American society is clearly divided into a hierarchy across lines
such as gender, race, and socio-economic background. For sociobiologists,
a pressing question has been the role of genetics in the seemingly
universal stratification of humyns along race, class, and gender
lines. Social Darwinism has argued that people of color, poorer
people, and womyn are genetically inferior to affluent, white
men. However, it has since become generally accepted in the scientific
community that Social Darwinism is wrong, and superior/inferior
roles are actually actively taught social hierarchies--not the
result of genetic predisposition.
We believe that the existing social hierarchy is in the best interest
of the affluent white male, and therefore, a society dominated
by affluent white men (patriarchy) will work hard to keep the
hierarchy intact. One way our society is kept stratified is by
instilling a system of hegemony, in which learned characteristics--such
as the inferiority of blacks or womyn to whites or men--are so
prevalent that members of society accept the characteristics as
natural and normal. As a result, affluent white males are raised
to believe they are naturally superior to people of color, womyn,
and blue/pink collar workers, and, conversely, people of color,
womyn, and blue/pink collar workers are raised to feel they are
naturally inferior to white men. A common manifestation of hegemony
are stereotypes based on race, class, and gender. When humyns
are stereotyped according to race, gender, class, we tend to accept
these stereotypes as “normal” and “right” because we are never
told things can be any other way. As a result, people in the society
believe the stereotypes to be true. Some classic examples of this
sort of gender, racial, and socio-economic stereotyping have been
the popular myths that womyn and girls are not good in math and
science; that Latinos are lazy and intellectually inferior to
whites; or that all African-Americans are poor. As consequence
of the existence of these stereotypes, and people believing them
to be true, the problem of a “self-fulfilling prophecy” emerges.
The “self-fulfilling prophecy” is based on the idea that if a
person is told s/he is inferior, or that s/he cannot succeed at
the same things white males accomplish, or that s/he is “naturally”
predisposed to being good at certain things, then s/he will accept
the stereotype as truth, and make no attempt to challenge the
assumption.
Methods
To study the effect of stereotypes we need to come at the issue
from several directions. We intend on conducting studies of students
at Miami to determine stereotypes people already have; observing
the evidence of stereotypes in popular culture through the media’s
representation of womyn and people of color, particularly in advertising
and film; observing the way stereotypes are propagated through
white supremacist literature (as an extreme example of mismeasurement
by race and gender); and looking at studies conducted on the ways
that environment influences ones self image (i.e. studies of twins
raised in separate homes and of adopted children).
In the studies we will conduct on Miami student we are seeking
to determine whether someone’s social status influences the way
they view their ability to succeed in main stream society. To
do this we will ask questions similar to the following.
-What is you race?
-Are you male or female?
-What is you’re family’s income?
-What class would you place yourself in?
-What class you consider most of your friends?
-Did you grow up in an urban or rural setting?
-Did your parent and/or grandparents attend university?
-Do you have bothers or sisters that have or will attend university?
-At what age did you begin school?
-Do both of your parents work full time jobs?
-If not what’s the break down?
-Did you always assume you were going to college?
-Did your parents always assume you were going to college?
-Does the same hold true for most of your friends?
-Would you consider your elementary and/or high school to be diverse
in race?
-How often did your family take vacations?
-What kind of grades did you get in school?
-Were good grades expected by your parents?
-What range income do you expect to receive in future employment?
-What range income do your parents expect you to receive?
-What range in come do you think the majority of your peers expect
to receive?
We are also interested in determining if our subjects expect people
of high social status to be in positions of power. Positions of
power can include: influential leaders, celebrities, athletes,
governmental officials, etc. We also want to see if our subjects
take womyn and people of color seriously as potential successful
leaders. Questions we might ask to establish inherent prejudice
are:
-Name your 5 favorite actors/actresses.
-Name your 5 favorite sports heroes.
-Name the 5 most influential figures in recent history.
The following questions are designed to determine what words people
use to describe others in certain positions which are usually
associated with specific genders and races, and to determine whether
the word they use have masculine or feminine connotations.
-What are traits of being a good business person?
-What are traits of being a good parent?
-What are traits of being a good teacher?
-What are traits of being a good mother ?
-What are traits of being a good father?
-What are traits of being a good statesperson?
-Why is racial equality important?
-What do you consider sexual harassment?
In looking at media representations of people of color, in advertising
we want to see what kind of positions they are given when they
adds are directed at different social groups. Are they given more
dominant positions or more subservient positions? Does their portrayal
change when the adds are directed at other people of color or
at a primarily white audience or does their position remain the
same regardless of target audience? In looking at film we are
interested in looking at the same issues, concentrating not only
on who the perceived audience is for the film, but also who is
involved in the production and direction of the film. Some genres
we intend to look at are the new “ghetto” films, older historical
drama, and the main stream romantic comedy.
In looking at racist propaganda we want too see what stereotypes
white supremacists embellish to convey their messages of hatred
and violence. Perhaps we can see if there are links any links
this extreme form of overt hatred and intolerance and main stream
media portrayal of minorities.
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Ridgeway, James, “Armies of the Right,” Village Voice, 1997, v42n12, Mar 25, p36.
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Zhang, Jie, “Patterns of Physical Preference Among Races: A Preliminary Study with College Students,” Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1996, v83, p901.
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