RESEARCH PROJECT & PAPER
The Impact of Cultural Stereotyping
1. Have students watch TV (it’s better if they can channel surf to survey as many different programs as possible) and make notes as to the
different racial and ethnic groups they see and how they are being represented.
2. Students should take notes on what they are seeing, in terms of cultural stereotypes and answer the following questions in their paper.
• Are ethnic minorities visible on everyday TV?
• In what ways? In what roles?
• Which ethnic or racial groups are the most prominent? Which are rarely, if ever, seen? Why do you think that is?
• Do any of the roles seem stereotypical?
• What effect does this stereotype have on people who are outside that racial or ethnic group?
• What effect does this stereotype have on people who are members of that racial or ethnic group?
• What does this say about mainstream American culture?
• Does American media reflect mainstream culture or act to shape mainstream culture?
3. Compare the representation of the different racial and ethnic groups with the actual population of the United States. Then compare
with the actual population of students in your school and community.
• Does it represent the actual population?
• What groups are being over-represented?
ESSAY
Write about your research and include answers you found to the questions above. Tie everything together to explore the impact cultural
stereotyping has on self-image and the development of attitudes and beliefs among children. Include some of your own personal ideas to
combat this problem. How would you solve it?
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