This document discusses stereotypes and their nature. It notes that stereotypes are assumptions made about groups based on how media portrays them, but these assumptions are not always accurate and can change over time. It identifies several common stereotypes that exist in colleges and explores why people stereotype, noting that stereotypes help people understand the world, even if the assumptions are not always correct.

1. Tessa Perkins
Stereotype Theory
• A stereotype is an idea that is adopted about specific types of
individuals/group of people. The thoughts may not always accurately
reflect reality.
• Types of Stereotypes in our college:
-people who they think are higher than everyone else.
-BTEC Sport (shorts, big bags, football boots)
-Mean Girls (well dressed, stuck up, make up)
-Wannabe Mod’s (parka, indie band tops)
• Why do we stereotype individuals and group of people?
We stereotype people because of the way media portrays certain
people. If the media didn’t portray a certain person in a certain way, we
wouldn’t make these judgements. Stereotyping is helping us
understand the world.

2. Stereotypes
Stereotypes are assumptions we make based on groups of
people
How do we come to such conclusions? Because of the way
media portrays certain individuals.
What do we base our assumptions on? People we see in
the media, the way they dress is labelled as a style or the
way they act so we relate this to people around us.
Are we always correct when we categorise people in such
ways? Not entirely, this is because we haven’t met the
person properly, we make judgements based on what we
see of them.

3. Tessa Perkins
Stereotyping is not a simple process and contains a number of assumptions that can
be challenged.
Perkins identifies 5 such assumptions:
-Stereotypes are not always negative, e.g. The French are good cooks.
-They are not always about minority groups or the less powerful, e.g. ‘Upper class
twits’
-They can be held about one’s own group.
-They are not rigid or unchanging.
-They are not always false.

4. 1. They are not always negative
As I mentioned on the other slide, this is one of the assumptions Perkin’s talks about in
her theory. People assume that stereotypes are negative, for example: young
troublesome youths ‘hoodie culture’, however youth can also be seen as a good thing.
An example of this is the riot that happened in England in early August of 2011. A lot
of people were involved in this and methods included: rioting, looting, arson,
mugging, assault and even murder. Everyone put the blame on the youths but in fact it
was the shooting of 29 year old Mark Duggan when he fired at a police officer, who
then shot him that started it all off. Therefore, it wasn’t actually the youth’s fault but
they took the blame.

5. 2. They are not always about minority
groups or the less powerful
People assume that stereotypes are aimed at and targeted towards and less powerful
but this is not always the case, we can make assumptions and stereotypes about
upper class minorities in the same way they would make assumptions about lower
class people.

6. 3. They can be held about one’s own group
As a representation of people, everyone within Wyke college are based as a group. In
our own group we stereotype people, demonstrating even though we all belong to
the same institution and hold the same ideologies as a whole, within the groups we
stereotype based on our assumptions. This makes each of us feel part of the larger
community.

7. 4. They are not rigid or unchanging
Once a stereotype has been created it is very hard to change it. However, Perkins
states that over a period of time it can change and develop, just not overnight.
For example: Nerds used to be seen as the outcasts, very geeky, uncool but now it is
seen as cool and it has somewhat become a style.
Another example is the view of women. Women used to be stereotyped as a
housewife but are now more associated with being more career driven.

8. 5. They are not always false
Stereotypes have to have some truth in them or where else would the representation
come from?
We witness and read many stories in the media that help us shape and understand
these stereotypes.
We may witness it first hand or second hand, however there must be some truth in a
stereotype otherwise the ideology behind them would not have existed in the first
place.

9. Implications of Stereotypes
Stereotypes are always usually wrong in content.
They are (negative) concepts.
They are about group with whom we have little or no social contact; by implication therefore, they are not held
about ones own group- that’s a stereotype of a stereotype.
They are bout minority or repressed groups most of the time, creating negative representation of the lower class
possibly giving the upper class more power.
People either ‘hold’ stereotypes of a group (believe them to be true) or do not. This is what can lead to negative
behaviour or wrong assumptions.
Because someone holds a stereotype of a group, his or her behaviour towards a member of that group can be
predicted. This can lead to unfair treatment of members of society, for example: White Dee on this years Celebrity
Big Brother.
Stereotypes are an invaluable aid to understanding the world and all stereotypes must have a bit of truth or they
would not have such an influence.
Could we have a world without stereotypes? No, because otherwise if stereotypes didn’t exist, everyone would be
branded as the same and no one would be individual.

10. My example mind
map
Tessa Perkins
‘Stereotypes’
1. They are not
always about
minority
5. They are not
always false
2. They can be
held about ones
own group
3. They are not
rigid or
unchanging
4. Not always
negative
1. Politicians are corrupt and don’t care about us and British
people are all tea drinkers
2. Dancers / Famous people (Dyer Theory)
3. Nerds (used to be uncool, now it’s cool, seen as a style
4. Italians are good at making pizza/pasta
5. Old people being racist and old people frown upon
homosexuals but in our generation it is more accepted than it
was in their time.

11. My Opinion
Are stereotypes fair? I do not think they’re fair as we are making judgements on
people we do not really know, so they could be really nice and we could give them a
bad stereotype. Although they are unfair, I think we naturally stereotype people
either way, so there is no stopping it.
Is it possible not to stereotype people or groups of people? No because are so used to
stereotyping people into different categories so it will never change.
How do they help us understand the world? Having stereotypes put people into
different categories so it helps us identify the type of person they possibly are.

12. Changes
How has the media changed the stereotypes of men and women? The stereotypes for gender
have changed a lot over the years. The media has portrayed them differently so it has
changed the views of people, so different generations think different things. The stereotype
of women has progressed a lot as people do not relate them just to housewife anymore, they
are seen as empowering and strong. The stereotype of men hasn’t changed a lot as men are
still seen as the hard-working person in the family but as the way media has changed, we are
being shown a lot more stay at home dads.
Is it possible for a stereotype to change 100%? I do not agree because even if a stereotype
develops a new meaning and changes, the past meaning of a certain stereotype may still be
there so people will still associate with it.
How do I think they may develop further? What other changes may take place? I think over the
years, events may happen where stereotypes are viewed differently so it develops a whole
different meaning, possibly creating new stereotypes in the future in different generations.