Stereotyping as a form of prejudice

The following sample essay on “Stereotyping as a form of prejudice” Setreotypes, their definitions, origins and important aspects. How important stereotypes are in life.

Stereotyping has always been viewed as a form of prejudice that interferes with the harmonious relationships of people.  But, there are some groups that view stereotyping as advantageous. During a diversity management session, a manager suggests that stereotypes are a necessary part of working with others. “I have to make assumptions about what`s in the other person`s head, and stereotypes help me to that,” she explains.

“It`s better to reply on stereotypes than to enter a working relationship with someone from another culture without any idea of what they believe in!” This statement of the manager has some merits, as well as problems. Based on current research, what does stereotyping bring into the work environment? Does stereotyping lead to more advantages than disadvantages? If stereotyping results to negative consequences, how can these be minimized or managed?What is stereotyping?The most definitive definition of stereotyping must be assembled from various sources so that any biases in definitions must be removed.

In doing so, three important aspects about stereotyping have been discovered. First, stereotyping is based on either initial or early judgment.  Second, stereotyping has basis. This means that physical, social, historical, economic, cultural, geographical, and emotional events create stereotypes. For example, the 9-11 terrorist attacks placed almost all people from the Middle East a member of the Al Qaeda (Wharhaftig 1991).. And lastly, the third aspect of stereotyping has many forms.

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That is, there can be stereotypes based on gender, age, socio-economic status, religion, and race. In the workplace and within a country, the most common form of stereotyping is based on race. For example, the progressive country of Singapore is composed of the Chinese, the Malays, the Indians, the Eurasians, and other races. Racial stereotyping exists in Singapore (Zhuang 2006). In all three aspects of stereotyping, there is no bias towards the negative consequences. It appears that stereotyping may have advantages, especially in the workplace.Why is stereotyping beneficial?In the workplace, stereotyping becomes an important part of decision making, especially when the manager is forced to come up with a decision based on incomplete information.  The argument against this reason is that the manager should have obtained all necessary information so that he would not make a prejudiced decision. Unfortunately, some economists find that the benefits of obtaining more information do not exceed the disadvantages of quickly making a stereotypical decision.  Thus, one strong reason for employing stereotyping is economics. In Europe for example, the strict labor laws prevent many employers from firing workers who do not exactly meet their expectations. Thus, the employer uses stereotyping. If an employer does not heed his preconceive notions and hire someone who does not physically appear as capable, perhaps the beard and hair are too long and the clothes are sloppy, in order to give this applicant a chance, the employer may end up with a lazy worker and this is an economic loss to the company (Malek 2006).Aside from economics, stereotyping is also beneficial in the field of anthropological and cultural studies. The way that social scientists classify culture, into high-context and low-context culture, is an example of stereotyping. High-context culture is composed of people who are more group-oriented, such as most Asians. On the other hand, low-context culture is composed of people who are more individualistic, such as North Americans (Burgess 2003). If speaking before a group of people, the lecturer must take into consideration the nature of the audience. Is it high-context or low-context? In doing so, the speaker will be more effective. What problems does stereotyping bring?Stereotyping also presents problems in the workplace especially when it is typically based on wrong assumptions. A female worker, because of a pretty face, will most probably be stereotyped as less intelligent than the other workers. While there are instances when stereotypes are helpful, there are also instances that stereotypes create a hostile environment in the workplace. With a hostile workplace environment, the whole organization cannot function effectively and efficiently. Stereotyping may also lead to lawsuits, especially in countries where there are strict laws against gender, age, and race discrimination (Hoffman & Hurst 1990). Thus, even if stereotyping is pervasive in all aspects of human interaction (Parker, Archer & Scott 1992), there is a need to take actions that will reduce stereotyping and minimize or manage its negative consequences.How to minimize and manage stereotyping?There are many books and articles that offer various ways of dealing with stereotypes. For example, Burgess (2003) suggests that media must take more responsibility so that stereotyping is not developed easily especially in children. And then, Breslin (1991) suggests that a person must always focus on the individual. But such a method may not be easily implemented, especially when there are cultural differences. It would be interesting to compare two nations and the different ways that they manage racial stereotypes. The United States deal with racial stereotypes by recognizing the uniqueness of each race. Thus, a Chinese-American is aware of his cultural heritage from China. On the other hand, the government of Singapore suppressed open discussion of racial differences. As a result, a Chinese-Singaporean is only knowledgeable about being a Singaporean, but not about being Chinese (Moore 2000). Which method is better? There is no accurate or morally acceptable answer. Therefore, in managing and minimizing the negative consequences of stereotyping, there must be a scientific approach that focuses on how stereotyping or the early pre-judgments of people can change throughout time.Allport (1954) described two ways of changing stereotypes: bookkeeping and conversion. In bookkeeping, the manager accommodates new information that does not agree with the original stereotype. It is a slow process but this is the usual path that people take when they have strong stereotypes of others. Conversion, on the other hand, is a radical change of the preconceived image when a contradictory fact is revealed. For example, if an American coworker is stereotyped as arrogant and he showed humility, then the stereotype is removed.  By focusing on these two processes, the management can deal with the negative consequences of stereotyping.ConclusionStereotyping presents advantages from the perspective of economics, effective communication and cultural studies. However, in the workplace, stereotyping will most likely bring about conflict, hostilities, lower production, and even lawsuits. These negative consequences must be minimized. Unfortunately, stereotyping is prevalent and often utilized. Removing stereotypes, therefore, is neither possible nor practical. But the management can help change, not remove, stereotypes by modeling two processes, bookkeeping and conversion. These two processes happen as more information about the workers is revealed and longer working relationships are carried out.