Sistiadinita Satria

AECP Advanced 1 RW

Kim Chamberlain

05/03/2011

Final Draft: “Harm and Good of Stereotype”

“Don’t judge the book by its cover.” When people go to the book store and try to find some

books, they usually have already had some opinions and suggestions about what books they are

going to buy. Their decisions really depend on what people say about the books. Others will take a

look at their outlook like the covers, pictures, colors, titles, or authors. Meanwhile, the rest will

figure out what topic they find interesting and explore it by themselves without considering their

covers and others’ opinion about it. Those cases similarly happen with stereotype. What is

stereotype? Based on an online source, it is believed that “A stereotype is a generalization of one

thing. Anything can be stereotyped.” (Chan). Why people stereotype and how people look at

stereotype? Next explanation will be focused on how stereotypes affect people in daily life, whether

harmfully or positively.

Negative stereotype may cause bad perceptions and the ignorance of people to accomplish

new things. It can be done by two different ways; accidentally and on purpose. When it happened

accidentally, sometimes the stereotypes are brought by people who know less and are not directly

involved in such situations. For example, someone watches the movie about Saudi Arabia where

people ride camels instead of cars, then they will create an idea that people in Saudi Arabia do not

have cars. Therefore, stereotypes created on purpose mean that there are some particular groups

who develop wrong ideas about something. Stangor’s argument agreed that people use stereotypes

to simplify something about others and to build their own perception and groups to which they

belong. (Bower)

However, some reasons may indicate that stereotypes can bring and guide people before

deciding something. This is called a positive stereotype. Stereotypes can increase people’s
knowledge about something and anticipate some bad things that possibly occur. For instance, if

some people say that Arizona is a place where everybody brings guns, then they must be aware to

not go out late at night, especially women. Besides, stereotypes are also used to mark something

becomes an identity to make it easier to remember. “Such generalizations are necessary: in order to

be able to interact effectively, we must have some idea of what people are likely to be like, which

behaviors will be considered acceptable, which not. “ (Livetext)

Some stereotypes could be considered acceptable if it doesn’t harass human’s right and

freedom. People will stereotype because people are always thinking, they like to generalize ideas

and stigmatize something. As long as it is used in positive ways, then stereotypes can be an effective

way to help people interact with other communities. According to a research project in multicultural

education, “What can be done to deal with negative stereotypes: the key to reversing negative

stereotypes is to contradict them, in direct interactions between people, in the media, and through

education.” (Livetext). It means although some negative stereotypes spread among people, but still

can be conquered.

To conclude, stereotypes is an interesting term to be discussed among people. It all depends

to every single person on how they deal with it. Whether positive or negative, stereotypes is part of

humanity culture. It is a natural way of human to express their thinking and opinions. Yet,

stereotypes is also an interesting field to be studied further. Studying about stereotype makes us

more creative to explore the other side of the world.

Work Cited Page

Silberstein, Barbara K. Dobson and Mark A. Clarke. “Reader’s Choice 5th Edition.” The University of

Michigan Press (2011): 117- 118. Print.

“Why Do We Stereotype?” 13 January 2008. Live Text, Web. 4 May 2011.

Thesis Statement

Next explanation will be focused on how stereotypes affect people in daily life, whether harmfully

or positively.

Outline:

I. Next explanation will be focused on how stereotypes affect people in daily life, whether

harmfully or positively.

II. Negative stereotype

A. Accidentally

B. On purpose

III. Positive Stereotype

A. Guide people

B. Mark as identity

IV. Reaction of positive and negative stereotype

V. Conclusion