Ethnic Stereotypes in Media

12 Key excerpts on "Ethnic Stereotypes in Media"

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  The Dark Side of Media and Technology

  A 21st Century Guide to Media and Technological Literacy

  • Edward Downs(Author)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • Peter Lang Inc., International Academic Publishers

    (Publisher)

  One could think of stereotypes as existing along a continuum 74 | MEGHAN S . SANDERS & STEPHANIE L . WHITENACK of benign to severely harmful. At their best, stereotypes lead to unfair judgments about subgroups within a society and divisiveness. At their worst, they can lead to prejudices, discrimination, and even hate. Media are very powerful institutions with the ability to influence individuals’ social perceptions, attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, and self-perceptions. News, televi- sion, film, and other forms of media play a significant socializing role (Bandura, 2009), often providing experiences and interactions that exist beyond the purview of daily interpersonal experiences. Scholars in mass communication, psychology, sociology, and women’s studies (just to name a few) have explored and attempted to explain these influences. When media messages consist of stereotypes, they become problematic in perpetuating harmful attitudes, especially when contact outside of media depictions is minimal (Fujioka, 1999; Ramasubramanian & Oliver, 2007). The present chapter provides a broad overview of what stereotypes are, why we use them, and the role media play in perpetuating inaccuracies about ethnic, racial, and other social groups. The chapter will also touch upon strategies that content creators and audiences can use to counteract the application of media stereotypes in our everyday lives. What Are Stereotypes? Stereotypes are generalizations of individuals or groups that are based on charac- terizations of group memberships rather than individual characteristics of people belonging to those groups. While the process of thinking in terms of categories is a basic form of human cognitive processing, the process of stereotyping reduc- es the complexity of individuals through categorization that is often inappropriate, inaccurate, and distorted (Fiske & Taylor, 1991; Lippmann, 1922/1949).

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  Media Effects

  Advances in Theory and Research

  • Mary Beth Oliver, Arthur A. Raney, Jennings Bryant(Authors)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Second, scholars now devote significant time and resources to tease out media stereotype effects and advance theoretical constructs designed to further understand their influence on human behavior (Atwell Seate & Mastro, 2016; Dixon, 2017c). Scholars’ recognition of mediated stereotyping’s power has grown. Most early scholars took pains to identify how various depictions were commonplace within media. Now, many researchers work to understand the extent to which such depictions shape cognitive, attitudinal, and behavioral outcomes, using theory to drive these investigations. The attention to effects studies and theorization reflects a maturing of this area of inquiry.

  Third, the number of scholars studying media stereotyping effects grew substantially. This growth’s ramifications extend to the heart of media effects and intersect with many areas of study within communication including interpersonal relationships, intergroup relations, and new media (Abrams & Giles, 2007; Harwood & Giles, 2005). Moreover, the blossoming availability of digital media offerings present a fertile frontier for further investigation.

  Therefore, this chapter devotes substantial time to stereotyped media content along with an increased focus on how the media influence perceptions of both Whites and people of color. Below, I provide some key content findings regarding media portrayals of five commonly stereotyped groups: African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, Asian Americans, and women. Following this, the chapter outlines three key theoretical perspectives utilized by media stereotype scholars to understand the impact of media stereotypes. In order to illustrate each perspective’s utility, I review specific effects studies that apply each theoretical approach. The chapter concludes with a discussion of how emerging media on various digital platforms may either enhance or weaken mediated stereotypes’ influence.

  Content Representations and Prominent Media Stereotypes

  To understand media stereotyping’s potential effects, one must first determine the extent of their prominence within the media environment. Media effects scholars investigating stereotyping often begin their research by trying to understand a particular group’s depiction. Prior investigations have revealed a significant amount of information regarding three groups: women, African Americans, and Latinos. Unfortunately, scholars undertook fewer studies of Asian American and Native American depictions. Below, I describe the unique revelations illuminated by this research.

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  Transcultural Realities

  Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Cross-Cultural Relations

  • Virginia H. Milhouse, Molefi Kete Asante, Peter O. Nwosu(Authors)
  • 2001(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications, Inc

    (Publisher)

  These ste-reotypes might influence viewers to interact with others not as individuals but as represen-tatives of social categories. Media stereotypes may or may not also lower black self-esteem. More research is needed to understand these effects. It was concluded that our knowledge on this topic can best be advanced by the devel-opment of a new research program. Spe-cifically, researchers should undertake new content analyses of African American tele-vision portrayals, examine the role of the illu-sory correlation in a media context, study the role of the media in affecting self-esteem, and explore the role of the media in discouraging the activation of stereotypes. The theme of this book deals with how we can promote transcultural realities that affirm diverse ways of knowing, communicating, and behaving that result in more positive intercultural and intergroup interactions. The theories of social cognition outlined in this chapter suggest that what we see on tele-vision can either contribute to this positive af-firmation or inhibit it. As long as negative ste-reotypes of African Americans persist on television, the mass media will act as a socio-cultural learning agent that discourages posi-tive intergroup interaction and group identity. If the media can be transformed, it is possible that we could witness the emergence of medi-222 SOCIALLY CONSTRUCTED RACIAL IDENTITIES ated transcultural realities where positive group identity and intergroup interaction is affirmed. References Baptista-Fernandez, P., & Greenberg, B. S. (1980). The context, characteristics, and com-munication of blacks on television. In B. S. Greenberg (Ed.), Life on television (pp. 13-21). Norwood, NJ: Ablex. Bell, D. (1987). And we are not saved: The elusive quest for racial justice. New York: Basic Books. Chapman, L. J. (1967). Illusory correlation in ob-servational report. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 6, 151-155.

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  The Routledge Handbook of Media Use and Well-Being

  International Perspectives on Theory and Research on Positive Media Effects

  • Leonard Reinecke, Mary Beth Oliver, Leonard Reinecke, Mary Beth Oliver(Authors)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  2015 ; Study 1) research demonstrates that watching films with demeaning portrayals of Mexican Americans elicits negative emotional responses including shame, anger, and guilt in Mexican American viewers. Importantly, their work additionally reveals that specific components of group identification have the potential to alleviate or intensify the detrimental emotional responses associated with viewing stereotypical media depictions of Mexican Americans. In particular, pride in one’s ethnic group prompted less shame, anger, and guilt in response to such images. On the other hand, ethnic identity importance predicted greater shame and anger, but was unrelated to guilt based on exposure.

  Thus, it appears that media use, in the context of contemporary media depictions of race/ethnicity, can contribute to (and potentially harm) racial/ethnic audience members’ feelings and cognitions about themselves, including their future selves. If self-evaluations can be shaped by media use, it stands to reason that beliefs about the value of one’s group at a societal level may also be affected.

  Media and Perceptions about One's Race/Ethnicity in Society

  Efforts have been directed at understanding the influence of exposure to unfavorable media portrays of one’s racial/ethnic group on perceptions about one’s group in society. These studies have addressed a number of outcomes related to views about group worth and standing (which speak to the issue of interdependent or collective well-being) as well as beliefs about how others value one’s group.

  In Study 3 of their four-study design examining the effects of stereotypical media depictions of American Indians on American Indian audiences, Fryberg, Markus, Oyserman, and Stone (2008) explored the implications of exposure to such depictions for community worth, conceptualized as an indicator of communal self. Results of this experiment revealed that exposure to stereotypical media depictions (specifically, Disney’s Pocahontas and Chief Wahoo) depressed estimations of community worth.

  Along the same lines, Atwell Seate and Mastro’s (2015) experimental test of the impact of viewing negative TV news depictions of Latinos on Mexican American audiences found that exposure affected Mexican American viewers’ perceptions of their ingroup’s entitativity; that is, the degree to which group members perceived their group to be an effective, organized, and coherent unit. Entitativity is an important feature of collective well-being as it encourages confidence in the group’s strength and value, supporting collective self-esteem (e.g., Sani, Bowe, & Herrera, 2008 ). Atwell Seate and Mastro’s (2015)

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  The Handbook of Children, Media, and Development

  • Sandra L. Calvert, Barbara J. Wilson, Sandra L. Calvert, Barbara J. Wilson(Authors)
  • 2009(Publication Date)
  • Wiley-Blackwell

    (Publisher)

  Consequently, the potential for media content to influence intergroup comparisons is highly likely, as these images may provide a comparative basis to maintain and enhance self-concept. In particular, research has found that exposure to media depictions of race and ethnicity plays a role in such processes as stereotype acquisition and use (Mastro, Behm-Morawitz, & Ortiz, 2007). Media messages also can be integrated into consumers’ ideas about racial and ethnic group characteristics, their understanding of treatment norms, and their perceptions about appropriate power relationships (Harwood & Roy, 2005; Mastro & Kopacz, 2006). In other words, media images become part of the con-stant negotiation of identity and social standing in relation to others by constructing and sustaining race-based characterizations for use in later evaluations. From a social identity approach, both the frequency and nature of racial and ethnic media representations are meaningful. The sheer number of racial and ethnic minority depictions can be seen as an indication of the value and status of these groups in society (Harwood & Roy, 2005). Thus, viewers may use the information gleaned from mass media to make generalizations about both ingroup and outgroup members, with the goal of applying these characterizations to benefit their ingroup. If the quality of the characterization of race and ethnicity in the media is unfavorable, it may negatively influence evaluations of self and ingroup identity (Fryberg, 2003). It may do the same if the total number of representations is distinctively small. Here, the primary difficulty for the minority child may be the inability to find positive role models in the media. Taken together, these theoretical perspectives emphasize content, context, and social comparisons as the bases for the outcomes they propose. How children will learn about and respond to different races then, will rely, in part, on what media messages are made available.

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  Sociology

  The Essentials

  • Margaret L. Andersen; Howard F. Taylor, Margaret Andersen, Howard Taylor(Authors)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Cengage Learning EMEA

    (Publisher)

  Racial Stereotypes Racial and ethnic inequality in society produces racial stereotypes, and these stereotypes become the lens through which members of different groups perceive one another. Over time, these stereotypes may become more rigid and unchangeable. A stereotype is an over-simplified set of beliefs about members of a social group or social stratum. It is based on the tendency of humans to categorize a person based on a narrow range of perceived characteristics. Stereotypes are presumed to describe the “typical” member of some social group. They are usually, but not always, incorrect. Stereotypes and Salience In everyday social interaction, people tend to catego-rize other people. Fortunately or unfortunately, we all do this. The most common bases for such categoriza-tions are race, gender, and age. A person immediately identifies a stranger as Black, Asian, Hispanic, White, and so on; as a man or woman; and as a child, teen-ager, adult, or elderly person. Quick and ready cat-egorizations help people process the huge amounts of information they receive about people with whom they come into contact. People quickly assign others to a few categories, saving themselves the task of evaluating and remembering every little discernible detail about a per-son. People may be taught from childhood to treat each person as a unique individual, but clearly they do not, as research shows. Instead, people routinely categorize others in some way or another. We process information about others quickly, assigning certain characteristics to them with little actual knowledge of them. Stereotypes based on race or ethnicity are called racial–ethnic stereotypes.

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  Characters in Fictional Worlds

  Understanding Imaginary Beings in Literature, Film, and Other Media

  • Jens Eder, Fotis Jannidis, Ralf Schneider, Jens Eder, Fotis Jannidis, Ralf Schneider(Authors)
  • 2010(Publication Date)
  • De Gruyter

    (Publisher)

  16 9 – 179. 66 On this see Leiner: Deutschlandbild, pp. 190 – 192. 67 Leerssen: Mimesis, p. 169. Ruth Florack 496 has formed of a › foreign ‹ people, although such a conclusion has not infrequently been drawn in traditional comparative imagology. 68 This underestimates the stereotypical core of such representations, a core made solid by tradition and transnational spread. In principle, the attitude of the speaker cannot automatically be deduced from the use of a social stereotype in communication, because a distinction must be made between › knowledge of a cultural stereotype ‹ and › acceptance or endorsement of the stereotype ‹ : › although one may have knowledge of a stereotype , his or her personal beliefs may or may not be congruent with the stereotype ‹ ; 69 this is especially true of literature but also of other media, such as film. And here one sees that the implementation of ethnic- as well as other social stereotypes is subject to its own rules, which to a large extent are determined by the conventions of representation. Some foundational ideas will be summarized in my last section. 5 On the Function of Ethnic Stereotypes in Fiction Ethnic stereotypes appear (not only in literature) primarily to designate otherness , either in persons of foreign origin in a familiar space, or from a foreign space, whose people – endowed with character features from the corresponding stereotype reservoir – can be portrayed as › typical representatives ‹ of this otherness , or else distinguished as individuals. When ethnical stereotypes in a non-fictional text are supposed to convey experiences in a foreign place or with the other , as is the case in travel reports, they fulfil an orientation- and communication function for the producer as well as for the recipient.

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  Theories of Intergroup Relations

  International Social Psychological Perspectives

  • Fathali M. Moghaddam, Donald M. Taylor(Authors)
  • 1994(Publication Date)
  • Praeger

    (Publisher)

  A brief history of the development of the concept within mainstream social psychology may provide some explanation of why it remains an important and influential concept, but one that at present cannot form the basis of a theory of intergroup relations. The definition of stereotype generally adopted by researchers reflects the strong link that this concept has had with ethnic groups (for major reviews of the stereotype literature, see Brigham, 1971; Campbell, 1967; Cauthen, Robinson, & Krauss, 1971; Fishman, 1956; Gardner, 1973; Hamilton, 1981; A. G. Miller, 1982; Tajfel, 1969; Taylor, 1981; Taylor & Lalonde, 1987. Brigham *s (1971) representative definition is that a stereotype involves "a generalization made about an ethnic group, con- cerning a trait attribution, which is considered to be unjustified by an observer" (p. 29). Others have added further clarifications and, indeed, explicit moral judgments by noting that stereotypes arerigidimpressions conforming very little to the facts (Katz & Braly, 1935), exaggerated beliefs (Allport, 1954), and inaccurate and irrational overgeneralizations (Middlebrook, 1974). In the same tradition, Baron and Byrne (1977) have argued that stereotypes are "clusters of preconceived notions re- garding various groups" in which there are "strong tendencies to over- generalize about individuals solely on the basis of their membership in particular racial, ethnic, or religious groups" (p. 155). There are two aspects to these definitions that particularly warrant comment in the present context. First, the stereotype, unlike attitudes, attributions, values, schemata, and other cognitive predispositions, refers directly to the perception of societal groups or at least to the perception of individuals as members of groups. But there is also a second way in which the stereotype is a truly group or collective process, and this has gone virtually unrecognized.

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  (Re-)Framing the Arab/Muslim

  Mediating Orientalism in Contemporary Arab American Life Writing

  • Silke Schmidt(Author)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • transcript Verlag

    (Publisher)

  The titles of these studies already indicate that the bottom-line conclusion of media stereotyping has not changed considerably. 24 Recent movie releases thus often 23 A January 2012 search of the popular academic database JSTOR using the terms “Arab, Media, Stereotype,” yielded 980 hits with the oldest result dating back to the year 1882. An even larger wave of studies and reports on the relation between mediated stereotypes and Arabs can be found when searching popular search engines like Google. Here, the same search terms lead to more than 1.2 million results. This overwhelming number of academic and non-academic resources points to the general social significance of the is-sue of Arab stereotyping. 24 Recent studies of Hollywood’s tendency to denigrate Arabs provide compelling support for Shaheen’s results. As James Zogby explicates, a 2008 study on American movies found that in pre-9/11 movie releases, only 12 portrayals of Arabs out of a total of 900 were positive. This picture did not change dramatically in the post-9/11 era. As the study I NTRODUCTION | 27 recycle former blockbusters, such as Aladdin, 1001 Arabian Nights , and The Mum-my with Arabs appearing as “airborne fanatics” (Little 11). The earlier interest in analyzing the skewed media image of Arabs with a par-ticular focus on the entertainment sector has meanwhile taken a more political turn. The events of 9/11 as well as former cases of terrorism connected to the Middle East conflict marked decisive incisions to trigger this shifting research attention. Following 9/11, most empirical analyses in Media Studies therefore have explored the installation of the “War on Terrorism” (WOT) 25 as a major frame of interpreta-tion and source of stereotypical images of Arabs (Kern, Just, and Norris 292; Salaita, “Ethnic Identity” 152). These analyses mostly focus on news media items from television and newspaper outlets. In addition, comparative studies and cross-country analyses have been pursued.

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  Slovak Mass Media in the 21st Century: Current Challenges

  • Andrea Chlebcová Hecková, Ján Kuciak, Miroslava Dobrotková, Artur Bekmatov(Authors)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • Peter Lang Group

    (Publisher)

  2 Current Issues of Presenting of Stereotypes in Mass Media (Influence of Media on Presenting of Stereotypes and Prejudice within Political Communication and Its Correlation with Perception through the Web) Stereotypes and prejudices in the society are not a problem nowadays – they have existed as long as the humankind itself. Their presentation in media appears since their beginning either due to political affiliation, pro- paganda or bulvarization of media content. Their presentation and com- munication on the Internet, as it will be shown, became a current and very considerable issue in the recent years and uncovered negative emotions in the society to a much greater extent. At present, especially due to repeated increase of nationalist and extremist moods in the society, there is a need for rational and human judgment based on analysis of facts and social needs. As we believe, the objective of society actions should be the search for successful forms of social and cultural integration of social minorities. 2.1 Influence of Media Concerning Integration of Social Minorities A professor Geissler considers “unity in diversity” – intercultural integration as the fundamental principle of cultural integration. It is not multicultur- alism but a sort of living abreast without any effort for coexistence but integration with an emphasis on the common and on exchange of cultural determinateness built on establishing common rules, common language and common social values with equal chances for participation in certain spheres of life and active acceptation by majority society. 49 Local knowledge is, however, not sufficient in regard to an effort for integration in global society. Without sufficient knowledge of social, polit- ical, economic and cultural connections, it is not possible to appraise social 49 Geissler, „Mediale Integration von ethnischen Minderheiten”, 5.

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  The Media in Scotland

  • Neil Blain, David Hutchison, Neil Blain, David Hutchison(Authors)
  • 2008(Publication Date)
  • Edinburgh University Press

    (Publisher)

  So awareness of such factors has not been wholly positive; one product of it has been a move from racism to ‘racisms’ (Runnymede Trust 2000, cited in European Network Against Racism 2002: 8). In relation to this, it is important to remember that applying the label ‘ethnic’ to people and artefacts from ethnic minority communities is a mis-nomer. As with so many other aspects of identity, those that are less dominant become ‘othered’ and, via this process, they also become a ‘marked’ category. It is the case, however, that every individual is ‘ethnic’, that white British and white Scottish are ethnicities as much as any other. Indeed, a fuller discussion of ethnicity in the Scottish media would be lacking if it did not consider the various ‘white’ ethnicities that are present in Scotland, for example the Irish and English communities, and the extent to which these, historically and cur-rently, could be considered to be dominant or minority groupings (in the sym-bolic as well as the numerical sense).           Rosa Tsagarousianou has recently argued that it is more useful to think of eth-nicity in the media in terms not of portrayals of individual ethnic groups, but as ‘construction of di ff erence’ which works ‘along the lines of a major-ity/minority divide, establishing a binary and not uncommonly antagonistic relationship’ (Westminster Media Forum 2007: 9). There are echoes here of Edward Said’s (1979) theory of ‘Orientalism’ which explores how the West has constructed an identity for the ‘orient’ that has more to do with constructing a dominant identity for the West itself. Tsagarousianou also suggests that we should not only analyse representations but also absences of representation, a point also raised by Norman Fairclough (1995) about more general analysis of the media.

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  Immigration and the American Ethos

  • Morris Levy, Matthew Wright(Authors)
  • 2020(Publication Date)
  • Cambridge University Press

    (Publisher)

  Prejudice enters the equation as a reflection of the prevailing stigma and stereotypes attached to Latino immigrants in American society. No small number of Americans apply them, in some cases unawares, to their fairness assessments. Such people may have little or no animus toward Latinos qua Latinos. Negative affect may exist but stem mostly from stereotypic beliefs – a contrast to the group-centrist idea that stereotypes are concocted to justify and reinforce negative group affect or at least would only take root in relation to an outgroup. Ethnic cues can, however, “fill in the blanks” in the absence of clear and pertinent information about civic fairness. Although we saw in Chapter 2 that group cues are usually accompanied by civic fairness cues in media communication about immigration, there are likely to be frequent instances in which this information is sparse, conflicted, or confusing. Ethnic biases revealed by experiments that vary immigrants’ national origin or race without much context might reflect either kind of discrimination. But the fact that they seem to shrink or vanish in experiments where people learn Ethnic Bias and Informational Context 127 more about the immigrants they are evaluating is consistent with statistical discrimination against Latinos and not (or at least not straightforwardly) with taste-based discrimination on racial grounds per se. What is more, it is consistent with the idea that, when push comes to shove, values play a stronger role. The additional information about immigrants’ personal qualities seems to be obviating or counteracting the automatic stereotyping of Latino immi- grants as being less “worthy” on civic fairness grounds: unlawfully present, less educated, and less assimilated than immigrants from other ethnic backgrounds. To help illustrate, imagine a white respondent who harbors deep-seated animus toward Latinos as a group.

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