of a person, it’s something that determines who they are and help establish themselves with people who you find enjoyable and shares similar interests. It could bring people together, and provide a sense of belonging and unity. However, there are times where these people who are within certain cliques are perceived more negatively or believe that all people within that group perpetually have a certain set of traits. In most cases, these negative perceptions lead to discrimination and conflict, and obscures the positive and more genuine traits of an individual. In S.E. Hinton’s book, The Outsiders, there are a group of poor and lower-middle class teens who are labeled as the greasers. This group of wild teenagers

Stereotypes affect people in many different ways. There are two sides to stereotypes, the victims and there aggressors. Unfortunately, we all have been a victim of stereotypes even with out us knowing it. Stereotypes hurt, but individuals handle the problem differently some feel belittled or embarrassed. Many victims of stereotypes can cause people to lose confidents in there self and many others in a psychological way, which can damage social and personal development. Kids that are victims of stereotypes are affected the worsted. Not only are the kids emotionally damaged the victim them selves can turn into the aggressor and stereotype others. The aggressors in many cases are individuals that have been victims of stereotypes, or brought up in a household or environment where people are constantly stereotyping other. People brought up in that kind of situation my stereotype others cause that is all they have come to know. Some refer to this person as ignorant, which is a harsh but accurate assumption. The definition of ignorance is the lack of logic. Ignorance is the main cause for people stereotyping others. There have been many discussions on how to get ride of stereotypes. My idea is to put a culture class in junior high or high schools and make it a mandatory class. Now if this were to happen it would compel students to study and understand cultures

The main population accused of stereotyping is teenagers; they are seen as rude and judgmental. For example, in high school the people are divided into groups by how they dress and whom they hang out with. There are the skaters, freaks, preps, snobs, cheerleaders, jocks and nerds. No one person set up

In the ideal world, if we all were statisticians, had perfect data, and approached everything objectively, we would distill the portion of stereotypes that were actually real and omit the portion that are societal caricatures. Unfortunately, that's not the case. Observers of humanity like myself will continue to notice patterns in human behavior across heterogeneous groups, but I will make a conscious effort to not let that sully my daily interactions with my friends. I will approach each individual as a person, because they are just that: the politics of their identity are too complex for a feeble mind like my own to accurately discern.

Stereotypes are a huge issue in society, today. People should not be judged for their race, sexuality, religion or physical limitations. A person should like someone for who they are. Difference is good because if everyone was exactly the same life would be plain and ordinary. A sense of difference can be used to propel a person forward in the world. Stereotypes are good because they empower people to rise up and be the best they can be.

Most people find stereotypes to be obnoxious, especially when they have to do with sensitive subjects like gender or race. “Stereotyping is a generalization about a group or category of people that can have a powerful influence on how we perceive others and their communication behaviors” (Floyd, 61). Because they underestimate the differences among individuals in a group, stereotyping can lead to inaccurate and offensive perceptions of other people. Although stereotypes are prevalent in almost every society, becoming aware of our perceptions of others, as well as differentiating between both positive and negative stereotypes can help us overcome those stereotypes.

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.