Paper Summary:

This paper looks at our views of race and ethnic groups as a result of mass media stereotyping. It describes the negative images of minorities distort our views of the world, as stereotypes of the media become part of the common culture of American society. The paper argues that media stereotypes create their own problems of crime, teenage pregnancy, unemployment and despair.

From the Paper:

"Certain things are nearly universal. They are actions that cut across lines of class, race, and ethnicity. Every morning, virtually every American gets up, looks at himself in the mirror, fixes himself up, and gets ready to face the world. Yet the image that a person sees when he looks into the mirror each day is not necessarily that seen by others. Ones personal background colors the way one views those around him. Experiences, images, things learned in school and from television, movies, and books, influence our opinions of the world, and of those who are different from ourselves. The media is a powerful factor in determining our attitudes and prejudices. Films, television programs, and newspaper articles create stereotypes that have a lasting effect not only on our own opinions but also on those who on those who are subject to those opinions. The Italian gangster, the Jewish miser, and perhaps most of all, the Latino gang member, the African-American addict and welfare mother are burned into the minds of America's white majority. But these terrible images are also seared into the hearts and souls of the often-voiceless minorities whom they purport to portray. Media stereotypes create their own problems of crime, teenage pregnancy, unemployment, and despair."

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