The Merits of Stereotypes
"The trouble with people is not that they don't know but that
they know so much that ain't so." Henry Wheeler Shaw
Do stereotypes usefully represent real knowledge or merely
reflect counter-productive prejudice?
Stereotypes invariably refer in a generalized manner to - often
arbitrary - groups of people, usually minorities. Stereotypes
need not necessarily be derogatory or cautionary, though most of
them are. The "noble savage" and the "wild savage" are both
stereotypes. Indians in movies, note Ralph and Natasha Friar in
their work titled "The Only Good Indian - The Hollywood Gospel"
(1972) are overwhelmingly drunken, treacherous, unreliable, and
childlike. Still, some of them are as portrayed as
unrealistically "good".
But alcoholism among Native Americans - especially those crammed
into reservations - is, indeed, more prevalent than among the
general population. The stereotype conveys true and useful
information about inebriation among Indians. Could its other
descriptors be equally accurate?
It is hard to unambiguously define, let alone quantify, traits.
At which point does self-centerdness become egotism or the
pursuit of self-interest - treachery? What precisely constitutes
childlike behavior? Some types of research cannot even be
attempted due to the stifling censorship of political
correctness. Endeavoring to answer a simple question like: "Do
blacks in America really possess lower IQ's and, if so, is this
deficiency hereditary?" has landed many an American academic
beyond the pale.
The two most castigated aspects of stereotypes are their
generality and their prejudice. Implied in both criticisms is a
lack of veracity and rigor of stereotypes. Yet, there is nothing
wrong with generalizations per se. Science is constructed on
such abstractions from private case to general rule. In
historiography we discuss "the Romans" or "ancient Greeks" and
characterize them as a group. "Nazi Germany", "Communist
Russia", and "Revolutionary France" are all forms of groupspeak.
In an essay titled "Helping Students Understand Stereotyping"
and published in the April 2001 issue of "Education Digest",
Carlos Cortes suggest three differences between "group
generalizations" and "stereotypes":
"Group generalizations are flexible and permeable to new,
countervailing, knowledge - ideas, interpretations, and
information that challenge or undermine current beliefs.
Stereotypes are rigid and resistant to change even in the face
of compelling new evidence.
Second, group generalizations incorporate intragroup
heterogeneity while stereotypes foster intragroup homogeneity.
Group generalizations embrace diversity - 'there are many kinds
of Jews, tall and short, mean and generous, clever and stupid,
black and white, rich and poor'. Stereotypes cast certain
individuals as exceptions or deviants - 'though you are Jewish,
you don't behave as a Jew would, you are different'.
Finally, while generalizations provide mere clues about group
culture and behavior - stereotypes purport to proffer immutable
rules applicable to all the members of the group. Stereotypes
develop easily, rigidify surreptitiously, and operate
reflexively, providing simple, comfortable, convenient bases for
making personal sense of the world. Because generalizations
require greater attention, content flexibility, and nuance in
application, they do not provide a stereotype's security blanket
of permanent, inviolate, all-encompassing, perfectly reliable
group knowledge."
It is commonly believed that stereotypes form the core of
racism, sexism, homophobia, and other forms of xenophobia.
Stereotypes, goes the refrain, determine the content and thrust
of prejudices and propel their advocates to take action against
minorities. There is a direct lineage, it is commonly held,
between typecasting and lynching.
It is also claimed that pigeonholing reduces the quality of
life, lowers the expectations, and curbs the accomplishments of
its victims. The glass ceiling and the brass ceiling are
pernicious phenomena engendered by stereotypes. The fate of many
social policy issues - such as affirmative action, immigration
quotas, police profiling, and gay service in the military - is
determined by stereotypes rather than through informed opinion.
USA Today Magazine reported the findings of a survey of 1000
girls in grades three to twelve conducted by Harris Interactive
for "Girls". Roughly half the respondents thought that boys and
girls have the same abilities - compared to less than one third
of boys. A small majority of the girls felt that "people think
we are only interested in love and romance".
Somewhat less than two thirds of the girls were told not to brag
about things they do well and were expected to spend the bulk of
their time on housework and taking care of younger children.
Stereotypical thinking had a practical effect: girls who believe
that they are as able as boys and face the same opportunities
are way more likely to plan to go to college.
But do boys and girls have the same abilities? Absolutely not.
Boys are better at spatial orientation and math. Girls are
better at emotions and relationships. And do girls face the same
opportunities as boys? It would be perplexing if they did,
taking into account physiological, cognitive, emotional, and
reproductive disparities - not to mention historical and
cultural handicaps. It boils down to this politically incorrect
statement: girls are not boys and never will be.
Still, there is a long stretch from "girls are not boys" to
"girls are inferior to boys" and thence to "girls should be
discriminated against or confined". Much separates stereotypes
and generalizations from discriminatory practice.
Discrimination prevails against races, genders, religions,
people with alternative lifestyles or sexual preferences, ethnic
groups, the poor, the rich, professionals, and any other
conceivable minority. It has little to do with stereotypes and a
lot to do with societal and economic power matrices. Granted,
most racists typecast blacks and Indians, Jews and Latinos. But
typecasting in itself does not amount to racism, nor does it
inevitably lead to discriminatory conduct.
In a multi-annual study titled "Economic Insecurity, Prejudicial
Stereotypes, and Public Opinion on Immigration Policy",
published by the Political Science Quarterly, the authors Peter
Burns and James Gimpel substantiated the hypothesis that
"economic self-interest and symbolic prejudice have often been
treated as rival explanations for attitudes on a wide variety of
issues, but it is plausible that they are complementary on an
issue such as immigration. This would be the case if prejudice
were caused, at least partly, by economic insecurity."
A long list of scholarly papers demonstrate how racism -
especially among the dispossessed, dislocated, and low-skilled -
surges during times of economic hardship or social transition.
Often there is a confluence of long-established racial and
ethnic stereotypes with a growing sense of economic insecurity
and social dislocation.
"Social Identity Theory" tells us that stereotypical prejudice
is a form of compensatory narcissism. The acts of berating,
demeaning, denigrating, and debasing others serve to enhance the
perpetrators' self-esteem and regulate their labile sense of
self-worth. It is vicarious "pride by proxy" - belonging to an
"elite" group bestows superiority on all its members. Not
surprisingly, education has some positive influence on racist
attitudes and political ideology.
Having been entangled - sometimes unjustly - with bigotry and
intolerance, the merits of stereotypes have often been
overlooked.
In an age of information overload, "nutshell" stereotypes
encapsulate information compactly and efficiently and thus
possess an undeniable survival value. Admittedly, many
stereotypes are self-reinforcing, self-fulfilling prophecies. A
young black man confronted by a white supremacist may well
respond violently and an Hispanic, unable to find a job, may end
up is a street gang.
But this recursiveness does not detract from the usefulness of
stereotypes as "reality tests" and serviceable prognosticators.
Blacks do commit crimes over and above their proportion in the
general population. Though stereotypical in the extreme, it is a
useful fact to know and act upon. Hence racial profiling.
Stereotypes - like fables - are often constructed around middle
class morality and are prescriptive. They split the world into
the irredeemably bad - the other, blacks, Jews, Hispanics,
women, gay - and the flawlessly good, we, the purveyors of the
stereotype. While expressly unrealistic, the stereotype teaches
"what not to be" and "how not to behave". A by-product of this
primitive rendition is segregation.
A large body of scholarship shows that proximity and familiarity
actually polarize rather than ameliorate inter-ethnic and
inter-racial tensions. Stereotypes minimize friction and
violence by keeping minorities and the majority apart. Venting
and vaunting substitute for vandalizing and worse. In time, as
erstwhile minorities are gradually assimilated and new ones
emerge, conflict is averted.
Moreover, though they frequently reflect underlying deleterious
emotions - such as rage or envy - not all stereotypes are
negative. Blacks are supposed to have superior musical and
athletic skills. Jews are thought to be brainier in science and
shrewder in business. Hispanics uphold family values and ethnic
cohesion. Gays are sensitive and compassionate. And negative
stereotypes are attached even to positive social roles -
athletes are dumb and violent, soldiers inflexible and
programmed.
Stereotypes are selective filters. Supporting data is hoarded
and information to the contrary is ignored. One way to shape
stereotypes into effective coping strategies is to bombard their
devotees with "exceptions", contexts, and alternative reasoning.
Blacks are good athletes because sports is one of the few
egalitarian career paths open to them. Jews, historically
excluded from all professions, crowded into science and business
and specialized. If gays are indeed more sensitive or caring
than the average perhaps it is because they have been repressed
and persecuted for so long. Athletes are not prone to violence -
violent athletes simply end up on TV more often. And soldiers
have to act reflexively to survive in battle.
There is nothing wrong with stereotypes if they are embedded in
reality and promote the understanding of social and historical
processes. Western, multi-ethnic, pluralistic civilization
celebrates diversity and the uniqueness and distinctiveness of
its components. Stereotypes merely acknowledge this variety.
USA Today Magazine reported in January a survey of 800 adults,
conducted last year by social psychology professors Amanda
Diekman of Purdue University and Alice Eagly of Northwestern
University. They found that far from being rigid and biased,
stereotypes regarding the personality traits of men and women
have changed dramatically to accurately reflect evolving gender
roles.
Diekman noted that "women are perceived as having become much
more assertive, independent, and competitive over the years...
Our respondents - whether they were old enough to have witnessed
it or not - recognized the role change that occurred when women
began working outside the home in large numbers and the
necessity of adopting characteristics that equip them to be
breadwinners."