Nationality StereotypesAstereotype is a fixed set of ideas that is generally held about thecharacteristics of a particular type of person which are wrongly believed to beshared by all the people of that type. In my opinion it is a dangerous thing tojudge about a people or a group of people by existing stereotypes butnevertheless a certain stereotype does exist. There are experimental ways ofinvestigating stereotypes.One of the most obvious is to ask a group of peoplewhat trades characterize the British, the Russians, the Americans.
Results ofsuch studies of the whole agree well with what might have been expected.English are said to be prim. Weather is the most important topic in the land.In English this is an ever interesting, even thrilling topic and you must begood at discussing the weather. You must never contradict anybody whendiscussing the weather.Should it hail and snow, should hurricanes up root thetrees, should someone remark to you Nice day, isn t it? answerwithout hesitation Isn t it lovely? On the continent people eithertell you the truth or lie, in Britain they hardly ever lie but they don t tellyou the truth either.
The British like people of every country tend to beattributed with certain characteristics which are supposedly typical. Howeveryou should be cautious about accepting such characterizations too easily. Societies change over time while their reputations lag behind.Many thingswhich are often regarded as typically British are no longer representative ofmodern life. One example of this is the popular belief that Britain is a landof traditions.
This is what most tourist brochures claim. The claim is based onwhat can be seen in public life. And at this level the level of public lifeit is undoubtedly true. However in private everyday lives the British asindividuals are probably less inclined to follow traditions than other peopleof most other countries.According to the stereotypes English are also thoughtto be reserved, conservative, shy of strangers, suspicious of change and slowto accept new ideas, responsible, honest and unemotional.
But I think thisstereotype pictures are far from true, especially in today s world. Nationalitystereotypes are often described in anecdotes, humorous stories, private diaries.For example American westerns are dynamic and thrilly. They show us menstrength in fights, gun fighting and horse riding skills, but to my mind it wasvarious that made American character.You can easily spot Americans abroad bytheir toughness.
It comes from their sense of individual freedom. Americansrealize that individuals must rely on themselves, otherwise they risk to loosetheir freedom. So, self-reliance usually is the second trade and moral valuesupposed to be obligatory to a true American. The third national value accountsfor their confident and unaffected manners. The fourth American value iscompetition.Sixty percent of the Americans believe in competition and sodesire to win is healthy. In spite of the fact that society can t consist onlyof winners the Americans are optimistic.
They believe that every problem has asolution. The fifth national value is material wealth. Most Americans believewealth is a reward for hard work and that it s possible to have good standardof living if a person works hard. God helps those who help themselves saysthe proverb. The sense of humor is often the most revealing aspect of aculture.Surely, humor has never been valued more highly in any othercivilization than in this one.TheRussian are considered to be industries, tough, brave and progressive.
Thesestereotypes are derived from books, films and other cultural media. As anynation the Russians have both positive and negative qualities. On the one hand,people who belong to this nationality are hard-working, willing to respect theopinion of other people.They regard other racial or ethnic groups as equal.They are fond of being with other people, enjoying social life, hospitable toforeigners.
On the other hand sometimes they are inclined to cheat andunwilling to respect the views, ideas, opinions opposite to their own. This ismy point of view on this problem. I also would like to saystereotypes are a part of human life though they may present one sidedexaggerated view of religion, racial ethnic groups of people as well as ofclasses of people. Stereotypes are certainly not reliable description ofindividual people but they still exist.