Do stereotypes cause racism?

Question

Just something I was pondering. I know in the past racism was caused by superiority complexes and all that. That may still be the case today but I believe that more than anything, stereotypes spread racist views. Does anyone agree?

Answer 1

I think that it is the other way around. Racist views cause stereotypes. They are worsened by the media, which is in turn ran by the government (freedom of the press is a sham). The government knows that by planting the seeds for racism and gender inequality, we as a nation will not ever be able to come together and stand up against them. In this country, if we are all consumed by our petty differences, we will never be able to agree on how to fix the lousy *** government. All of us in agreement would spell the end to the Eisenhower brand of "Democracy" which equates to "Rich people are equal, the rest don't matter".

Answer 2

A stereotype does not cause racism, although belief in a given stereotype may be the reason given for racist behavior.

Stereotypes are simply shorthand that allow people to quickly deal with people places and things they encounter.

So for example if you meet someone who is thin, white, wears glasses and a pocket protector with his dress shirt, then you might assume he was a college student in a technical field like engineering or computer science. This shortcut allows someone not to spend a whole lot of time trying to decide the best way to interact with someone else.

Stereotypes are bad only when they are over utilized, or made to apply in situations that are inappropriate. Chinese students in the US have a reputation (stereotype) for being hard working and smart. Does this mean that there are no lazy or dumb Chinese students? Of course not.

Stereotypes are fine in other situations. So for instance you leave a tip for your waiter. There is a waiter stereotype. This stereotype simply tells you what kinds of things to expect from a waiter, how much to tip him and so on. This way you don't have to ask questions all the time like, "Should I tip the waiter?" There may be extra information in anyone's notion about waiters, such as they tend to be college students, or they tend to be single moms with little education or whatever. As long as you weed out the 'information' that is not necessarily true and meaningless even if it is true, then use of a stereotype won't be a problem.

So stereotypes are a mental shorthand for dealing with unfamiliar situations. They can be abused, but they aren't the same as racism.

Racism is simply an extreme example of people being more comfortable with people like themselves. People with similar backgrounds understand each other better then people from different backgrounds. It is the most human thing in the world to side with people you do understand against people you don't. This lack of understanding leads to people using stereotypes as a way to quickly make decisions about people they know little or nothing about.

So racism and stereotypes are separate human behaviors that sometimes overlap.

The flip side of this is that people can choose to enact stereotypes, especially if they wish to identify themselves as belonging to some group. So Hell's Angels have something of a dress code. They tend to ride Harley Davidson motorcycles. They do this so that they can express belonging to that group and there adherence to that group's norms.

Personally I think it is more appropriate to understand that a stereotype may be useless when meeting any given individual, then to try and stop the spread of stereotypes.

Answer 3

No stereotypes exist for a reason, and that reason is a lot of people do things that are stereotypical. It is not like people just made them up. What causes racism is people wanting to be treated as equal but refusing to act equal. For example look at the blacks that have educated themselves, worked hard, and speak properly, have they experienced racism? Yes I am sure they have but to did they use it as an excuse or conquer it and move on?

It is not racist to not hire someone because they didn't dress properly for an interview, refuse to speak properly or just plain aren't qualified, but sadly that is the basis of a lot racism in the workplace claims, dress, speak and prepare for success and it can be yours. Dress, speak and live a ghetto lifestyle and that's what you will get too, nothing racist about it.

Answer 4

What we call "stereotypes" is actually our human need for familiarity, plus our fear of difference/change. We would go insane if we didn't feel, at least in a very shallow way, we could pin down and understand everything at least on an external level. So we categorize things and people into ways we can understand.

What I'm saying is that stereotypes aren't exactly evil and can't be eradicated no matter what one does.

Answer 5

I can agree. I think that some stereotypes make it easier to lump a group of people into one category than to know a person for who they are. All I want to know is who made up the stereotype that All Black People Are Lazy because that is further from the truth.

Answer 6

On the contrary, racism causes stereotyping.

Answer 7

No, no one was ever banned from a college for being blond.

The truth is almost all steriotypes are based on truth. Do Asian cultures promote learning more. Yes, on average Asians have a higher grade.

Nearly every steriotype is true in minor ways. I am jewish and stingy.

IQ tests show black people have slightly lower scores on average.

Answer 8

Stupidity causes racism.

Answer 9

Yes I do. And the truth is there is usually a small grain of truth in stereotypes...

Answer 10

yes, i totally agree. stereotypes lead to prejudice.
prejudice leads to discrimination and racism.

but not all stereotypes are bad.