Russians and Americans. Senior Project

UDMURT STATE UNIVERSITY

VOTKINSK BRANCH

FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stereotypes.

Russians and Americans.

Senior Project

 

 

Irina Rasputina

English language

G.R. Ibragimova

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VOTKINSK 2010

Contents

 

Introduction………………………………………………………………..….3

Part I. Stereotypes……………………………………………………………..4

1. The term “stereotype”…………………………………………..4
2. Stereotypes in our life……………………………………….….8

Part II. Cultures and national stereotypes……………………………………10

           2.1. National stereotypes………………………………………….….10

          2.2. Stereotypes of America……………………………………….…12

           2.3. Stereotypes of Russia……………………………………………16

Conclusion………………………………………………….…………...…..19

Bibliography…………………………………………………………………20

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Introduction

 

There are many differences among people: race, ethnicity, nationality, gender; religion; social status; economic class; age; ability and  sexual orientation. And every country has its own culture. It shapes the way we see the world, others and ourselves. Most people think that the rules of their culture are just the way things are, and the way things should be. Our way of thinking and acting is natural and normal to us.

Misconceptions about different cultures often prevent people from understanding each other adequately. They create serious barriers in international relations that may result in alienation, stereotyping, and formation of enemy images. People become frustrated if their self-image does not coincide with the way they are seen by others.

Every culture has many different stereotypes about other cultures. A stereotype is a statement that simplifies human and social realities. It is a single quality that is said to belong to every member of a group. Stereotypes are based on incomplete or faulty information. They get in the way of knowing people as individuals and of understanding the world in a complex and sophisticated way. They can lead to serious misunderstandings.

The novelty of our work  is an analysis of Russian and American stereotypes about each other. We examine what affect these stereotypes has got on perception of nations of each other. Whether knowing these stereotypes imposes a wrong viewpoint.

The purpose of this project is to examine the most widespread stereotypes about Russians and Americans.

So we have the following tasks of this project:

1. To describe approaches of different scientists to define the term “stereotype”
2. To examine stereotypes of America
3. To examine stereotypes of Russian

Part I. Stereotypes

 

1.1 The term “stereotype”

A stereotype derives from the Greek words "stereo" + "týpos" = "solid impression"

It was invented by Firmin Didot in the world of printing; it was originally a duplicate impression of an original typographical element, used for printing instead of the original. American journalist Walter Lippmann coined the metaphor, calling a stereotype a "picture in our heads" saying, "Whether right or wrong (...) imagination is shaped by the pictures seen (...) originally printers' words, and in their literal printers' meanings were synonymous. Specifically, cliché was a French word for the printing surface for a stereotype [8, 315]. The first reference to "stereotype," in its modern, English use was in 1850, in the noun, meaning "image perpetuated without change."[10]

The term, in its modern psychology sense, was first used by Walter Lippmann in his 1922 work Public Opinion [9, 66] although in the printing sense it was first coined in 1798.

Stereotypes are simplified and/or standardized conceptions or images with specific meaning, often held in common by members of a group. A stereotype can be a conventional and oversimplified conception, opinion, or image. Stereotypes can range from those that are wildly inaccurate and negative to those that are more than a little bit true and may even shed positive light upon the group of individuals. They are typically generalizations based on minimal or limited knowledge about a group to which the person doing the stereotyping does not belong. Persons may be grouped based on race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or any number of other categories.

Sociologist Charles E. Hurst of the College of Wooster states that, “One reason for stereotypes is the lack of personal, concrete familiarity that individuals have with persons in other racial or ethnic groups. Lack of familiarity encourages the lumping together of unknown individuals” [5, 117].

Different disciplines give different accounts of how stereotypes develop: Psychologists focus on how experience with groups, patterns of communication about the groups, and intergroup conflict. Sociologists focus on the relations among groups and position of different groups in a social structure. Psychoanalytically-oriented humanists have argued (e.g., Sander Gilman) that stereotypes, by definition, are never accurate representations, but a projection of an individual's fears onto others, regardless of the reality of others. Although stereotypes are rarely entirely accurate, statistical studies have shown that in some cases stereotypes do represent measurable facts.

A number of theories have been derived from sociological studies of stereotyping and prejudicial thinking. In early studies it was believed that stereotypes were only used by rigid, repressed, and authoritarian people. Sociologists concluded that this was a result of conflict, poor parenting, and inadequate mental and emotional development. This idea has been overturned; more recent studies have concluded that stereotypes are commonplace.

One theory as to why people stereotype is that it is too difficult to take in all of the complexities of other people as individuals. Even though stereotyping is inexact, it is an efficient way to mentally organize large blocks of information. Categorization is an essential human capability because it enables us to simplify, predict, and organize our world. Once one has sorted and organized everyone into tidy categories, there is a human tendency to avoid processing new or unexpected information about each individual. Assigning general group characteristics to members of that group saves time and satisfies the need to predict the social world in a general sense.

Another theory is that people stereotype because of the need to feel good about oneself. Stereotypes protect one from anxiety and enhance self-esteem. By designating one's own group as the standard or normal group and assigning others to groups considered inferior or abnormal, it provides one with a sense of worth.

 

Some scientists believe that childhood influences are some of the most complex and influential factors in developing stereotypes. Though they can be absorbed at any age, stereotypes are usually acquired in early childhood under the influence of parents, teachers, peers, and the media. Once a stereotype is learned, it often becomes self-perpetuating.

According to the Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology [11], a stereotype is a way of representing and judging other people in fixed, unyielding terms. Stereotypes can revolve around a certain characteristic of the group of persons to which they are assigned. Generally, the persons of that group are reduced to being known and understood as the stereotype that results from this, rather than being viewed as individuals. Stereotypes refuse to recognize a distinction between an individual and the group to which he or she belongs. Stereotypes represent people entirely in terms of narrow assumptions about their biology, nationality, sexual orientation, disability, or any other number of categories.

Stereotypes can be based on:

• Historical factors
• Simplification
• Exaggeration
• Presentation of cultural attributes as being 'natural'
• Racism, sexism, homophobia and other forms of discrimination
• Association of persons with other groups
• Physical Disorders

Possible prejudicial effects of stereotypes are:

• Justification of ill-founded prejudices or ignorance
• Unwillingness to rethink one's attitudes and behavior towards stereotyped group
• Self-fulfilling prophecy for both stereotyping and stereotyped group (e.g. white people treat black people in a more hostile way because they are afraid of them; black people accordingly react more aggressively, thus confirming the stereotype)
• Preventing some people of stereotyped groups from succeeding in activities or fields

Stereotypes are not only part of the culture and identity of those groups who are stereotyped, but they are also part of the culture of those who recognize and utilize them for interpreting certain groups. Michael Pickering, professor of sociology at Loughborough University said, “Those who generate and perpetuate stereotypes of others are usually in positions of greater power and status than those who are stereotyped. Stereotypes not only define and place others as inferior, but also implicitly affirm and legitimate those who stereotype in their own position and identity.” Also, different cultures don't necessarily recognize the same stereotypes.

Stereotypes can have a negative and positive impact on individuals. Joshua Aronson and Claude M. Steele have done research on the psychological effects of stereotyping, particularly its effect on African Americans and women.[13, 102 ] They argue that psychological research has shown that competence is highly responsive to situation and interactions with others.[2, 85] They cite, for example, a study which found that bogus feedback to college students dramatically affected their IQ test performance, and another in which students were either praised as very smart, congratulated on their hard work, or told that they scored high. The group praised as smart performed significantly worse than the others. They believe that there is an 'innate ability bias'. These effects are not just limited to minority groups. Mathematically competent white males, mostly math and engineering students, were asked to take a difficult math test. One group was told that this was being done to determine why Asians were scoring better. This group performed significantly worse than the control group.[2, 58]

The effects of stereotyping can fluctuate, but for the most part they are negative, and not always apparent until long periods of time have passed. Over time, some victims of negative stereotypes display self-fulfilling prophecy behavior, in which they assume that the stereotype represents norms to emulate. Negative effects may include forming inaccurate opinions of people, scapegoating, erroneously judgmentalism, preventing emotional identification, distress, and impaired performance. Stereotyping painfully reminds those being judged of how society views them.

 

1.2. Stereotypes in our life

Stereotypes are a part of human life though they may present one sided, exaggerated and even prejudicial views of religious, racial, ethnic groups of people, as well as of classes of people. Nationality stereotypes are often described in anecdotes, humorous stories private diaries.

There are experimental ways of investigating stereotypes. One of the most obvious is to ask a group of people what traits characterize the Germans, the Italians, the Americans, and so forth. Result of such studies on the whole agree fairly well with what might have been expected; there is a considerable agreement between different people in any one nation regarding the most characteristic traits of other nations. The Germans for instance are regarded as scientifically minded and industrious by English and Americans alike; they are considered solid, intelligent, mathematical, extremely nationalistic, efficient and musical by the Americans, and arrogant, aggressive and over nationalistic by the English. Italians are regarded as artistic, impulsive, passionate, quick tempered, musical, religious, talkative, revengeful, lazy and unreliable by both.

Jews are believed to be shrewd, mercenary, industrious, intelligent loyal to family, grasping, ambitious, sly and persistent. They are also credited with being very religious. For Chinese, as one would have expected, are looked upon with more favour by English, who consider them industrious, courteous, meditative, intelligent and loyal to their families, then by the Americans, who consider them superstitious, sly, conservative, ignorant and deceitful. The French are sophisticated, talkative, artistic, passionate and witty, whereas the Russians are industrious, tough, suspicious, brave and progressive. The English consider themselves sportsmanlike, reserved, traditional loving, conventional and intelligent. Americans agree adding, however, that English are also sophisticated, courteous, honest, industrious, extremely nationalistic and humorless. The Americans consider themselves industrious, intelligent, materialistic, ambitious, progressive, pleasure loving, alert, efficient, straightforward, practical and sportsmanlike.

Stereotypes are one way in which we "define" the world in order to see it. They classify the infinite variety of human beings into a convenient handful of types towards whom we learn to act in a stereotyped fashion. Stereotypes economize on our mental effort by covering up the blooming, buzzing confusion with big recognizable cuts out. They save us the "trouble" of finding out what the world is like - they give it its accustomed look.

Thus the trouble is that stereotypes make us mental lazy.

Finally, we tend to stereotype because it helps us make sense out of a highly confusing world. It is curious fact that if we do not know what we are looking at, we are often quite literally unable to see what we are looking at. People who recover their sight after a lifetime of blindness actually cannot at first tell a triangle from a square. A visitor to a factory sees only noisy chaos where the superintendent sees a perfectly synchronized flow of work.

Stereotypes are a kind of a gossip about the world, a gossip that makes us prejudge people before we ever lay eyes on them. Hence, it is not surprising that stereotypes have something to do with the dark world of prejudice.

For it is extraordinary fact that once we have typecast of the world, we tend to see people in terms of our standardized pictures. In another demonstration of the power of stereotypes to affect our vision, a number of Columbia and Barnard students were shown 30 photographs of pretty but unidentified girls, and asked to rate each in terms of "general liking", "intelligence", "beauty" and so on. Two months later, the same group were shown the same photographs, this time with fictitious Irish, Italian, Jewish and  American names attached to the pictures. Right away, the ratings changed. Faces, which were now seen as representing a national group, went down in looks and still farther down in likability, while the "American" girls suddenly looked decidedly prettier and nicer.

Why is that we stereotype the world in such irrational and harmful fashion? In part, we begin to typecast people in our childhood years. Early in life, as every parent whose child has watched TV Western knows we learn to spot the Good Guys from the Bad Guys. Some years ago, a social psychologist showed very clearly how powerful these stereotypes of childhood vision are. He secretly asked the most popular youngsters in an elementary school to make errors in their morning exercises. Afterwards, he asked the class if anyone had noticed any mistakes during gym period. Oh, yes said the children. But it was the unpopular members of the class -the "bad guys".

We not only grow up with standardized pictures forming inside of us, but grown up, we are constantly having them thrust upon us. Some of them, like the half-joking, half-serious stereotypes of mother-in-law, or psychiatrists, are drummed into us by the stock jokes we hear and repeat. In fact, without such stereotypes, there would be a lot fewer jokes. Still other stereotypes are perpetrated by the advertisements we read, the movies we see, the books we read.

 

Part II. Cultures and national stereotypes

 

2.1. National stereotypes

A nation is a group of people who share common history and usually a language and usually, not always live at the same area. Culture can be described as our everyday life: how we communicate, what makes us happy and said. It also includes our language, religion, traditions, behavior, way of life - in other words, what we do each day. People that belong to various nations may differ and they always differ from one another. Proving the difference of the national stereotypes we decide to compare Russian and American nations.

The relations between Russia and America have always been difficult. Americans know very little about Russia, and very often we do not understand each other. Of course, Americans have lots of stereotypes about Russia, and in our course paper we will try to show the most widespread stereotypes.

 Americans are friendly, but only because they just can’t help it; they like to be neighbourly and want to be liked. But a few happy moments with an American do not translate into a permanent commitment of any kind. Indeed, permanent commitments are what Americans fear the most. This is nation whose most fundamental social relationship is the casual acquaintance. Americans are proud to be American, to be different from the world. A spirit of rugged individualism pervades virtually every aspect of American life. Individualism extends even to matters domestic: nearly one-third of American households consist of only one person.

Like every other nation, America knows that it’s the best country in the world. The difference is that Americans have proof: people from all over the globe make enormous sacrifices to come to the United States, often risking their lives in the process. I think that it will be very interesting to understand American nature (if it is possible).

When we meet people who are culturally different from us, they may seem strange to us. Russian culture, more than many others, emphasizes clear cultural norms, rules and scripts (what people should say). Many Russians expect others to conform to these social or cultural rules and freely correct those who “stray”. They may feel that they are being helpful and saving others from future trouble or embarrassment. Those Russians who have visited America have asked: “Why do Americans always smile?” ,”Why do they drink so much water?” ,”Why are many Americans fat?”. We judge them by the rules of our own culture. This is an universal human quality. We encounter people from dissimilar cultures and we find them somewhat strange. Americans who have visited Russia have asked: “Why do Russians never smile?”, “Why do they drink so much tea and eat so much soup?”, “Why are many Russians thin?”. They are seeing Russia through American cultural lenses. They are noticing ways in which Russians are different from Americans.

Russian and American cultures differ very much: Russian culture belongs to the eastern type and American to the western type; Americans are more matter-of-fact and business-like, they are more active, and they are not afraid of making severe life changes. Russians are more traditional, especially the way women make want to be treated by men; they are less tolerant of racial differences and of sexual orientation. American men are not expected to be as attentive as Russian men, Americans separate business and pleasure.

Our countries have many stereotypes about each other. Americans say that Russian people always on the make, there are large injustices in society (why are teachers paid so little and then expected to buy their own textbooks); Russians are emotional, prejudiced and xenophobic, and they do not have the sense of personal space (especially in public sphere: people stand much closer, pressing up against each other, pushing). But many Americans say that Russians are friendly, considerate and helpful and eager to get to know them better and learn more about our culture.

It is very interesing how the Americans see Russia. And in this work we will try to find out their attitude and to get to know where intercultural problems can occur.

 

2.2. Stereotypes of America

Why is it so difficult for us to understand each other? Are our natures,  characters and values very different? Why cannot we be as successful as Americans? In order to answer these questions let us learn American nature, see what values they have and what reasons of their success are.

 

American nature

 

• Americans are like children: noisy, curious, unable to keep a secret, not given to subtlety, and prone to misbehave in public.

Visitors may be overwhelmed by the sheer exuberant friendliness of Americans, especially in the central and southern parts of the country. However, a wise traveller realises that a few happy moments with an American do not translate into a permanent commitment of any kind. There is no such thing as a plain American. Every American is a hyphenated American.

• Americans are always in such a hurry to get things done.

Americans often seem this way because of their tendency to use achievements and accomplishments as a measure of a person’s worth. They are in a hurry to get things done because it is only then that they feel they have proven their worth to other people. The more Americans accomplish, the more they feel they are resprcted.

• Americans insist on treating everyone the same.

Americans do this because of our cultural roots as a free nation. Americans have a deep cultural instinct toward social quality and not having a class system. This is a reaction to the European class system as well as the feudal system that existed in Europe. In cultures where inequality between social classes is more accepted, American insistence on egalitarianism, or social equality, may be annoying.