British+stereotypes

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=British stereotypes= = =

How do different British stereotypes influence the way we see Britons?
If you think of a stereotype, you instantly focus on what it describes. The images you create are then used to recognize both populations and countries, and the stereotype is used as a basic layer to gather information. So, the stereotypes often make the first impression of (for instance) a country. The knowledge is important as it also can give you the will to find out more about the country. This is both positive and negative, because the population is also exposed, which brings us to the question: How do different stereotypes influence the way we see Britons? The British stereotypes influence our vision upon the Britons, by giving us an idea of how they act or behave as human beings. However, some of the allegations are true, but the majority of stereotypes are created as a product of our own imagination. This is why we have to consider whether to believe in the stories or not, and also figure out where these stereotypes origin and why they were made. Stereotypes in general presents a population in a “typical” point of view, as the statements are based on what we know about their society, or what the rest of the world believes.

A stereotype is a mental picture of a population, where the population is stereotyped because of a common quality. In this context the mental picture doesn’t only affect us, the creators of the stereotypes, but also the Britons. Some stereotypes are in a way meant to be funny, as long as you know which ones are true and not. Otherwise, the stereotyped people sometimes become victims of stereotypes held by others, which are looked upon as unfair statements. This common quality is often a “frozen picture” of how the population once where, but on the other hand (as mentioned) it is also a small connection to a country, which sometimes is needed.
 * A mental picture**

When you are focusing on stereotypes, the aim should be for the positive side, where the “British picture” basically is a picture of structure. The positive half of the British stereotypes says that Britons are intellectual and cultural, which comes down to their structure. Britons are for instance assumed to have a strict queue system, which is a simple statement, but still show a positive and wealthy side of the British people. These positive stereotypes are quite uncomplicated, but still they got their charm, which is more then enough to be a convincible fact. If the stereotypes generally mean no harm, the positive side should be enlightened, and the Britons would appear polite and structural.

The positive stereotypes are not always the majority of our allegations. Even though the British people are stereotyped as structured, there are simple ways of over exaggerating the fact, which is an attempt of ruining the British picture. The reasons for outcomes like this are many, as they could vary all the way from incompetence to jealousy, which makes the stereotypes tell a rather different story. The intellectual, cultural and structured Briton is turned into an arrogant, cold and humorless monster. Unfair statements like these are frustrating but the Britons are not alone. Even though the British people are victims in this context, all stereotypes (at least the negative ones) share the same structure. Bad stereotypes are made because it is obviously easier to find the weak sides of a society.
 * Two sides, but necessary**

Without stereotypes, the world would have lost a rather big part of the bonding between populations, as these create the founding of our knowledge. By stating that stereotypes are bad, and created to harm people, we certainly miss the point. It is still wrong to conclude that stereotypes are positive, but they are not just negative either. However, the solution is not to remove the stereotypes (which is only imaginary, as we would never be able to go through with such a procedure), but in a way complete them. The effort should not be put into the work against the stereotypes, but rather help others to open their eyes, and add new information.

The stereotypes affect us because not everyone is able to tell why we got these in the first place. Most stereotypes are actually cultural facts, and really give information about what the stereotypes describe. Although most stereotypes give us this advantage,others are getting too old. Like the rest of the world, the British society is developing, andthere are important changes which influence the value of the stereotypes. They are mainly based on traditions, memorable objects and what the country is known for. This is why we have to consider what we know about Britain, before we judge their way of living out of the stereotypes.

The text is based on reflections upon read literature/ article summaries: “The Psychology of Stereotyping”, by [|David J. Schneider] ”Breaking Away From Subtle Biases”, by J. William Breslin “[|Misperception]”, by Paul Wehr
 * Sources:**

Why do we see the Britons the way we do? Why do we have the stereotypes that we have, and are they by any means true?
 All over the world people have stereotyped all kinds of people and the Britons are no expeption.Some of the things the Britons are stereotyped with is that they are **old fashioned**. All they do is to drink tea and eat crumpets acting all **snobby** with their posh and broad accentsand worship their beloved queen. But why do we see the Britons the way we do? Why do we have the stereotypes that we have, and are they by any means true?

**Stereotypes - simplified conceptions of groups** The main reason for why we see Britons the way we do is because of the stereotypes we have made up in our minds. We have made up a commonly held brief about how every single individual in a social group act and behave as human beings. For instance are the Britons stereotyped as extremely **polite ** and their main priority is their afternoon tea. Further are they stereotyped as people spending their entire spare time playing cricket and **ascot. ** But is it really that way? Does this refer to every Briton?

Hardly not, but of course it refers to some people. As earlier mentioned Britons are stereotyped as snobby with posh and broad accents, but another important point is that according to an **[|article] **  on Daily Mail’s website (source: Daily Mail), Britons are considered as Europe’s worst behaved tourists. Hoteliers also named Britons as the messiest, most complaining and worst tippers among tourists. Many Britons, especially the younger generation get arrested for drunk and assault and vandalism.If you set that against the tea and crumpets and their snobby and proper way of living,there is something that is not quite right. However, this does not mean that everyBriton act that way, but it tells us a bit about whether we should believe if the stereotypes are true or not.

All over the world people have stereotyped all kinds of nations. Stereotypes exist because of human beings natural tendency to classify things. We can hold lots of information about a particular person, but when it is a mass of people we tend to group them all together, and make the information concise, that way we can handle it more efficiently. Stereotypes in general present a population in a “typical” point of view, as the statements are based on people’s knowledge about the society, believes and expectancies, in which a lot of the allegations come from the media and how the media present famous personalities.  In modern society, the form by which most stereotypes are transmitted by is though the mass media that can be everything from television and movies to newspapers and literature. Having bad teeth, for instance, is one allegation that is often used to describe a typical Briton. British celebrities like The Oasis star, Noel Gallagher and Hugh Grant are some of the British celebrities who are presented as people with bad teeth, which could be one of the reasons for why Britons are being stereotyped with bad teeth.
 * Influences **

Britons are also connected with being smart. That could be because of their posh and broad accents that sound more sophisticated and refined <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> than most languages. The allegation can also be connected with the large number of well known British inventors and scientists. Sir Issac Newton, for instance, got hit by an apple and discovered gravity forces. He is now one of the greatest scientists the world has ever known. This way we are given a picture of how some Britons act, and it automatically classifies all Britons in one group. <span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; msoansilanguage: EN-US; msobidifontfamily: 'Times New Roman';"> The way various social groups are stereotyped play a significant role in the social disintegration that can cause misunderstandings. Media images are especially powerful because visual messages are products of our sense of sight, not our cognition. When certain British individuals, especially famous personalities, appear as only old-fashioned or having bad teeth, it’s easy to forget the rest of the majority of the people, regardless of how the media present a certain social group.

No matter how you look at it, stereotypes are practically inevitable. Where ever you go in this world people have made up their minds of how a specific social group or types of individuals act or behave. Moststereotypes are based on cultural facts, what is said in the media and the way most famous personalities are made to look. That way it is easy to classify people. However, not every statement and allegation that is defined about the Britons are true. Being snobby is a typical allegation about the Britons, which is connected with how people find Britons form the media and so on, but that does not change the facts on how it is in the reality. Furthermore could having bad teeth just be a myth, but the fact that they’re old fashioned and cultural could be true with view to the fact that the Britons like sticking to their old traditions, it’s a part of their culture. However, as the Briton Harold Evans once said“Attempting to get at truth means rejecting stereotypes and clichés” (source: quote)


 * Sources:**

Daily Mail: <span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; msoansilanguage: EN-US; msobidifontfamily: 'Times New Roman';">[] Quote: <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; msoansilanguage: EN-US; msoasciithemefont: minor-latin; msobidifontfamily: 'Times New Roman'; msohansithemefont: minor-latin;">[]

The text is based on reflections and ideas from: "[|Stereotypes and Prejudice]", by [|Charles Stangor] "The Psychology of Stereotyping", by [|David J. Schneider] "[|Stereotypes, Cognition and Culture]", by Perry Roy Hinton