LESSON 5: CULTURAL STEREOTYPES IN THE MEDIA
A
stereotype
is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. It is a fixed idea about a group of people based on prior
assumptions.
Media
is considered the means of communication that reaches and influences many people, such as radio, television, newspapers,
magazines and websites.
Sometimes stereotypes are perpetuated in the media. They give the audience a quick, common understanding about a group of people
— usually linking their class, ethnicity, race, gender, social role or occupation. All viewers should be careful about forming opinions about
groups or individuals based on what they see on TV.
CLASS DISCUSSION
Why can stereotypes be dangerous? Go through the answers below, if they aren’t addressed.
Cultural stereotypes can be dangerous because they can:
• Reduce a wide range of differences in people to simple categories
• Transform assumptions about particular groups into “realities”
• Be used to justify the position of those in power
• Perpetuate social prejudice and inequality
JOURNAL REFLECTION
Have your students think back and try to remember a commercial, TV show, movie or song that negatively portrayed an entire group of
people. Give them 10–20 minutes to brainstorm and write about what they remembered happening, how people in the scene reacted and
how they personally felt about it?
CLASS DISCUSSION
1. What are your feelings about cultural stereotypes in the media? Do you find it humorous, in poor taste or disrespectful? Why?
2. Does it make a difference if you’re a member of the group being targeted in the media? Why or why not? Give details to support
your answer.
3. Do these cultural groups have a say in how they are being represented in the media?
4. What do you think are the root causes of these stereotypical portrayals?
5. Do you think that there is a lack of diversity in the news programs, TV shows and movies you watch? Why or why not?
JOURNAL WRITE
Historian and journalist Gwynne Dyer stated, “We’ve become the most spectacularly diverse country in the world.
Why, then, have the media not kept pace?”
• What are you learning about diversity in school? At home?
• Why hasn’t the media kept pace with the diverse, changing world we live in?
• Has the media played a role in shaping your understanding of the world? Why or why not?
• How can our nation combat stereotyping by encouraging more realistic portrayals of ethnic minorities?
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT
Stereotypes on the Loose!
Write a paragraph warning children about the dangers of believing everything they see on TV. Teach them what stereotypes are and how
they can be found in the media. List five TV shows, movies, songs, etc. that you would put a warning label on, if you could, and why.
Be prepared to present your commercial to the rest of the class.
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