Generally stereotypes are maligned and considered a completely bad thing, yet I have argued on many occasion that they do serve a purpose. I actually believe stereotypes are a valuable part of social interactions.
Protocol is an important part of communication. We talk to different people in different ways. For example, the way you speak with your friends is different from the way you speak to your parents which are both different from the way you speak with a professor. This protocol is necessary. You could also call protocol etiquette. Stereotypes enable us to fairly accurately determine protocol with an unknown person. And stereotypes are constantly updating based upon our interactions. We become better at categorizing people.
The danger of stereotypes comes when we adhere to strongly to them. We must realize that no one fits a stereotype 100%. So we must allow people to escape their stereotype. The stereotype should only be a platform, a starting point. From there, the person's personality should be allowed to diverge. Stereotypes should not be used to exclude people, but rather to aid in our inclusion of those people.
I was thinking that perhaps I should offer a little background on why I submitted this particular post. I threw it up there helter-skelter to see what people would think, and then I thought I woud tuck away in here my reason for posting it. A few weeks ago I met a man from France. We are starting to become friends and in our first two conversations we had we discussed the following items: -Wine -Cheese -Bread -His hatred of Bush -His hatred of all things pertaining to the English language including but not limited to England, America, Australia, South Africa, and McDonalds -How the French treat women (i.e. the only correct way to treat women)
6 comments:
Generally stereotypes are maligned and considered a completely bad thing, yet I have argued on many occasion that they do serve a purpose. I actually believe stereotypes are a valuable part of social interactions.
Protocol is an important part of communication. We talk to different people in different ways. For example, the way you speak with your friends is different from the way you speak to your parents which are both different from the way you speak with a professor. This protocol is necessary. You could also call protocol etiquette. Stereotypes enable us to fairly accurately determine protocol with an unknown person. And stereotypes are constantly updating based upon our interactions. We become better at categorizing people.
The danger of stereotypes comes when we adhere to strongly to them. We must realize that no one fits a stereotype 100%. So we must allow people to escape their stereotype. The stereotype should only be a platform, a starting point. From there, the person's personality should be allowed to diverge. Stereotypes should not be used to exclude people, but rather to aid in our inclusion of those people.
I was thinking that perhaps I should offer a little background on why I submitted this particular post. I threw it up there helter-skelter to see what people would think, and then I thought I woud tuck away in here my reason for posting it. A few weeks ago I met a man from France. We are starting to become friends and in our first two conversations we had we discussed the following items:
-Wine
-Cheese
-Bread
-His hatred of Bush
-His hatred of all things pertaining to the English language including but not limited to England, America, Australia, South Africa, and McDonalds
-How the French treat women (i.e. the only correct way to treat women)
How do French treat women?
Correctly
Or, as it turns out, poorly.
If the French treat women the correct way, I think I will continue treating women the wrong way.
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