Cultural stereotypes generalisations and individual identity Will Baker

Cultural stereotypes, generalisations and individual identity Will Baker

Stereotypes, generalisations and individual identity • In groups make a list of characteristics that you think apply to people from each of the countries below. • Your country The USA • Why did you choose these characteristics? The UK

Stereotypes vs. generalisations • A stereotype* is an oversimplified impression of a person or culture. – Based on a small piece of information (which may or may not be accurate) rather than any facts or in-depth understanding. – Fixed and do not change with time or experience. – Applied to everybody from that culture. – Often negative and can hinder cultural understanding and cultural awareness. • Generalisations in contrast are an important part of studying and understanding cultures. – Based on facts. From the facts we observe we use induction to give us some rules or ideas that can help us understand a foreign culture. – Without generalisations understanding another culture can be difficult. – Flexible and change over time as our understanding of another culture develops. – If these generalisations are not flexible and do not change over time they can become stereotypes. – Generalisations are applied in a flexible manner to individuals *the term stereotype is used by some researchers in a similar manner to generalisation here

Identity • Identity like culture is not innate • We can choose to identify with certain social • • groups We are assigned identities by others Identity is not fixed, it changes Identities can be both contradictory and contested Identity can be seen as a continuing process of identification

Culture and individual identity • Look at the list of characteristics you made for your own country. How many of them do you think you follow? How strongly do you follow them? The bell curve - the majority of individuals may roughly conform to a generalisation but not all Furthermore individuals may vary in their conformity over time

Culture and individual identity Within a culture there will be many different groups which influence behaviours and values. These groups include gender, ethnicity, social class, wealth, education, religion, career, and age as well as smaller groups based on factors such as hobbies, tastes, interests and of course families. Individual experiences Social groups experienced 1 st hand (e. g. profession, age, geographical location, family) Wider social and cultural influences (imagined communities) Make a list of all the different groups you belong to that influence your identity. – We are all influenced by many different social groups that both form and cut across cultures.

Summary • Cultural generalisations can provide a useful • • resource in intercultural communication Cultural generalisations must be utilised flexibly Cultures are not homogenous entities – individuals are not synonymous with cultures We all identify with and are indentified according to a range of social groups, which both form cultures and cut across them. Therefore, ‘cultural identities’ are difficult if not impossible to define