Sunday, October 01, 2006
How "accurate" are racist stereotypes?
We've all heard generalisations about the rude and ruthless Mainland Chinese. Or the miserly Jews who want to take over everything. Or the lazy and rebellious French. Or the violent Africans. Most people just rattle them off as truisms and make such generalisations about entire races of people. Other supposedly "right" thinking people condemn such generalisations as racism without exploring the stereotypes further.
Of the latter group, one question that they do not appear to ask is whether there may be any truth to such stereotypes.
Let me first state my basic position. Based on my own experience, as well as conversations with lots of people (including many who are highly educated and would normally condemn racism, but would at the same time subscribe to the same stereotypes), I suspect that these stereotypes (as well as many others about other ethnic groups not listed here) probably carry a grain (or more) of truth.
There are three main grounds in support of my opinion. First, basic logic tells me that there is no smoke without fire.
Wait, I hear you say. Aren't racial prejudices founded on people's lack of understanding and interaction with another race? Yes, that is true to some extent. That brings me to the second reason, namely that the prejudices must have came first from people who did have interaction with the race about which a stereotype becomes established. If no one had dealt with that race, then one would not even be aware of its existence, let alone hold a prejudice. I and others I know seem to have found that interacting with a foreign race reinforces prejudices as often as it dispels them.
Now I can really hear you call me a bigoted redneck. But before you start coming to my home and lynch me and my family, let me explain my third and most fundamental reason for my suspicion that racial stereotypes may be justifiable (as opposed to justified). I think that stereotypes are a result of a particular race of people having experienced a particular history and not, obviously, because it is somehow inherent in a race's skin colour or other characteristics. The history drives them to particular behavioural tendencies.
In short, the main issue with racial stereotypes is not that they are necessarily false and bigoted, but rather that people forget to ask the question "would people of another race other than that which a stereotype has gained currency, or even my own, display the same stereotypical tendencies if they/we went through what that stereotyped group went through?" I think the answer in the case of each stereotype would be "yes". But to reach that conclusion requires reading up on the history of a racial group. Most people are too lazy to do that. In any event, it is always easier (and, alas, lazier) to look at a skin colour or hear a particular accent than to consult a history book or documentary.
Thus, it may be said that racial stereotypes are not necessarily inaccurate in terms of the traits identified. Rather, they are inaccurate in that the traits are linked to a race per se without further consideration, and not its history.
It would be beyond the scope of this blog for me to start analysing each and every racial stereotype. However, to illustrate the points I made earlier, let me use two examples:
1. Mainland Chinese people are rude and ruthless: for my own part, this stereotype has been reinforced too many times, both in work and in leisure and in social interactions. I know of many others with similar "war stories". From that perspective, the stereotype might be thought of as "accurate" at least in part. But that is also misleading. However:
(a) These people are not rude and ruthless because they are Mainland Chinese. These people are rude and ruthless because they are survivors of, amongst a litany of other disasters, the Communist Cultural Revolution of 1966-1976. Without descending into details of Chinese history, it is generally well known as a period when everyone was encouraged or forced to engage in political and personal struggles against each other, even one's own family and friends. It was also a period when education and literacy were shunned and shamed, and everyone was sent to a commune remote from their homes to take up hard labour (dressed up as "learning about the way peasants live").
(b) So everyone who lived through that period knew, participated in and/or were victims of violence. Worse, those who had their formative years during that period were left totally uneducated. These people grew up with no education in literacy, manners and values apart from that of survival of the fittest, and they now have children and have passed on the only thing(s) they know to them.
(c) Is it any wonder that these people have tendencies to be rude and ruthless? Would non-Mainland Chinese facing similar such experiences carry similar tendencies? The answer must be a resounding "yes". One only needs to note the fact other racial groups with similar reputations, such as the Cambodians, also had similar histories to that of Mainland Chinese people.
2. Jews are miserly and want to take over everything: on the miserly front, there are probably enough "war stories" around for me not to need to elaborate further. As for the "wanting to take over everything" part, that may be a simple conclusion to draw if one considers the dominance of Jews in many walks of life, including finance, law, music, arts, science, philosophy, etc. But if one is part of a group that is constantly persecuted and shunned, wouldn't one want to save up a penny or two in case one needs to leave one's home and set up shop somewhere else? And, as a preventive measure against being evicted and possibly killed, would one not wish to ensure that one and one's associates excel in all walks of life so as to become (hopefully) indispensable in one's own homeland? Again, the stereotypes are accurate but not because these people are Jews per se. They are accurate because these are the traits that one would expect from a group of people with such a history. Look no further than similar stereotypes being attached to Chinese in places like Indonesia and Malaysia (which shared similarities with the history of Jews in Europe) and my point gains further currency.
All of this sound very un-politically correct or far fetched? Well I don't think so. After all, it is not that different to progressive activists in the west suggesting (rightly) that the history of the Middle East has been such that suicide bombing activities are understandable, and that anyone else in that state might do the same.
Of the latter group, one question that they do not appear to ask is whether there may be any truth to such stereotypes.
Let me first state my basic position. Based on my own experience, as well as conversations with lots of people (including many who are highly educated and would normally condemn racism, but would at the same time subscribe to the same stereotypes), I suspect that these stereotypes (as well as many others about other ethnic groups not listed here) probably carry a grain (or more) of truth.
There are three main grounds in support of my opinion. First, basic logic tells me that there is no smoke without fire.
Wait, I hear you say. Aren't racial prejudices founded on people's lack of understanding and interaction with another race? Yes, that is true to some extent. That brings me to the second reason, namely that the prejudices must have came first from people who did have interaction with the race about which a stereotype becomes established. If no one had dealt with that race, then one would not even be aware of its existence, let alone hold a prejudice. I and others I know seem to have found that interacting with a foreign race reinforces prejudices as often as it dispels them.
Now I can really hear you call me a bigoted redneck. But before you start coming to my home and lynch me and my family, let me explain my third and most fundamental reason for my suspicion that racial stereotypes may be justifiable (as opposed to justified). I think that stereotypes are a result of a particular race of people having experienced a particular history and not, obviously, because it is somehow inherent in a race's skin colour or other characteristics. The history drives them to particular behavioural tendencies.
In short, the main issue with racial stereotypes is not that they are necessarily false and bigoted, but rather that people forget to ask the question "would people of another race other than that which a stereotype has gained currency, or even my own, display the same stereotypical tendencies if they/we went through what that stereotyped group went through?" I think the answer in the case of each stereotype would be "yes". But to reach that conclusion requires reading up on the history of a racial group. Most people are too lazy to do that. In any event, it is always easier (and, alas, lazier) to look at a skin colour or hear a particular accent than to consult a history book or documentary.
Thus, it may be said that racial stereotypes are not necessarily inaccurate in terms of the traits identified. Rather, they are inaccurate in that the traits are linked to a race per se without further consideration, and not its history.
It would be beyond the scope of this blog for me to start analysing each and every racial stereotype. However, to illustrate the points I made earlier, let me use two examples:
1. Mainland Chinese people are rude and ruthless: for my own part, this stereotype has been reinforced too many times, both in work and in leisure and in social interactions. I know of many others with similar "war stories". From that perspective, the stereotype might be thought of as "accurate" at least in part. But that is also misleading. However:
(a) These people are not rude and ruthless because they are Mainland Chinese. These people are rude and ruthless because they are survivors of, amongst a litany of other disasters, the Communist Cultural Revolution of 1966-1976. Without descending into details of Chinese history, it is generally well known as a period when everyone was encouraged or forced to engage in political and personal struggles against each other, even one's own family and friends. It was also a period when education and literacy were shunned and shamed, and everyone was sent to a commune remote from their homes to take up hard labour (dressed up as "learning about the way peasants live").
(b) So everyone who lived through that period knew, participated in and/or were victims of violence. Worse, those who had their formative years during that period were left totally uneducated. These people grew up with no education in literacy, manners and values apart from that of survival of the fittest, and they now have children and have passed on the only thing(s) they know to them.
(c) Is it any wonder that these people have tendencies to be rude and ruthless? Would non-Mainland Chinese facing similar such experiences carry similar tendencies? The answer must be a resounding "yes". One only needs to note the fact other racial groups with similar reputations, such as the Cambodians, also had similar histories to that of Mainland Chinese people.
2. Jews are miserly and want to take over everything: on the miserly front, there are probably enough "war stories" around for me not to need to elaborate further. As for the "wanting to take over everything" part, that may be a simple conclusion to draw if one considers the dominance of Jews in many walks of life, including finance, law, music, arts, science, philosophy, etc. But if one is part of a group that is constantly persecuted and shunned, wouldn't one want to save up a penny or two in case one needs to leave one's home and set up shop somewhere else? And, as a preventive measure against being evicted and possibly killed, would one not wish to ensure that one and one's associates excel in all walks of life so as to become (hopefully) indispensable in one's own homeland? Again, the stereotypes are accurate but not because these people are Jews per se. They are accurate because these are the traits that one would expect from a group of people with such a history. Look no further than similar stereotypes being attached to Chinese in places like Indonesia and Malaysia (which shared similarities with the history of Jews in Europe) and my point gains further currency.
All of this sound very un-politically correct or far fetched? Well I don't think so. After all, it is not that different to progressive activists in the west suggesting (rightly) that the history of the Middle East has been such that suicide bombing activities are understandable, and that anyone else in that state might do the same.
# posted by Damaskinos @ 5:20 pm 
