Labeling theory Essay

Please complete the following exercises, remembering that you are in an academic setting and should remain unbiased, considerate, and professional when completing this worksheet. Part I Select three of the identity categories below and name or describe at least 3 related stereotypes for each: †¢ Race †¢ Ethnicity †¢ Religion †¢ Gender †¢ Sexual orientation †¢ Age †¢ Disability. |Category |Stereotype 1 |Stereotype 2 |Stereotype 3 | |Race |Asians are genuises |African Americans are amazing at |All white people are racist | | | |all sports | | |Gender |Woman are moody |Women can’t drive |Men are rude | |Disability |Disabled people are not smart |Disabled are weak |Disabled need help with everything| Part II Answer each question in 50 to 100 words related to those stereotypes. Provide citations for all the sources you use. What are the positive aspects of stereotypes, if any? o I do not think that there any positive aspects of stereotypes. I know that there are positive stereotypes, but in general stereotypes are opinions and are negative most of the time. Just about every stereotype that is out there is offensive to someone and can hurt someones feelings. For example, a stereotype that hurts me is my weight. People automatically assume that since I am heavier that I am lazy and do not take care of myself or my kids and that is far from being true. What are the negative aspects of stereotypes? o There are many different negative aspects of stereotypes. One negative aspect is that a lot of stereotypes are highly offensice to some people and can cause people to become upset or angry. Another negative aspect is that as long as we have stereotypes people are going to continue being prejudice. Part III Answer each question in 50 to 150 words related to those stereotypes. Provide citations for all the sources you use. Define stereotypes and prejudice. What is the difference between stereotyping and prejudice? Use examples to illustrate the differences. o Stereotypes are unreliable assumptions that are made towards a certain group without taking individual differences into mind. Prejudice is simply a negative attitude towards a group of people. The difference between prejudice and stereotypes is that stereotypes are made towards everyone involved in a certain group whether the opinion be positive or negative stereotypes links everyone in that group to be the same even though they are not. For example, a stereotype would be something like saying all gay guys are wimps. Prejudice on the otherhand is completely negative and affects an entire group such as a racial or religious group. An example of prejudice would be something like someone saying they hate all African Americans because their skin is a different color. What is the relationship between stereotyping and prejudice? o The relationship between stereotyping and prejudice is that both of them affect an entire group of people without taking into consideration the individual differences. Prejudice is the beginning circle of this negativity. People are prejudice and split different people into different groups. Once this is done stereotyping comes into play where people sort those groups into smaller categories by making opinions of the groups without seeing the differences. What can be done to prevent prejudice from occurring? o There are a few different ways that we can try and prevent prejudice from occurring. One way is education and research. If people took more time to learn about different people and the diversity that we have in this world I think that they would see all of the interesting things in others and would help prevent some of the prejudice. Another way that we can try and prevent prejudice is by eliminating stereotypes and not labeling people.