2. CULTURAL STEREOTYPES
โข Generalizations become stereotypes when all members of a group are
categorized as having the same characteristics. Stereotypes can be linked to
any type of cultural membership, such as nationality, religion, gender, race,
or age. Also, stereotypes may be positive or negative.
3. โข Stereotypes, however, tend to be more negative than
generalizations. Also, they are typically inflexible and
resistant to new information. They can, and often do,
lead to prejudice and intentional or unintentional
discrimination. A negative stereotype may be โPeople
from Country A are superficial.โ Whereas cultural
generalizations give us a starting point from which to
continue learning about others, cultural stereotypes do not
allow for individual difference and interfere with efforts to
understand others.
4. CULTURAL STEREOTYPES IN INDIA
โข Indian people cannot speak good English : The majority of schools
across India teach students English right from the start of their
formative years which means that it is possible to navigate the country
using English alone and with no knowledge of any Indian language.
โข Indians are uneducated : While literacy levels in India, and especially
those of women, are not very high, it is important to remember that in a
country with a population as high as Indiaโs, it is inaccurate to make
generalized assumptions about the entire nation.
โข Indians are poor : There is a commonly held perception that all
Indians are poor which is furthered by media portrayals of the country,
as seen through the movie Slumdog Millionaire.
โข While it is true that a major proportion of the Indian populace live under
the poverty line and that there are many beggars within the nation and
highly visible slums and shanty towns, this is not the case for the entire
nation.
5. The โreal Indiaโ is dirty and chaotic
Many travelers come to India for the โreal Indian experienceโ, which they
associate with dirt, chaos, spontaneity, and confusion.
They live frugally: they eat cheap food, live in cheap hostels, and don
themselves in traditional Indian clothing and use public transport in an
attempt to live the way โreal Indiansโ do.
Indians only eat curry
Indian food abroad has become synonymous with curry, and this is very
inaccurate as Indian food is multi-faceted, diverse, and expanses much
more than a generic curry.
Indeed, curry is eaten by many in the country โ but this statement itself is
very vague and incorrect because there are numerous types of curries, in
terms of the ingredients they use and the flavours they contain.
6. Indian women are subordinate to men
This stereotype is not completely untrue. In Indian
society, gender is extremely hierarchical and favours
men over women.
This is not unusual for a developing country and must
be looked at in that context. Indian society is largely
patriarchal, and women are expected to be subordinate
to their male counterparts. This is reflected in the
skewed sex ratio and literacy rates of the country, which
seriously disadvantage the female population.
Indians worship millions of Gods
Ancient Hindu scriptures have revealed that the religion
encompasses the worship of 330 million Gods!
Whilst this is true, it is important to remember
that Hinduism is not a polytheistic religion โ that is, it
speaks of one God.
7. What is the
problem?
- currently hundreds of stereotypes exist, the list
is endless
- a stereotyped individuals isn't seen for who they
are and what they can contribute
- it affects employee morale and productivity.
Employees are more likely to leave an organization
if they believe that stereotypes determine how
they are treated
- educators are unconsciously influenced by
negative racial stereotypes
- Psychologists have demonstrated that
stereotype threat inhibits the performance of
talented and well-educated middle-class students
on standardized tests because of the anxiety that
the tests will confirm the longstanding negative
stereotypes
8. Religious Stereotypes
โข religious stereotypes can be understood first
by comparing religion to categories that are
defined in contradistinction to religion. The
first comparison naturally arises by
considering the fundamental attribute of
religionโbelief in supernatural agentsโ,
thus pitting religion against atheism. A
second comparison emerges by recognizing
that religion has endured, for millennia, as
an ultimate explanation of worldly
phenomena, and this has come into conflict
with another major source of ultimate
explanation: science.
9.
10. RELIGIOUS STEREOTYPES IN INDIA
๏ก A Christian protagonist - He boozes on the beaches of Goa,
smokes joints, dances on English tracks, wears cool
glasses and flaunts lots of accessories and is crazy about
music
๏ก A Sikh protagonist - He has muscles of steel and can slay
an entire army alone. But he is dim-witted, messes things
up and ends up as a lovable idiot
๏ก A Muslim Protagonist - He is a always depicted as the
sufferer. He is invariably reduced to playing the victim of
apathy and racial discrimination. The whole world is
depicted to be against him. If some Bollywood Director was
to make the Indian version of "War of The Worlds' ,I bet a
Muslim character would be depicted as the protagonist
victim.
๏ก Hindus are a minority, so the probability of having close
relationships with someone from the community is
statistically low. People donโt talk about religious faiths and
beliefs until they get very close to each other. Just like any
other place, life is extremely fast paced in the United States
with lots of things to talk about in general
11. Most governments try by varying degrees to instill fairness into
their systems of justice, land ownership, education, and health
care. But progress toward equity is uneven and โ in some
places, in reverse. In India, for example, the ruling Hindu
nationalist party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, continues to limit
the rights of Muslims. The latest example is a string of new
restrictions on interfaith marriage in states it controls through
laws banning religious conversion.
Despite the fact that there are so many Muslims in the world, in
many places there is a lack of understanding about Muslim
people and Islam. In addition, the increase in anti-Muslim
rhetoric and the unfortunate conflation of terrorism with Muslim
people contributes to biased attitudes and reinforces
stereotypes. As a result, Islamophobiaโthe fear, hatred and
discrimination of Muslim peopleโis manifesting itself in
personal biases, rhetoric, education, politics, hate crimes and
more.
