Chapter 2: Stereotyping, Prejudice, and Racism
Yvonne Bunkley
GCPS ESOL Endorsement Class
September 26, 20102
In Chapter 2, Jana Noel discusses the complex issues of stereotyping, prejudice, and racism, and their impact on society and individuals' lives. Noel states, “In coming to understand our own identity, we must recognize the indelible impact that stereotyping, prejudice, and racism have played in our identity development” (Noel 43). Everyone’s identity is formed within the framework of stereotypes, prejudice, and racism. . However, it is very difficult to recognize the prejudices we hold. Hermeneutical consciousness is a means of becoming aware of our prejudices by bringing them to the forefront of our thoughts in order that we can challenge them.
Stereotyping
In stereotyping, we put people and events into categories. Psychologists believe that humans stereotype in an effort to make sense of, and organize, the large amounts of information that we must process. Stereotypes are formed when our minds notice certain characteristics and assign those characteristics to all members within a group. We assign positive characteristics to those individuals with whom we identify (in-group), and we assign negative stereotypes towards those individuals whom we view as “different” (out-group).
Prejudices
While stereotyping involves how we describe people, prejudices are how we feel. Although no single theory can explain all prejudices, researchers have identified five theories to explain why prejudices occur: the Racial and Cultural differences theory believes that fear and dislike of people not like ourselves causes prejudices to form. In the Economic Competition Theory scientists believe that prejudices form when one group fears that their economic way of life is being threatened by another group. Economic Competition prejudices also occurs when an established “in-group” believes that their values are being compromised by the “out-group”. An example of Economic Competition was highlighted in the PBS special "America by the Numbers with Maria Hinojosa: Clarkston Georgia" (PBS, 2010), where the town of 7,500 people -- 89 percent white in the 1980s -- is now less than 14 percent white after being selected by the federal government as a prime spot in which to settle refugees from countries such as South Sudan, Bhutan, Somalia and Burma. In the documentary, an older white man is interviewed expressing concerns about lowered property values and the burden on local services as a result of the influx. A black man admits running for Mayor because “he didn’t want immigrants to take over his town”. Traumatic experience theory surmises that peoples’ prejudices form when they experience a traumatic event or when someone they are close to experiences a traumatic event. Many members of my family, as well as myself, have experienced prejudice and racism based upon our race. As a result, the prejudices that I have are rooted in trauma. However, without knowing there was a name for it, I have applied Hermeneutical consciousness processes to examine my prejudices and work to eradicate them. The fourth theory, Frustration-Aggression theory, asserts that certain personality types are more prone to be prejudiced. It should be noted that there are scientists who believe this personality-based theory is questionable. The final theory, Social Control Theory, states that individuals learn to be prejudiced from the biased society in which we live.
Racism
Racism is the belief that ones’ race is superior to another. There are six characteristics of racism given: racism occurs more frequently during times of social or economic upheaval, it involves a sense of idealism, there is a need to belong, feelings of ambition, the need to feel superior and low self-esteem and insecurity are present. The most insidious form of racism is institutional racism because it can affect all areas of an individuals’ life, including where people live, their employment, what they are exposed to in the media, etc.
Members of minority groups who have been marginalized seek to protect their identity either by rejecting their ethnicity in favor of adopting the speech patterns, mode of dress, hairstyle, etc. of the dominant culture or by totally embracing their own ethnicity while rejecting all others.
This chapter was very in-depth in defining stereotyping, prejudice and racism. As an African American, I have experienced prejudice and racism many times. As a result, I do harbor some prejudices. However, I actively s challenge these stereotypes because I do not want others to experience the pain, rage, and humiliation that accompany being the victim of racism.
As a special education teacher, I am often confronted with the stereotypes and prejudice that other people, including teachers, have toward my students. One teacher commented “ EBD kids are always the best actors”. My students are neither EBD nor are they all good actors. However, this teacher formed these stereotypes of my students based upon very limited interactions with them!
I’ll use the information I’ve gained from this chapter to teach my students more about stereotyping and racism. During our daily morning meeting, I envision having an Activating strategy that includes a sorting activity where students have to categorize a selection of photographs of people. After sorting into categories, the students would be asked to describe why they grouped things in a certain way. This activity could open a dialogue on how we stereotype people without realizing it. The Essential Question of the day could be “How can Hermenuetical Consciousness help combat prejudice and racism? I can hardly wait to see the looks on their faces when I present the words “hermenuetical consciousness”.
References
Noel, J. (2008). Developing Multicultural Educators (2nd edition).
Public Broadcasting Service, “America by the Numbers with Maria Hinojosa: Clarkston Georgia" ( 2010),
Hello Yvonne,
ReplyDeleteWhat grade do you teach? I like your sorting activity. I also agree that this will allow students to see how easy it is to stereotype others just by appearance. Let me know how it turns out.