Background material for teachers: Stereotypes and prejudices

What is a stereotype?

People are often defined as members of groups, depending on their culture, their religious beliefs, their origin or external features such as the colour of their skin, their size, hairstyle or clothing.

Often this definition of groups goes together with assigning specific qualities to people, so that specific images are associated with certain groups. If these images are exaggerated to the extent that they hardly correspond to reality any longer, we call them stereotypes.

Stereotypes can also be found in books (even school textbooks), comics, advertisements or movies. You almost certainly have come across such stereotypes yourself. Think, for example, about the image of African women wearing skirts made of palm leaves, having thick lips and little bones stuck in their noses.

From a stereotype to a prejudice

If a person or a group is judged based only on stereotypes and not as an individual or group of individuals, we are dealing with a prejudice. An opinion has been formed about a person or a group without actually knowing them. Such views and ideas most often have nothing to do with reality and they are also often unfavourable or hostile.

“Positive” stereotypes

However, there are also positive stereotypes. For example if someone says that black people are fast runners, we can call this a positive stereotype. “Well, what’s wrong with that?” you might think. But in this case people are also being wrongly lumped together. Just think: is it really true that all black people can run fast?

What are stereotypes good for?

Prejudices seem to make the world simpler and less complicated. If people meet others who seem to be strange it often gives them a feeling of uneasiness. In such situations, prejudices allow people to conceal their uneasiness – I can pretend that I know everything about the other/s and need not ask any questions. But as a result, from the very beginning, a meaningful encounter and a real understanding have become impossible.

What is the effect of prejudices?

Prejudices are offensive. Primarily, they are used to treat someone unfairly. Prejudices deprive people of the opportunity to show who they are and what they are capable of achieving. For example, an employer may not give Turkish applicants a job because he has heard that “they“ always come to work late. Some people will cling on to prejudices and populist ideas although they know no one who could confirm these negative views.

What can we do against prejudices?

Prejudices die hard and are therefore hard to deal with. But there is no need to lose hope: no one is born with prejudices. They have been learnt and can therefore be unlearnt. Before judging a person, ask him or her to explain why he or she has done whatever is under discussion. Remember that you surely would not like being judged without being listened to.