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An ethnic stereotype or racial stereotype involves part of a system of beliefs about typical characteristics of members of a given ethnic group, their status, societal and cultural norms. A national stereotype does the same for a given nationality. The stereotyping may be used for humor in jokes, and/or may be associated with racism.

National stereotypes may relate either to one's own ethnicity/nationality or to a foreign/differing one. Stereotypes about one's own nation may aid in maintaining a national identity due to a collective relatability to a trait or characteristic, referred to as national character.

Examples

According to an article by The Guardian titled "European Stereotypes: What Do We Think of Each Other and Are We Right?", the Europe stereotype towards Britain is as "drunken, semi-clad hooligans or else snobbish, stiff free marketers", their view towards France is "cowardly, arrogant, chauvinistic, erotomaniacs", and they see Germany as "ruddy-faced subsist on a diet of beer and sausage". To Europe, Italy is "tax-dodging, Berlusconi-style Latin lovers and mama's boys, incapable of bravery", Poland is "heavy-drinking ultracatholics with a whiff of antisemitism", and Spain is "macho men and fiery women prone to regular siestas and fiestas". While some countries such as Germany proudly own their stereotype, others like Spain argue that theirs is a warped view based on experiences while on holiday instead of having actually lived there.

A Pew Global survey of the European countries United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Greece, Poland, and Czechia found that European stereotypes found Germany to be both the most hardworking and least corrupt, Greece to be the least hardworking, and Italy to be the most corrupt. Five out of the eight countries thought their own country was the most corrupt.

Yanko Tsvetkov has designed many maps which serve as pictorial representations of such stereotypes, giving an impression of how certain regions of the world may view others. They have named such as "The Arab Winter" and "Crystal Ball View Of Europe In 2022".

According to Dana E. Maestro, media images and depictions play a vital role in our ability to perceive different ethnicities and construct various racial and ethnic stereotypes. Most of these portrayals are seen through media platforms such as televisions, social media and commercials create a convenient sketch of how they want a certain group of people to be represented. For example, White Americans are always overly presented in positions of prestige and power in comparison to their counterparts such as Latinos or African Americans that are usually represented around themes of criminality and subservience. On a whole, Media can never be assumed to an insignificant oulet of information but are culturally effective conduits that can drive our personal narrative on specific ethnic stereotyping. Since minorities are not adequately represented in the media it can lead to a negative misinterpretation and limited media diversity.

According the J. Stanley Lemons, a stereotype for African-American men in the United States, specifically during the 1940s, was popularized through the use of comics and minstrel shows. African-American men were portrayed as having more animalistic features that alluded to the believe of their lack of knowledge and being considered second-class citizens during this time period. These features include oversized ear and mouths to indicate a monkey-like appearance. Portraying African-Americans as monkeys alludes to them being perceived as having limited intelligence. To convey that idea further, African-Americans were made not able to speak proper English. The white impersonators often used Black English Vernacular (BEV). The impersonators over exaggerated and misused BEV so that the speech barely made sense, which furthered the notion of African Americans being unintelligent.

Validity

It is sometimes held that such stereotypes often contain a "grain of truth". However, an extensive study by the personality psychologist Robert R. McCrae of the National Institute on Aging and colleagues found that they are generally untrustworthy.

Various anti-national phobias and prejudices operate with ethnic stereotypes.

Ethnic stereotypes are commonly portrayed in ethnic jokes, some of which some consider to be offensive to varying degrees. Richard M. Steers and Luciara Nardon, in their book about the global economy, use a variant of the "You have two cows" joke to illustrate the concept of cultural differences:

• Russian company: You have two cows. You drink some vodka and count them again. You have five cows. The Russian Mafia shows up and takes however many cows you have.
• Californian company: You have a million cows. Most of them are illegals.

They write that such jokes are considered funny because they are realistic caricatures of various cultures, and the pervasiveness of such jokes stems from the significant cultural differences. Steers and Nardon also state that others believe that cultural stereotypes in jokes of that kind must be viewed with caution.

See also

• Mores
• National character
• National personification
• Objectification of people
• Racial profiling
• Racial stereotyping in advertising
• Racism
• Stereotypes about indigenous peoples of North America
• Stereotypes of Americans
  • Stereotypes of groups within the United States
• Stereotypes of Hispanic and Latino Americans
• Stereotypes of African Americans
• Stereotypes of Jews
• Stereotypes of South Asians
• Stereotypes of East and Southeast Asians in the United States
• An Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman joke
• French anti-Southern sentiment during the Third Republic

References

1. Terracciano A, Abdel-Khalek AM, Adám N, et al. (October 2005). "National character does not reflect mean personality trait levels in 49 cultures". Science. 310 (5745): 96–100. Bibcode:2005Sci...310...96T. doi:10.1126/science.1117199. PMC 2775052. PMID 16210536.
2. "European stereotypes: what do we think of each other and are we right? – interactive". theguardian.com. January 26, 2012. Retrieved October 14, 2013.
3. Graphic detail Charts, maps and infographics (May 30, 2012). "Greeks say they are the hardest-working European nation: Stereotypes of Europe". The Economist. Retrieved October 14, 2013.
4. "MAPS: A Complete Guide To National Stereotypes All Around The World | Business Insider Australia". Businessinsider.com.au. September 3, 2011. Retrieved October 14, 2013.
5. "Yanko Tsvetkov's stereotype maps – in pictures | Art and design". The Guardian. February 17, 2012. Retrieved October 14, 2013.
6. "Mapping Stereotypes". Alphadesigner. Retrieved October 14, 2013.
7. Tim Dowling (February 17, 2012). "Stereotype maps: Is that what they think of us? | Art and design". The Guardian. Retrieved October 14, 2013.
8. Maestro, Dana E (2009). Racial/Ethnic Stereotyping and The Media. Media Effects, Routledge. pp. 341–357. ISBN 9780203877111.
9. Harnois, Catherine (October 12, 2015). "Race and the lifecourse: readings from the intersection of race, ethnicity, and age". Ethnic and Racial Studies. 39 (8): 1513–1514. doi:10.1080/01419870.2015.1095344. ISSN 0141-9870.
10. Lemons, J. Stanley (1977). "Black Stereotypes as Reflected in Popular Culture, 1880–1920". American Quarterly. 29 (1): 102–116. doi:10.2307/2712263. ISSN 0003-0678. JSTOR 2712263.
11. Mahar, William J. (1985). "Black English in Early Blackface Minstrelsy: A New Interpretation of the Sources of Minstrel Show Dialect". American Quarterly. 37 (2): 260–285. doi:10.2307/2712901. ISSN 0003-0678. JSTOR 2712901.
12. "Why do people find racist jokes funny?". BBC News. May 7, 2002. Retrieved January 22, 2009.
13. ^ McCrae, Robert R.; et al. (2013). "The inaccuracy of national character stereotypes". Journal of Research in Personality. 47 (6): 831–842. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2013.08.006. PMC 3811946. PMID 24187394.
14. "Science gets the last laugh on ethnic jokes". MSNBC. October 6, 2005. (2005)
15. ^ Steers, Richard M.; Nardon, Luciara (2005). Managing In The Global Economy. M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 0-7656-1551-7.

Further reading

• Alí, Maurizio. (2010). Medios de comunicación, asuntos étnicos e intercultura en Colombia. En Revista Razón y Palabra, 74 (nov.2010/ene.2011). México DF: ITESM Campus Estado de México. ISSN 1605-4806.
• Macrae CN, Stangor C, Hewstone M. (eds.) "Stereotypes and stereotyping." Guilford Press, 1996.
• Pawel Milicki, Naomi Ellemers, Being different or being better?, European Journal on Social Psychology, vol. 26, 1996, pp. 97–114
• National Stereotypes and Product Evaluations in a Socialist Country (journal article)
• Ethnic and National Stereotypes: The Princeton Trilogy Revisited and Revised (journal article)
• National Stereotypes: Correct Images and Distorted Images, ed. Blanca Valota, 2007, ISBN 8876949534
• National Stereotypes: an Educational Challenge (book)
• Haiti and the United States: National Stereotypes and the Literary Imagination (book)

External links

• Media related to Ethnic and racial stereotypes at Wikimedia Commons

• Ethnic and racial stereotypes
• National identity
• Race and society
• Racism