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The racial stereotype is often the belief that people from a particular human group have the same characteristics and these beliefs often tend to be negative. Racism is a very familiar topic in the US. The issues regarding the history of slavery as well as the current rising displeasure against immigrants are also quite well known. Normally racism tends to manifest itself through so many ways including affirmative action, police brutality, and constant racial profiling.at the moment, racism in the US has not been eradicated, of course, it is not as bad and obvious as it was in the previous years but it is still there today.
The fight to eradicate racism is still ongoing and not ending any time soon because this is just one of those issues that takes a quite a long time to completely go away and the results not seen in an instant. It takes progress slowly, but with time the US will surely get there and get to call itself a racism-free state.
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Most of the time the effects of racism breed up low self-esteem in an individual. Human beings tend to examine everything they come across. From the evaluation, individuals gain insight and the direction on how to relate with people. Stereotypes are usually the cognitive structures containing the perceivers' expectations, beliefs, and knowledge of the different human groups that exist (Neff, 2011). These type of logic constructs are often created from a point of truth then severely distorted beyond reality.
Recently, low self-esteem has been the constantly given explanation for the raging rise of the youth’s involvement in a lot of violent and criminal activities to the exhibition of racist behavior and their personal failures among other social and personal problems they may be having (Bigler, et al, 2006).
According to psychologists, who has thoroughly studied the topic, racism is normally about real power, it is usually not just something that individuals arbitrarily think about. Racism is a social issue that is quite complex and tends to be so multilayered. It is affected by factors like economics, dominations, and political power issues. On the other hand, it is also affected by the way different people perceive themselves, interpret and value the registered differences. The reality is people will act in accordance with their perceptions. These actions will be aligned with the way they were raised or the way these actions are real to them (Bigler, et al, 2006).
Most racial groups tend to have characteristics that are only distinct to them and this is a well-known fact. However, it is sad that people only tend to dwell on the negative attributes and totally ignore the positive attribute. Humans tend to be stereotypic on issues they hold so much close value for. In the case where a certain group values intellect (Walton, 2003), they will tend to be so quick in seeing another group as low and inferior in terms of intelligence. Another example is when a certain group values loyalty, they will be fast in labeling another group as disloyal. This behavior is a depiction that racism is just a way to make racists feel a little better about themselves and the racial groups they are affiliated to when they make comparisons with the other groups since they feel this is what gives them a sense of identity. Usually, people tend to feel better about themselves and the groups they are in when their opinions are aligned. Interestingly, everyone has the perception that their racial group is so much better than the others making them overestimate the attributes of the group. However, when its time to deal with the negative attribute, they underestimate them.
Humans will always find themselves labeling people in the good or bad, friend or enemy group. This generalized labeling technique is seen as a convenient and simple way to help an individual cope with the day and move through it peacefully with the ability to make decisions so fast and easily. People who are subjected to these types of groups especially the negative aspects of it; bad an enemy, go through life full of anxiety. When human beings are subjected to anything that makes them feel anxious, they tend to refrain from encountering it ever again. this will, therefore, make the individual avoid contact with the racial group that is subjecting them to anxiety. For example, an individual will just be forced not to hire someone qualified for a job because of the role their racial group has played in evoking the employer’s anxiety. Someone may also just prefer not to sit on a particular table maybe for lunch because they feel uncomfortable with that racial group who do not seem like them in every aspect.
in the US ethnic-racial discrimination of individuals has resulted in an increase in the number of overweight and obesity cases. Hispanics and African Americans are at more risk of developing obesity compared to the other white non-Hispanics. Obesity and overweight are closely linked to chronic illnesses like diabetes and heart disease. The rise in the number of this death could stem from obesity brought by ethnic-racial profiling. A person subjected to racial stereotype may have their psychological resources like self-esteem depleted, a major role player into a person obese and overweight. low self-esteem will cause an individual to be socially awkward depriving them of the chance to socialize. This will lead one to be so much into the virtual world where they feel they can live their life more happily. This world of technology causes not to engage in any sought of exercise and thereby turning into a couch potato. Lack of burning out calories causes them to build up to abnormal levels making it one to be overweight and finally obese. Obesity will, therefore, make one’s self-esteem to gradually reduce because the constant feeling of being mocked due to one’s weights is always lingering robing them of the confidence they need to live within the world.
Conformity to a different culture is usually a difficult thing to have to go through. When racial stereotypes are predominant in a place, individuals tend to go out of their way to try and prove that the negative stereotype people have on their racial group is not true. One's self-esteem is usually tested so much that it can cause them to conform to the perception people have. the ability to conform to the said allegation may eventually bring the self-esteem that one needs to achieve a certain fulfillment. For example, the perception that people have that Asians can not drive is a racial stereotype. Therefore, if an Asian is constantly subjected to this by the other racial groups he or she surrounds themselves with, they may just confirm an say they don’t know how to drive even if they know how to, so that they are not subjected to having to defend themselves each and every time on how they know how to drive.
Inability to give the maximum output in the workplace can rise due to low self-esteem that comes up due to racial stereotypes. A workplace is always a place where an individual is expected to deliver their optimum potential so as to ensure the company thrives in whatever they are set to achieve. This, however, can be impossible when s individual posses low self-esteem due to the racial stereotype that may be exercised on them. The idea that a group of people is way more intelligent than others can make one shy away from exploring certain topics that they would actually turn out to be good at in the long run if they could have only given it a shot in the first place. The feel of inadequacy that stems from racial discrimination makes it extremely difficult since one is constantly battling questions in their head because of the compromised self-esteem to be willing to take up certain tasks.
Most personal failures sometimes stem from a point of lack of self-esteem that may have been instilled in one’s mind through racial stereotypes. The more a person probably tries to make an effort in their life to move forward, they end up failing massively. For example, the fact that Latinas are lazy and do not like to work is a stereotype that has gone on for so long in the century. This has led to so many Hispanics having a hard time in securing better jobs that requires commitment, dedication and hard work with better pay. When one wants to make a step-in life and seen this type of opportunity ready to take it, they lack the needed self-esteem to put themselves out there for that chance and even if they do, convincing the employers with the already set out perception regarding this group of people is yet another problem in totality. The employer, of course, wants an individual who will deliver, and given the stereotype going on, he or she may not want to risk his or her business by giving them a chance with this constant thought always lingering un their mind.
Several studies have been done on the effect of racial stereotype on violence conducted by young people throughout the US (Nadal. et al, 2014), one thing that remains clear is that the youth who tend to engage in these criminal activities tend to have an issue with their self-esteem caused by ethnic-racial stereotype. Low, as well as high self-esteem, is attributed to violence and criminal activities. when the minority are stereotyped they tend to bottle up a lot inside due to low self-esteem, especially the African American community, and when they have had enough of it all, they just explode at ones and get themselves engaging in violent acts that would rather have been evaded if the stereotypes were not there in the first place. On the other hand, most of the young white people are so full of confidence making them have very high self-esteem that may turn out to be a curse in disguise. White people are stereotyped to be having so much power and can do as they please, with this, young white people may engage in violent and criminal acts because they know in the long run there is a high possibility of getting away with it. This sense of entitlement breeds an alarmingly high self-esteem that does not benefit anyone in the long run.
Racial stereotypes most of the time breeds the need to be overly cautious. Individuals who are stereotyped cannot go on with their lives happily when they know they will be judged in one or another because of coming from a particular group of people. This, therefore, makes on to be overly cautious in life due to the weak self-esteem that has been inculcated in them by the stereotypes. It also makes it even harder for them to practice their culture without having to constantly worry about how they will be stereotyped against. On the other hand, some people tend to lose all the caution the world and live their life the way they want to. Some psychologists see this as the need to prove to the society that they are not like the other people from their racial group. This, therefore, messes up with self-esteem to the point of going out of their way to prove a point. For example in the world of athletics, many black people have been overrepresented in the media as public figures. This has caused so much pressure on some of them wanting to constantly prove that they are the best and that they are able to achieve what some of the people in their racial group could not be able to achieve (Awad, 2007) making them to use dubious methods like doping.
Racial stereotypes help people good about themselves without wanting the opportunity to challenge one’s own line of thinking. They are always so comfortable, protective and defensive of their perceptions and reluctantly question their type of thoughts. This helps in protecting their self-esteem and also the privileges they have a racial group. An example is in the number of slots available for the minority groups in the US universities. This has given the majority population an advantage because they have more slots for their racial group. Ethnic-racial discrimination, therefore, has a huge role to play increasing the self-esteem of the majority by oppressing the minority with unfair social practices that only benefits them
It is very important for people to accurately gauge the level of prejudice and nature of a stereotype on a group of people before accepting them as the gospel truth. Discovering how these stereotypes came to be should be done so as to make an intervention in the problem that is being spread (Bigler, et al, 2006). It is essential for people to be given the relevant information that can be able to challenge stereotypes in the society due to the negative effects it is capable of bringing to individuals.thorough education of people of inaccurate stereotypes is the way to go if this menace is to be cubbed.organisations of people of the different races in groups by schools,agencies and churches is proper so as to discuss the racial stereotypes and come up with possible solutions in discarding the racial stereotypes. This helps individuals to reassess their own prejudices and cause a change within themselves since, some people do this due to habit, ignorance, and fear and not necessarily for maliciousness. This change in people’s behavior will definitely bring familiarity with these individuals. This eventually leads to knowing a person more and realizing that at the end of the day people have different personalities and not all are typical for all of them based on a particular social group.
Racial Stereotype Effect on Self-Esteem. (2024, Jan 24). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/racial-stereotype-effect-on-self-esteem-essay
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