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Racial Dichotomy

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Introduction - What is stereotyping? What is defined as racist language? How is this evident in media representations of ethnic/race?
Stereotypes are characteristics put upon groups of people because of their race or nationality which typically misrepresents and denigrates individuals that are a part of a particular group. Robles (2013) claims that misconceptions are based on conceived cultural norms and practices which usually act to discriminate. This can result in discriminatory social misconceptions and the subjugation of specific groups. It

Rhetoric of Exclusion – the lack of ethnic/race representation shows that it is racist – do not have equal representation
Recent research has highlighted the minority groups are being discriminated …show more content…

Often when ‘Blacks’ are portrayed in films they are typically assigned supporting roles. Hollywood black actors are often typecast as criminal and violent. Specific devices are also used in media representations of ethnic minorities to perceive ‘them’ as a threat. In fact, Jaspal and Cinnirella (2010) claims that there is a pervasive tendency to portray Muslims as threatening. One of the principle rhetorical strategies used by popular media to reinforce this dichotomy between cultures is achieved through delineating the in group from the out group. Jaspal and Cinnirella (2010) explained how the widespread of the noun phrase ‘the Muslim world’ acts to create a homogenous social entity which is in opposition to the west. The second process used to act to segregate or marginalised muslims through the act of rejection, which is a device focusing on portraying on negative social representations. Michael Welch (2016) suggest that immigrants pose a threat to America’s Eurocentric culture. He argues that the media is responsible for fuelling anti-immigrant hostility through the process of criminalising immigrants by portraying them as predatory …show more content…

This is achieved through rhetoric which positions non-Eurocentric groups as alien. Edward Said (1978) argues that this process of Western self-presentation acts to construct orientalist as west’s alter ego. It is argued the this rhetoric uses binary vocabulary such as the West versus East, despotism versus democracy and cruelty versus fair treatment. Jaspal and Cinnirella claims thats muslims are typically constructed as the antithesis of the ethno-national in-group. This is achieved through the juxtapositioning of the negative characteristics inherent in the Muslim in-group with the positive characteristics of the ethno-national in-group. Fatima Poorebrahim (2013) argues how rhetoric of difference is established through pacify and degrade Orientals. The Pluralism Project (2016) claims that newspaper headlines regularly print words such as “islam” and “muslim” next to words like “fanatic” and “fundamentalist” which are foreign ideologies to the west. Joshua Roose (2013) from the Religion and Society Research Centre from the University of Western Sydney argues that media headlines are designed to create an Islam versus the Western dichotomy, he uses the head line “A terror attack in the UK overnight - apparently committed once again in the name of Islam” to illustrate this dichotomy. The term other is often used on Ethnic groups to portray them as a threat to

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