February 6, 2017 - 01:32
Title: Do White College Students Believe Stereotypes about Minorities?
Author: Natalie Gross
This article describes a study done on white university students’ perception of stereotypes of minority students, including Blacks, Latino, and Asian Americans. The study used a survey repertoire as data. The survey asks students to rate each minority group based on work ethic, intelligence, and perseverance. According to the article, researchers come to the conclusion that stereotypes are generally commonly believed, such as that Asian Americans are “cold and competent” while Latinos and Blacks “need to work harder to move up”. Researchers reason that the seemingly racial difference was actually more relevant to the issue of class (in other words, socio-economic status) and societal reality only helped reinforce these stereotypes rather than treating people on a individual basis. The article suggests that a constructive way to fight against the stereotype is to increase cross-racial interactions in universities so that white students can realize how diverse the campus really is.
This article and the finding does not seem surprising to me. The problem is two fold: the issue with stereotype and the issue about race. Stereotypes are indeed convenient ways to figure out a general impression or assumption of a stranger, but not understanding the incompleteness of a stereotype may result in irresponsible and oftentimes false ungrounded impressions. While stereotypes are inevitable in any society and social group, it is important to be aware of their limitations. In addition, America is in a unique situation where the race-based classification of people becomes the most prevalent and (seemingly) the most obvious, overriding issues like class, religion, etc. the consequence is that when people talk about diversity in America, we end up having a conversation about difference races, as if this were the only label that differentiated people. Racial stereotypes, therefore, create a barrier for all parties involved. They make the majority feel disinterested in minorities and put pressure on the minorities to adhere to or fight against the stereotypes. Although I believe that racial stereotypes must be addressed, I do not believe what the article proposes is the best solution. I agree that it should be part of the solution, but before that, students should be educated on their inherent in-group and out-group bias and be aware of the inadequacy of stereotypes. If these educational goals are not achieved, any interaction might just result in reinforcement of the socially constructed stereotypes instead of dismantling it.