Voices of Modern Culture

Voices Against StereotypesActivity1.16SUGGESTED Learning Strategies: SOAPSTone, Brainstorming,Close Reading, Marking the Text, Rereading, Word Map, DraftingWhat is a stereotype?A stereotype is generally based on assumptions about a group ofpeople based on race, gender, location, behavior, or physical traits. Forexample, many jokes and movies focus on the stereotype of the “dumbblonde” or the clueless “nerd” with glasses.Stereotypes have been around a long time. They reflect the ideas thatpeople have about others who are not like them in some way. Whenyou hear someone describe a classmate as a “nerd” or a “jock,” you’rehearing a stereotype that is assigning that person to a category basedon a label.Stereotypes are not all negative; for example, “nerdy kids are smart” or“girls are better at intuition than guys” are positive stereotypes. Usingeither negative or positive stereotypes to describe people ignores theuniqueness of people by mischaracterizing who they are and what theythink and believe as individuals.Academic VocaBularyA stereotype is a fixed,oversimplified image of aperson, group, or idea, orsomething conforming tothat image.WordConnectionsUniqueness contains theroot -uni-, from the Latinword unicus or unus,meaning “single or one.”This root also appears inunison, unicorn, unicycle,and university. The suffix-ness indicates that theword is a noun.© 2011 College Board. All rights reserved.unit 1 • Voices of Modern Culture 43