In the modern world, having heard the word “stereotype”, practically no one recalls the intricacies of organizing print and printing production, this term is strongly associated with the social and psychological aspects of life.
Meanwhile, the first, historical meaning of this word was precisely printing equipment. A stereotype is nothing more than a part of a set for printing, a monolithic form, a copy from a printing cliche. As a term used in psychology and social theories, the word "stereotype" began to be used only from the beginning of the last century.
What it is? Definition
A brief definition of a stereotype is as follows - it is a stable idea of something or someone that can be both true and false.
That is, a stereotype is understood as an opinion that has developed on one person or group of people about a phenomenon, character traits, behavior, habits, appearance, and more. Stereotypes of perception can apply to any sphere of life, to nature, climatic conditions, to people themselves.
For example, almost all northerners are sure that in southern countries it is always warm and sunny. This is a sustainable view of the climate. Many believe that the indigenous northern peoples of Russia lead a nomadic lifestyle, as they are exclusively engaged in deer breeding. At the same time, they move between camps on dog or deer teams. This is a sustainable view of lifestyle.
How did this term appear? Stereotype concept
For the first time as a socio-psychological term, this word was used by Walter Lippman at the beginning of the last century. He also gave the first definition of a stereotype. According to him, this is nothing more than a model of perception of something historically developed in the community of people. But besides this, the stereotype is also a model for filtering and interpreting information variations that come in the process of human cognitive activity.
The stereotype phenomenon is based on the individual’s life experience and on previous ideas about something previously accumulated by human generations. The combination of different stereotypes among themselves is a social reality.
So a new meaning of the word “stereotype” appeared, which has nothing to do with printing houses and printing. Curiously enough, Walter Lippman, who introduced the new meaning of the word, was not a psychologist and was not involved in social problems as a scientist. Although he is the author of the theory of the concept of public opinion, which is still considered the main cognitive material for psychologists and scientists involved in various social issues. This man was a writer, journalist and political observer.
How are stereotypes classified?
All existing stereotypes of perception are divided into two large types:
Social features include those features that significant groups of people attribute to others. That is, these are the stereotypes that are characteristic of most of society, and not one, a specific person.
Accordingly, an individual stereotype is, in simple words, one that is peculiar to one individual person. As a rule, it is understood as those characteristics that an individual ascribes to other people or human communities.
What are the differences between individual and social stereotypes?
The concept of the main difference between these species gives a definition of stereotype. That is, the individual is peculiar to one person, and social - to the group, most of society.
But this is not the only type of difference between these stereotypes. They differ in prevalence. That is, the individual patterns of perception experienced by specific people have much less in common with each other than social ones. This means that if the majority of the population has a stereotype of negative perception of migrants, then the characteristics of this template will be the same, similar when voiced by individuals. When describing individual, personal, stable features of perception, there will be no similarity, or the total in the characteristics of the stereotype will be negligible.
In addition, the stable features of the perception of something that are characteristic of specific people can either coincide with general, social patterns, or radically differ from them.
What is the meaning of stereotypes?
The basic meaning that any stereotype has is, in simple words, the formative influence exerted by them on the social environment.
The study of social patterns of perception, their changes, territorial prevalence, and other characterizing qualities allows us to understand how deeply rooted these or other ideas are, and to make social forecasts of the development of hypothetical situations. For example, by studying social stereotypes, one can predict what the reaction of the local population to the migration of people of different religion, lifestyle and culture to their land will be.
Accordingly, the identification of individual patterns that are characteristic for the perception of something by a specific person allows us to predict his mental reactions to stimuli and behavior in certain circumstances.
What are prejudices?
The concept of prejudice is much like the definition of a stereotype. That is, prejudice is also a stable, deeply rooted opinion, a judgment about something, a peculiarity of perception.
However, this word has a narrower meaning than the term "stereotype". For example, the belief that you should not continue driving along the street that the black cat ran across is a prejudice. In other words, stereotypes can arise from a combination of prejudiced judgments, which are a kind of soil for them. On the contrary, it cannot be, the stereotyped perception is a broader concept than prejudice.
These concepts differ also in that stereotypes can carry both negative and positive meanings, while prejudices do not. They invariably have a negative value.
What are the most common social prejudices?
The most common are social prejudices and stereotypes, manifested:
- in ethnic prejudices;
- discriminatory behavior.
The latter includes such perception features as:
Each of the manifestations of these characteristics of thinking, stable ideas can underlie both prejudice and stereotype.
About racism
Prejudices associated with the origin of another person, his nationality or race, are characteristic of each society and individual, considered separately. Of course, their severity is directly related to the social situation in which people are.
Theories of hatred, the superiority of some people over others have found their followers at all times. There are a lot of examples in history, one of the most global and close to our days is Nazism. Nazi ideas became extremely popular in Weimar Germany at the beginning of the last century, partly because their seeds fell on favorable soil, fairly spiced with prejudice. In each of their personal failures, as well as in the country's humiliated position, people sought to find the guilty. The ideas expressed by the Nazis gave these "guilty" to society.
It is generally accepted that racism has partially outlived itself. In modern Western society, it is not customary to express hateful ideas aloud. Moreover, discrimination is often the reason for filing a lawsuit. For example, if a person is refused employment because of his or her origin, then he has the right to challenge this or demand compensation.
However, silence is not a concept similar to absence. The racial prejudices of individual members of society have not disappeared, as are the general stereotypes of perception. This problem is especially acute in regions filled with migrants.
About sexism
This manifestation of the stereotyped perception of reality is probably the most ancient of all types of social prejudice. In simple words, sexism is an unequal position in the society of men and women. At the same time, people perceive others, judge their abilities, duties and capabilities, based on their gender.
There are many examples of the manifestation of this stereotype and the corresponding prejudices. In order to find them, it is not at all necessary to go deep into history and recall the struggle of women for the right to occupy certain jobs, vote in elections and receive education on a par with men.
Almost every family has ideas about what a woman should do - cook, clean, wash, iron and do other homework. A man can help, but he doesn’t have to wash the dishes or wipe the dust. This pattern of distribution of social roles is often so strong that it is not noticed at all. Meanwhile, such a stereotype of perception of household duties is nothing more than discrimination on the basis of sex, sexism.
About Ageism
This is a pattern of perception based on age. As a rule, ageism refers to a negative and biased attitude towards older members of society.
The basis of this phenomenon is the belief in the futility of the elderly. In other words, such prejudices are characterized by an economic background. But this is not the only reason why this perception stereotype can develop. Prejudice towards the elderly can also arise due to the characteristics of physiology, behavior, and appearance.
The manifestations of ageism and the moments of its formation are many in ordinary life. For example, if a person goes to college at the same time in transport, in the cabin of which there are a lot of elderly people, then he develops a negative attitude towards the elderly. Often this process in this example is due to an internal conflict between the requirements of good taste and one's own needs, a lack of understanding of the situation and other factors that are uncomfortable for the person. By conflict is meant the realization of the need to give way to an elderly person and the physiological unwillingness to do so. Lack of understanding is ignorance of why older people go somewhere in rush hour. A person believes that it would be much easier for everyone if the old people used the transport after the rest of the members of the society went to work and study places.
There are a lot of such trifles. Faced with them daily, a person begins to dislike the elderly members of society. In his mind, a stable prejudice is formed, prejudice.
Ethnic Prejudice
This concept is not analogous to racism, although in many ways similar to it. Ethnic prejudice is a stable idea of the specific characteristics inherent in a particular ethnic group.
For example, the belief that the Germans are stingy and prudent, the British punctual, and the Jews cunning, are ethnic stereotypes. Often, the roots of such ideas lie in ancient times and have nothing to do with the culture and traditions of peoples. For example, those traits that Europeans attribute to Jews in the lands of Transcaucasia are associated with Armenians. This paradox is simply explained. Prejudice arose because of occupation, and not because of nationality. In the example of Jews and Armenians, the roots of prejudice lie in the attitude of people towards traders, money-lenders.
How are stereotypes formed?
The causes of stereotypes lie in the features of the functionality of the human brain. In other words, strong ideas about something help people cope with the flow of information. This is a kind of ready-made formula for judging and evaluating an external stimulus, an internal instruction that facilitates the decision on how to react to something. That is, the presence of stereotypes, as well as prejudices, is a manifestation of the protective function of the brain that saves this organ from overload.
Stable patterns of perception, both initially formed in the human mind, are assimilated from the outside. People learn the very first stereotypes in early childhood, observing the life of their parents, communicating with peers. For example, those prejudices that belong to the category of sexism penetrate the brain precisely in childhood.
The formation of their own, individual stereotypes occurs on the basis of personal, experienced experience. However, they may well coincide with the patterns inherent in most people. For example, if a person is insulted or abused in the market, otherwise affected by a representative of a particular nationality, then the individual will certainly have a biased attitude towards the whole nationality as a whole. It may well coincide with the general stereotypes of perception of this nationality.
Can patterns be changed or destroyed?
Changing stereotypes is a long and complex process. The main difficulties in it lie in a large number of contradictions and variable factors.
In order to change the prevailing opinion about something, you need:
- personal long-term contact;
- independent observation or receipt of information;
- rapprochement or even fusion of different cultures;
- lack of self-consciousness of inertness, closeness.
In other words, the destruction of stereotypes depends on the desire of a particular person, his willingness to “step aside" from the patterns. Of course, the media, propaganda, feature films, books, curricula, and so on, play an important role in both the formation and the change or destruction of prejudices that have become established in society.