Classism, Racism, and Other Prejudices

Essay 1-Rough Draft
10/1/2014
Classism, Racism, and Other Prejudices
The media can cause a lot of controversies among individuals we consider different. Because of the media’s popularity, people tend to absorb products of the media whether it is stereotypes, conspiracy theories, urban legends, etc. Stereotypes are tools the media uses to communicate to the public of a person's "ideal" picture. "Stereotypes make cognitive processing about our complex social worlds easier and more efficient" (Connie Wolfe, "Stereotypes and Prejudice"). In the case of the prejudices, the media gives an image to the audience of someone’s behavior, physical features, intelligence, and other characteristics based on their background so the public can generalize and place individuals into categories. Angeline F. Price, who wrote “Working Class Whites”, quotes, “The hatred and condescension of the poor seems to be the last available method of prejudice in our society” (para. 14). In other words, she implies the real reason for stereotyping is the bitterness of human kind for the joy of having negative attitudes towards any minority just as long as it is not seen as too prejudiced by the public eye. Another sin of human kind is the comparison of one's own lifestyle to those who have a different way of life in order to satisfy their need of superiority. Whenever we stereotype, we are unconsciously hiding a guilty sin: pride. The desire for superiority may cause intolerance, and perhaps hate crimes for a certain or several groups.
Because of economic and cultural improvements, traditional stereotyping is not as popular and realistic as it was back then. For example, due to better education in public schools, low-income families have been closing the gap between high and low-income that the generations before them could not fulfill. As more people who are ethnically or financially different are seen as possessing opposite characteristics as the media’s depiction, the more we start to doubt what we seen on television or film is applicable to real-world circumstances. In addition, we have educated our youth on hate crimes like racism and sexism can land them in penalties in an effort to raise future awareness. At a young age, we were also taught to tolerate and include others no matter their diversity.
Ueberroth quotes, "The challenge we have is to manage change without losing tradition" (quoted in para. 45). Although spreading awareness will lead to better opportunities and respect for minorities, it can also make traditional values harder to preserve. For instance, the modern average woman is the working business mother opposed to the ideal traditional housewife back then as women started to be more independent. Even though human ecological modernization is important, some third-world countries cannot remove themselves from their traditional values, fearing future economic problems as well as religious issues. For example, a country with a below average employment rate could not hire have currently married women hired unless if in acceptable circumstances (i.e. too many children for the husband to financially provide for) because working women increase workplace population, which makes it difficult for jobless men and women.