Racial stereotypes and their effects
In today’s world stereotypes are a big problem of modern society. They put labels about the way a person should behave or act according to his or her religion, culture, sex, personality etc. In fact racial stereotypes are also a very spread phenomenon nowadays. These are associations about ethnic groups, automatic and exaggerated mental pictures that appear in people’s mind about a certain race. Racial stereotypes create a false concept of what people are and how they live.
It cannot be denied that any stereotypes have effect on individuals. Thus Tony Brown explains the idea of critical race theory in his article (Brown, 2013). It is about the role of race and racism in modern life and culture. Critical race theory is essential when we speak about race and racism and the effects it can have on an individual. This article discusses how society’s racial attitudes can effect on an individual’s attitude and lifestyle. The effect may be good or bad but this just shows that such stereotypes nearly always have some impact.
As it was mentioned there are a number of negative effects that this misconception can cause on people. It may bring harm, poor performance in different activities, and even health problems. According to the article of Rick Nauert people can be affected by stereotypes even after being exposed to them. The work points out that “people are more likely to be aggressive after they’ve faced prejudice in a given situation. They are more likely to exhibit a lack of self-control. They have trouble making good, rational decisions. And they are more likely to over-indulge on unhealthy foods” (Nauert, 2015). This demonstrates the ways how individuals can be affected because of negative stereotypes.
Furthermore it is important to mention the existence of so-called “positive” racial stereotypes. They dictate high standards and such race personal qualities that not all people can respond. Doubtless “positive” stereotypes have a very serious impact, especially on the youth and children who are the easiest group to fall under the influence of society’s views. In fact they can impact people both in a positive way by making them try harder to fulfill a positive characteristic or trait associated with their nation, and in the negative way by the effect on the self-esteem of an individual person who feels that he or she isn’t living up to the high standards that have been set. Therefore in an article by Eddy Ramirez, Asian community is given as the example for these “good” stereotypes. The author is convinced that “Asian society is tend to set high unreasonable goals for average members of that race giving them feelings of failure when they cannot reach them” (Ramirez, 2008). The author also mentions how many of the notions that we have about this race are false.
To sum up it can be said that both good and bad stereotypes are equally bad because they cause prejudgment and lead to bigger problems. Being the new generation we should do something to avoid this problem. We should value other people for what they are, not what they appear to be, regardless of race, culture, religion. It is vitally important because we are the future of our society. With all this we can change our perception of stereotypes and try to eliminate them.
Brown, T. (2008). Race, racism, and mental health: elaboration of critical race theory’s contribution to the sociology of mental health. U.S.: CJR.
Nauert, R. (2015). Long-term effects of stereotyping. Canada: University of Toronto.
Ramirez, E. (2008). Report refutes a student stereotype. U.S.: News & World.
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