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We look at certain factors that have huge impacts on people in their everyday life and one
of those key factors is stereotypes. Stereotypes can be influenced by anything and anywhere, it
doesn’t relate to one group of people, place, or thing. Stereotyping can occur very easily,
sometimes people are unaware that they maybe be actively stereotyping and realize they made a
mistake, or some people do have the intent to stereotype, and they are aware. Stereotypes can
range from age, sex, culture, of course this is environmental because what we see and hear can
affect our output on certain aspects of others. Correlates with relative deprivation, which is based
on equalities, thoughts, and emotions. Relative deprivation can affect people differently have
comparing themselves to others or thinking that “oh this person is happier because they more
money than I do” or feelings such as discontent and not able to do much with their lives because
of outside factors. Can lead to self-categorization and social identification issues, this is a social
phenomenon that triggers health, wealth, and overall well-being of a person. People tend to stick
with certain aspects they have in their lives with others that may share the same thing, we look at
intergroup relations and intergroup conflict. The idea behind those two factors is prejudice, this
can be seen in both groups, whether it be over status or power. Social identity and self-esteem
with the younger generation starts with implications of their life already. Younger generations are
still trying to figure their self out, all the while their self-esteem is based on what the outside
world makes of them.
Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination
Stereotypes are based on age, gender, and culture, this is a linked to associations that
people have in their minds. Whether it be traits, characteristics, and social class falls into that
category. Prejudice falls into that category as well by people making assumptions based on social
groups that others may fall into to. Whereas stereotypes concern associations or beliefs and
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prejudice concerns feelings, discrimination concerns behaviors—specifically, negative behaviors
directed against persons because of their membership in a particular group (Kassin el al 2021).
All this is linked together but these factors can be used on their own, meaning you can stereotype
someone without being prejudice and vice versa. As the years go by there has been a drop in
stereotyping and prejudice tendencies, that’s because the world has become more inclusive than
it was years ago. Modern racism, a subtle form of prejudice that tends to surface when it is safe,
socially acceptable, or easy to rationalize (Kassin el al 2021). Even though the world has become
more inclusive with these behaviors there is always still subtle prejudice that happens. People
want to give everybody a fair chance, they don’t want to jump to conclusions, but the situation
still makes people feel uncomfortable and clouded with their thoughts. People still are classified,
as perceivers, we routinely sort each other into groups based on gender, race, age, and other
common attributes in a process called social categorization (Kassin el al 2021). Even though
there are groups but not everyone falls under the same group, people just assumed only 1 group
for certain aspects of social categorization. There are several groups, and each one has its own
factors. Over the years there has been groups of people trying to end prejudice and
discrimination, they are called activist. These people fight for social equality and rights, some
people don’t want any part of that and keep to themselves. We instead examined the possibility
that individuals resist social change because they have negative stereotypes of activists, the
agents of social change (Bashir el al 2013). Some activists are extreme which turns people away
from the cause, in return people are not accepting of the cause and sees them has a nuisance and
will associate with the people that fall under that social group. In general people want to support
these activists and what they stand for, understanding which groups do what is a very important
understanding to have when supporting them. Unfortunately, however, the very nature of
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activism leads to negative stereotyping: By aggressively promoting change and advocating
unconventional practices, activists become associated with hostile militancy and
unconventionality or eccentricity (Bashir el al 2013). This holds true today when people talk
about peaceful protesting and violent protesting. A lot of people have negative thoughts on those
two factors because people will often associate violence protest with certain social groups.
Really it boils down to the cause of the protest and not the protesters, its true certain causes can
be seen as militant and unconventional.
Social Categorization/ Self-Esteem
As people we tend to sway to certain groups and people we relate to, not only that but as
people we put ourselves into certain categories and find it socially acceptable to be labeled as
such. Social categorization matters because it helps us navigate a social world marked by group
distinctions and hierarchies, but also because it underlies harmful social stereotypes (Chadee
2022). Social categorization is a double edge sword, one because it helps people with place
themselves in the world but also harms people based on that social group. Social categorization
is useful in terms of profession like doctors, lawyers, and political figures. The harmful ones are
related to negative stereotypes and misinformation about that group. Salience, in this case, is the
degree to which a group membership shapes social perception and behavior in each situation
(Oakes, 1987), and the extent to which group members perceive themselves as like other
members of their own group, and as dissimilar to members of other groups (Chadee 2022). This
doesn’t only apply to age, gender, race; this applies to any type of need for someone to socially
categorize themselves. Meaning hobbies, activities, music, the list goes on, if the presence and
need is there for a social belonging there will always be categorization. With the younger
generation it might be harder to find a group to fit into, as the world has changed and more
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groups have formed. This falls into social identity, how does a person want to be seen in this
setting. In young people music plays a prominent role in defining social identity, and so a
relationship between music preference and self-esteem is expected but is yet unconfirmed by the
literature (Shepherd & Sigg 2015). Music is one of the biggest categorizations and self-identity
out there, music is what defines us as a person. Music lets out our thoughts and emotions that
normally people wouldn’t be able to do. Music can boost one’s self-esteem by connecting them
to their own desires and emotions, a lot of young people find that comforting as well as relatable.
For adolescents, and young adults especially, there is often genuine and meaningful
categorization of ingroups and outgroups along the lines of music preference (Shepherd & Sigg
2015). Meaning that for some who likes country music, and they go to a concert find friends that
categorizes them as the ingroup because they like the same band or music style. That
automatically heightens one’s self-esteem to be included in a group where you can contribute to
that group and cause.
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References
Bashir, N., Lockwood, P., Chasteen, A. L., Nadolny, D., & Noyes, I. (2013). The ironic impact of
activists: negative stereotypes reduce social change influence. European Journal of Social
Psychology, 43(7), 614-626. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.1983
Malle, B. F. (2022). Interdependence in Social Interaction. In Chadee, D (Ed),
Theories in Social Psychology (2nd ed., pp 250–270). Wiley Blackwell.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00224545.2019.1596058
Kassin, S., Fein, S., & Markus, H. R. (2023). Social psychology (11th ed.). Cengage
Learning US. https://mbsdirect.vitalsource.com/books/9798214352909
Shepherd, D., & Sigg, N. (2015). Music Preference, Social Identity, and Self-Esteem. Music
Perception: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 32(5), 507–514.
https://doi.org/10.1525/mp.2015.32.5.507
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