Essay on The Functions of Stereotypes in Propaganda

Stereotypes are a form of prejudice everyone will once experience in their lifetime. Stereotypes are centered around an individual's race, gender, social class, religion, and age. They have been known to be elements people use to make judgments and subjectify people to one key feature. As Gordon Allport states, “ To state the matter technically, a noun abstracts from a concrete reality some one features and assembles different concrete realities only with respect to this one feature”(364). Mr.Allport’s words can be summed up to say stereotypes have been used as key fundamentals to associate one feature or aspect of a person with a group that represents it, typically in an unfavorable way.

Stereotypes exist everywhere, individuals stereotype others as well as themselves. Stereotypes function in society as a perceived notion of a group of individuals based upon prior experience from a select few people from aforementioned group. Stereotypes exist within literature as well; stereotypes can be used to help personify individuals and make the best stock characters. The stereotype of a character can be used to better exemplify what people may or may not be really like. In The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, Sinclair stereotypes immigrants to show their initial optimism, ignorance and finally- the realization of what life is really like.

There are many different stereotypes in the world today. They can be used for different categories like age, gender and race. Stereotypes are formed by the media, passed down from many generations and also just the populations need to understand the social world around us. Racial stereotypes make up large portion of stereotypes in today's society. Racial stereotypes can be used for comedic effect and our found to be funny by a majority of people, but they can also be depicted as hate to an ethnic group if it goes too far. One example of a race effected by stereotypes are Asian people. They have many stereotypes that have developed over the years. An example of a stereotype Asian people experience is that they cannot drive very well. Some

The purpose of stereotypes is to help us know how to interact with others. Each classification has associations, scripts and so on that we use to interpret what they are saying, decide if they are good or bad, and choose how to respond to them (or not).

Stereotypes exist everywhere, individuals stereotype others as well as themselves. Stereotypes function in society as a perceived notion of a group of individuals based upon prior experience from a select few people from aforementioned group. Stereotypes exist within literature as well; stereotypes can be used to help personify individuals and make the best stock characters. The stereotype of a character can be used to better exemplify what people may or may not be really like. In The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, Sinclair stereotypes immigrants to show their initial optimism, ignorance and finally- the realization of what life is really like.

By stereotyping we infer that a person has a whole range of characteristics and abilities that we assume all members of that group have. Stereotypes lead to social categorisation, which is one of the reasons for prejudice attitudes.

First of all, what are stereotypes? A stereotype is a quality assigned to groups of people related to their race, nationality, and sexual orientation, but there is not only one type of stereotype there are actually two types of stereotypes. There are positive and negative ones. For example, a positive stereotype about asians would be that they are smart and polite. A negative one would be something like asians have small eyes or they’re short. Some people may get offended by these and other people will not care about it at all. These are effects from the stereotypes.

Stereotypes can be defined as sweeping generalizations about members of a certain race, religion, gender, nationality, or other group. They are made everyday in almost every society. We develop stereotypes when we are unable or unwilling to obtain all the information we would need to make fair judgments about people or situations. By stereotyping, we assume that a person or group has certain characteristics. Quite often, we develop these ideas about people who are members of groups with which we have not had firsthand contact. Stereotyping usually leads to unfair results, such as discrimination, racial profiling, and unnecessary violence, all behaviors which need to be stopped.

Propaganda often receives a bad name. People believe that influencing people as negative, however “propaganda as a mere tool is no more moral or immoral than a pump handle” (Laswell pg 21). It is not until the writers of the propaganda intentionally become vicious and spread lies that it becomes

Bernays, when addressing the negative connotation of propaganda, claimed it is neutral and “vicious only when its authors consciously and deliberately disseminate what they know to be lies, or when they aim at effects which they know to be prejudicial…” Comparatively, Burke asserts that “Hitler’s book certainly falls under the classification of hate” as he united his nation under a sinister cause. Bernays emphasized that propaganda is affecting the public on a mass scale. Following a demographic rise, propaganda resulted in a fragmentation of messages, meaning it will express influence using an assortment of ways in a variety of groups. According to Hitler’s rhetoric, the mass demographic is female and they desire a dominant male—a desire that can be

Stereotypes are deeply embedded in every society in numerous ways. The dictionary definition of a stereotype is “one that is regarded as embodying or conforming to a set image or type.” Stereotyping or Labeling is a technique that “attempts to arouse prejudices in an audience by labeling the object of the propaganda campaign

However, living in a democratic society there is freedom of choice, independence and social equality is a right and in the age of technological innovation. This is where we get hands on information on any particular subject matter we intend to choose through any form of media. However, what we do not know is how much of the knowledge we consume through mass media is accurately representation of the reality. Stereotypes work well in political campaigns where government takes certain steps as a propagandist to exhibit information to a group of targeted audience in order for them to have a certain view or opinions towards others, which is profitable in any manner for the government itself. However, governments take these steps for various reasons including creating opinions towards other governments, religious affiliated groups, other national citizens, etc and the only reason is for its profitable means whether it is for elections, power or control. For example, 9/11 attacks supports the fact that media demonstrates a

Stereotypes have an overwhelming effect especially on the people they are directed towards. Studying stereotypes helps in understanding the factors leading to discrimination of certain people and not others. This is because stereotypes are depictive of opinions that are often passed from one generation to another within a particular culture. Mass media such as television and newspapers form a common source of opinions in the contemporary society (Kotter & Hess, 2012). The media presents messages in steady, repetitive, and compelling manner, making them believable to almost everybody. Stereotyping opinion and depictions from the media can thus have detrimental effects on the

Aside from arising from mental shortcuts, it has also been proposed that stereotypes are a result of group conflict (Sherif, 1966). Regularly, individuals behave in a way that is expected of them in order to uphold the impressions others have of them. Thus, individuals act accordingly and embody the stereotype which is projected upon them (Baumeister & Bushman). The degree to which we rely on stereotypes when establishing judgements of others has been widely investigated in the field of social psychology. Frequently, the harmful consequences of relying on stereotypes is noted with the potential of this tendency to lead to prejudice and discrimination. Furthermore, the variation in the significance of stereotypes has been explored to determine

Our society consists of consumers that buy into stereotypes and the propaganda that is being fed by the government and the media. Stereotypes steer individual's perceptions of a group of people in a certain way, usually negative, and generalize that opinion to all members of the group. Aware of the influence stereotypes have on people's views, governments use stereotypes already imbedded in society as a propaganda tactic to persuade people's thoughts, opinions and beliefs in order to benefit their cause. The media was used for disseminating stereotypes the effect violent music has on teenager's behaviours such as in the shootings at Columbine. After the September 11 attacks, the U.S. government used the media as an outlet to emphasize