Race and Stereotypical Attitude in the United States - Research Paper Example

of the Teacher’s Race and Stereotypical Attitude in the United s United s is known for its diversity in the world. It has the most number of immigrants working and living in the country. Living with different races and people from different cultural backgrounds; Americans have different perceptions and behavior towards them. It could be discriminative or it could be unbiased. Stereotype: Understanding the Term A stereotype is a thought that can be assumed or adopted by the people belonging to specific types. The thought could relate to any task, behavior or belief. However, the belief or the accepted thought could have no bases in the reality. Stereotype is closely related with the other terms such as discrimination and prejudice but holds a different concept. According to Daniel Katz and Kenneth Braly, stereotyping can give rise to discrimination and racial prejudice among different groups within a society. For example; recently people in America can be seen reporting any activity of terrorism with Muslims. This is a typical example of a stereotypical thinking where any act of terrorism is being associated with a religious group. However, in the past, such acts of terrorism were observed being linked with the Blacks. Blacks were thought as the people who carry a gun or any weapon when they are walking around casually. They were considered as the robbers or buglers. However, this raised hostile behavior for the blacks by the whites and vice versa. Racial Inequality and Behavior in United States Racial inequality in the country has given rise to different societal issues that has adversely affected the behavior and quality of life of the people belonging from different cultural backgrounds in America including the native Americans. Racial inequality has given rise to unequal distribution of wealth, power, resources and other opportunities. This is had not given rise to different societal issues but it has also effected the behavior of Americans. Racial discrimination has outlined numerous cultural, legal, political and economic issues. Even American can be seen having biased against the people of color. According to a poll conducted by Washington Post regarding the incident of Trayvon Martin, who was shot brutally in Florida on the bases of his races. It was found out that 55% of Americans believe that people with different color are given more freedom when it comes to legal accountability as compare to whites. However, on the other hand, 80% of the African Americans believe that the legal accountability system in America holds a discriminative behavior against the people of color. This perception among the people indicates that Americans are divided on the subject of racial issues. Also, it provokes a thought that is the legal accountability system is biased while treating the people of color differently? Racial bias in America has adversely affected the behavior of people and despite what the authorities claim this issue holds a significant position in the American history. During 1940s, African Americans faced a hostile behavior from the white people. The efforts of Martin Luther King, Jr. is an evidence to support to this hostility that how African Americans were deprived of their legal and social status by the majority of white people in America. In another piece of literature, James Weldon Johnson in his “The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man” has explained that how as an African American one was faced with racial discrimination and how that man preferred to live as a middle-class white man. This indicates that the thinking and behavior of that African American man was changed due to the hostile attitude and behavior he had to face by the white groups. His circumstances led him to change his identity and lifestyle which could be seen how people today are shifting their identity from their roots to a new one. Similarly, he has explained in his story that how the behavior of the blacks were regarded as low as they never put an effort in improving their behavior and attitude. If the white were against blacks and showed hostile attitude against them, similarly, blacks can be held equally responsible for not improving their behavior or for being hostile against the whites. Americans and their Knowledge of Racial Stereotypes Patricia Devine in 1989 has affirmed the behavior of Americans against the people of color in her paper. In her paper, she asked a group of students from the University of Wisconsin to share their attitudes about African Americans and how do they perceive their role and status in the American society. The purpose of her paper was to examine that how Americans have racial stereotypical attitude against the people of race and color. Later, she found out from the results that almost all the students showed a clear racial stereotypical behavior against African Americans. Regardless of their knowledge, they perceived the Black Americans as drug addicts with unethical behavior. However, this proved the negative racial stereotypical attitude of the Americans towards them. It has also been observed that racist attitude in America is changing constantly over the period of time. Although, we cannot say that racism has completely eliminated from the American society but efforts have been made to improve the overall knowledge and perceptions among the groups regarding racial discrimination. Racial groups have been given a space to express themselves, the way they like without any pressure exerted on them. However, the fight against racial discrimination and prejudice is not over yet. Discriminative Behavior against the Different Racial Groups Overt discrimination against people belonging from different races has been a greater part of the American history. Looking at the past behavior of the white people, we can say that it was not an odd practice for the business owners to display the signs that could have sparked outrageous behavior from different groups. “Help Needed. No Irish Please”, or “Whites Only” are few of the examples that explain that how racial groups were discriminated in the past and the stereotypical behavior of the white people against them. However, it is impossible to tolerate such discrimination today. It is impossible to eliminate discrimination against racial groups by imposing different laws. According to Sociologist Emile Durkheim, racism is a part of society which is not necessarily be practiced by the individuals; it continues to live as a fact. It is connected with the different systems that exist in a society such as educational, economical, political and legal. The stereotypical behavior can also be analyzed when a newspaper publish a report of a crime, they specifically mentions the race of the offender. This may raise the chances of discrimination and building negative knowledge of the people in America against that specific racial group. Racial steering is another example in which real estate agents direct the clients to specific neighborhoods that are developed on their race. Racist attitudes and beliefs are harmful for the betterment of the society and it is impossible to cut them down as compare to any racist practices. Prejudice and discrimination can intersect in many ways with one another. There are four ways through which we can examine their existence. 1- Unprejudiced and non-discriminative people are often seen with a tolerant behavior. They are usually open minded individuals who accept the change and the behavior of the racial groups without any discrimination. 2- Unprejudiced and discriminative people are the individuals that often show hostile behavior against gender discrimination. For them, it is hard to accept women in the leading positions. They are the traditional individuals who cannot accept the upper-hand of a female. 3- Prejudiced and non-discriminative individuals are those who hold racist beliefs against a specific group but they do not practice their beliefs. A racist storeowner could be an example who despite his racist beliefs is serving the minority customers. 4- Prejudiced discriminators are the individuals who hold racist beliefs against a group and are often seen practicing their racist beliefs in a society. These are the people who are responsible for initiating any hate crimes. There are different ways through which discrimination is manifested in America. Institutional discrimination is recently observed in U.S military. They are against the acceptance of minority sexualities on the policy is based on the principle of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” This type of discrimination can also involve or granting of the incentives to certain groups such promotions given to white groups. However, majority of white people believe that non-white people are given less incentives due to their color and race as compare to them. They are very few white people who accept this advantage as their right. This refers to the fact that dominant groups are given superior benefits as compare to other races. Similarly, in America people believe that Asians or brown people are hard workers who are willing to undertake any role or responsibility at low wages. As well as it could be seen that Asians prefer to live in Asian communities. They prefer living in Asian communities due to their racial beliefs, quality of life, security and a thought of remaining close to their culture on a “foreign land.” It has also been observed that people have associated different stereotypical thinking with such racial groups. Blacks are often regarded as people with poor background, athletic, rap musicians with criminal backgrounds. On the other hand, racial groups take Whites as intelligent people with superior lifestyles. These are some of the typical racial stereotypical thinking in the people living in America. However, it has also been observed that people would give more attention to an issue which would be raised by an African American or other racial groups as compare to an issue which is raised by a white man. Conclusion We know that America is a country where people from all the cultural background come to fulfill their dreams of life. The country has so much to offer to all types of people regardless of their cultural and social backgrounds. With so much of cultural diversity, one can expect racial discrimination at all levels. American is the center of racial discrimination despite its huge immigration statistics. People are divided on the basis of their skin color; white, black, brown and yellow. These differences have made the society to have a stereotypical racial thinking. Looking at the past history of America, we will find that white Americans had a hostile attitude towards Africans and they were considered anything but humans. However, this racial hatred took a new turn with the rise of new immigrants coming to the country and being the subject of racial discrimination and stereotypical thinking. Now, things are entirely changed. However, racial discrimination, prejudice and stereotypical thinking are still the same. In America, white Americans think that Asians or brown skin people are industrious and skilled labors who are willing to take any role at low wages. On the other hand, Asians prefer living within their own communities and take White Americans as cunning people. Both the communities share “not-so-friendly” attitude against each other. This all gives a racial threat to the peace within the communities in American society. Similarly, other stereotypical creates the image of brown people in America as intelligent people who rule over the “spelling bee contest.” Such type of thinking is not only sparking debate among the masses but it is also destroying the mindset of the children in America who are bound to think that “browns are taking away our rights.” With rising racial stereotypical thinking which is becoming the root-cause of racial issues in America, people need to overcome such thinking and beliefs by developing peace and harmony within their communities. However, it will not help in the 100% elimination of the racial stereotypical thinking but it will help in improving the relations among different communities. Works Cited: Devine, P. Stereotypes and prejudice: Their automatic and controlled components. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1989, 56 (1), 5-18. Johnson, W. J. The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man. (1912). Sherman, French & Co; United States Katz, D. and Braley, K. "Racial stereotypes of one hundred college students". The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology (1933), 28 (3): 280–290. Thompson, K. and Cohen, J. ‘Trayvon Martin case: Poll finds stark racial divide’. Washington Post. [Available Online]. http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trayvon-martin-case-poll-finds-stark-racial-divide/2012/04/10/gIQAEETX8S_story.html accessed on 15th November 2012. Read More