Qatar Culture Club: Stereotyping

Stereotyping is something that all individuals do on a daily basis, whether consciously or subconsciously. A stereotype is an inaccurate generalization about a person or a group of people, and can be both positive and negative.

People always associate certain races with things like music, sports, fashion, wealth, food, jobs, and many other facets of life. However it’s not true, because all individuals are capable of being associated with each of these things. All of us have been socialized into thinking that certain races are either good at something or bad at something. But we never pause to think about whether an individual belonging to a particular race has chosen to assume a certain role, or whether the person was forced into it, or whether it was by mere chance.

Television plays a huge role in socializing the way in which we interpret race, ethnicity and culture. Movies and TV shows are the mediums that greatly influence how we generalize people. Shows such as “Everybody Hates Chris” and “Everybody Loves Raymond” portray the contrast between a Black-American family living in a “ghetto” neighborhood and a White-American family living in the suburbs. “Everybody Hates Chris” shows how a 16-year-old Black-American has to attend an all-white school, and how he gets picked on and bullied. This makes viewers interpret that all Black American people live in the ‘ghetto’ and that all white people are prejudiced towards them. “Everybody Loves Raymond” is about an Italian-American family living in a suburban neighborhood and addresses issues that white families usually encounter. This makes viewers interpret that all white people live in fancy houses and face a lot of family issues.

Although these shows address stereotypical ideas, the contrast between both these shows highlights the systems of racial and ethical classification. In Sociology this is a way of dividing people into ethnic or racial categories and ranking them on a scale of social worth. Generally Black or African-Americans are viewed as being part of gangs or as criminals, but this is not true at all. What about the Black or African Americans who have worked hard and are doing well for themselves and their families? Not many people have this view in minds.

In Doha, we usually associate South Asian men with labor class jobs, and East Asian women with jobs in retail or grocery stores and fast food restaurants. This is not true for all South Asian men and East Asian women in Doha. But do we know whether they chose these jobs for themselves? We just take it for granted that they all work these jobs, and yet we do not consider why.