Culture stereotypes. Stereotype as a phenomenon of cultural space

12.04.2019

Making simple and quick homemade cookies

Chinese Seafood Noodles Japanese Seafood Noodle Recipe

Korean Zucchini - The Most Delicious Cooking Recipes

With all the stability of stereotypes and, at first glance, sufficient study, their study in each new historical epoch is an important scientific problem, if only because there is a constant ripple of tension between the traditional attitude and its erosion, between the enrichment of new historical facts and rethinking the already known. Despite the sufficient attention on the part of researchers to this phenomenon, the explanation of the nature, origin and functioning of stereotypes, as well as the understanding of the very term "stereotype" is still a problem.

Moreover, stereotypes are often identified with traditions, customs, myths, and rituals. Despite the unconditional similarity of stereotypes with traditions and customs, it should be noted that stereotypes are largely different from them in their psychological basis... The functional field of stereotypes lies mainly in the sphere of mental structures, while cultural traditions, customs and myths are the objectified results of their formation, consolidated by rationalized (ideological, political, conceptual) or irrational (artistic-poetic, mystically-religious) ways and means in which society is interested (or not interested).

In other words, traditions and customs are distinguished by their objectified general validity, openness to others, while stereotypes are the product of the latent subjective attitudes of the individual. The myth, as an eternal way of ordering reality, is a product of collective belief and is an extremely successful mechanism for the emotional consolidation of society.

The author of the term Walter Lippmann himself understood by stereotypes: “... preconceived opinions that decisively govern all processes of perception. They mark certain objects, both familiar and unfamiliar, that the barely familiar seem to be well known, and the unfamiliar seem deeply alien. " U. Lippmann explained the functioning of stereotypes through the analysis of socio-psychological aspects of human activity and considered stereotypes to be the mental material on which public consciousness as a whole is based. Stereotypes, according to the scientist, order the world and facilitate the process of thinking of people, thanks to them a person feels confident. The scientist identified two main reasons that influence the emergence of stereotypes.

The first reason is the use of the principle of saving efforts, which is characteristic of everyday human thinking and is expressed in the fact that people do not try to react every time in a new way to new facts and phenomena, but try to bring them under existing categories. Avoiding attention sparing in favor of a pure empirical approach would undermine human existence... Thus, the process of stereotyping is always preceded by the process of categorization, as one of the ways of a person's cognition of the surrounding reality.

The second reason for stereotyping is the protection of existing group values. Lippmann called stereotypes a fortress that protects our traditions and pointed out that any encroachment on our stereotypes is regarded by us as an attack on the foundations of our worldview. Stability, rigidity, conservatism - these are the main characteristics of stereotypes according to U. Lippmann. He investigated the stereotype in the system of those factors that cause its occurrence and determine its functioning.

The formation of stereotypes is based on the characteristics of human thinking and psyche. First, this is concretization - the desire to clarify abstract, and, therefore, difficult to assimilate concepts with the help of any real images that are accessible and understandable for the individual and all members of this community. Secondly, this is a simplification, which boils down to highlighting one or more features as fundamental for revealing complex phenomena. Social factor the emergence of stereotypes is, as a rule, the presence of limited, one-sided experience.

In the late forties of the XX century, the most popular definition in Western scientific thought was proposed by the American psychosociologist Kimball Jung. The scientist understood the stereotype as "a false classification concept, which, as a rule, is associated with some kind of social sensory-emotional tones of similarity and difference, approval or condemnation of another group." In his definition, K. Jung emphasized the distorted nature of the assessment of phenomena and objects by stereotypes and thus initiated the understanding of a stereotype as an erroneous assessment or preconceived opinion about phenomena or groups of people.

Subsequently, the stereotype began to be perceived as an image or representation, knowingly false, about a person or a group. In Western science, the concept of stereotype has increasingly come to be identified with ethnic or racial prejudice. As a result, there was a narrowing of the content of the concept of "stereotype" even in comparison with the original one, which was proposed by U. Lippmann - these are images of any object or phenomenon that exist in the mind of a person and are manifested in his behavior. Now stereotypes are interpreted as a collection of distorted perceptions. Falsehood has become so strongly associated with the concept of "stereotype" that the term "sociotype" was proposed to denote standard but true knowledge about a sociocultural group.

Only at the end of the 1950s. O. Kleinberg's hypothesis about the presence of a "grain of truth" in this phenomenon has become widespread. According to this hypothesis, stable simplified representations can be both true and false. The American researcher argued that "partially incorrect, superficial, limited stereotypes, nevertheless, generalize the real features of the culture." Under the influence of Kleinberg's hypothesis, discussions arose again about the correspondence of stereotypes to true knowledge about objects and objects of the surrounding world. A tendency has emerged to identify stereotypes with a generalization of phenomena that actually exist, although perhaps not in the form in which they are reflected.

However, it should be noted that some Western scholars, who have studied the stereotype as a phenomenon of human psychology and culture, generally do not consider the problem of the content of the "grain of truth" in the stereotype to be worthy of attention. From their point of view, any generalization regarding the assessment of human behavior is already a stereotype.

In fact, the problem of the ratio of true and false in stereotypes is very important. The main difficulty in resolving this issue lies in the absence of a reliable criterion for identifying the degree of truth of a judgment. Note that truth, in this case, is understood as an adequate reflection of objects and phenomena of the surrounding reality. The evolution of views on the problem of truth-falsity of stereotypes can be represented in the form of three stages. In the beginning, stereotypes were considered predominantly false entities. It was assumed that stereotypes that function at both the personal and collective levels cannot act as an absolutely true reproduction of reality. Later, social stereotypes began to be understood primarily as a simplification, a schematization of real objects. The very same simplification in this case can be both false and true. The process of stereotyping is neither good nor bad, it performs the function of categorization, which is objectively necessary for a person social peace... The American psychosociologist E. Bogardus defined stereotyping as the lower stage of the assessment process, but at the same time vital. Stereotyped perception arises from the enormous diversity of groups and individuals and the impossibility for most busy people to weigh each reaction to each personality. Thus, individuals and groups are typed. Stereotyping plays an evaluative role and makes life easier in society.

A negative attitude towards stereotypes can be traced in the definition of another American researcher J. Wishman. The scientist identified the following main characteristics of the concept that underlies the stereotype:

1. the concept is rather simple than differentiated;

2. more likely mistaken than true;

3. it is learned from others rather than received in direct experience with reality;

4. it is resistant to new experiences.

Stereotypes are effective but unreliable. Thus, scientists point out the conditions for the emergence of stereotypes, namely, inadequacy of perception and lack of contact with reality. At the same time, the stability of this phenomenon is especially emphasized.

Today, the most widespread opinion is that a stereotype is both true and false. This is possible when a person's actions, conditioned by “false” stereotypes, in such a way affect the further course of events, that even false ideas and expectations come true, are validated in the eyes of the bearer of this stereotype. V this issue one can agree with the opinion of P.N. Shikhirev, who asserts that in a stereotype it is not truth itself that is important, but conviction in it.

Description of cultural stereotypes, their stability and selection is associated with the needs of modern life, with the awareness of the fact that, formed by various circumstances, including accidents, limited knowledge, the image of the “other”, “other culture” as a whole, is often very far from reality, has the same historical and cultural significance as reality itself. It is these images that many of us are guided by in our practical activities. Artificially created images-representations begin to play an active role in shaping the mentality of contemporaries and possibly subsequent generations.

With all the stability of stereotypes and, at first glance, sufficient study, their study in each new historical epoch is an important scientific problem, if only because there is a constant pulsation of tension between the traditional attitude and its erosion, between the enrichment of new historical facts and the rethinking of the already known ones. Despite the sufficient attention on the part of researchers to this phenomenon, the explanation of the nature, origin and functioning of stereotypes, as well as the understanding of the very term "stereotype" is still a problem.

Currently, there is no consensus in scientific thought regarding its content. The term “stereotype” can be found in various contexts where it is interpreted ambiguously: standard of behavior, image of a group or person, prejudice, cliché, “sensitivity” to cultural differences, etc. Originally, the term stereotype was used to refer to a metal plate used in the printing industry to make subsequent copies. Today, a stereotype in general terms is understood as a relatively stable and simplified image of a social object, group, person, event, phenomenon, etc., which develops in conditions of a lack of information as a result of generalization of the individual's personal experience and often preconceived notions adopted in society. A cultural stereotype is a representation that reflects the ordinary level of conceptualization of cultural specifics and has a strong influence on the mutual expectations of partners during the initial contact. The content of a stereotype is a collective idea, it is taken on faith and is not really challenged by anyone.

However, the main reason for its stability as a structure of individual consciousness is that it corresponds to the survival strategies learned from childhood, adopted in a particular culture. They are the ones who keep any local civilization from collapse. For example, Russia has its own historical logic, which corresponds to its survival strategy, not known to the American or Western European culture... Having relation to the deep layers of consciousness, a stereotype in images and behavioral models forms a certain subculture precisely as a special way of survival, i.e. energy, material and information exchange with the environment.

So, for example, in the article "Features of the primitive primitivism of thieves' speech" D.S. Likhachev, noting the similarity of thieves' languages of all countries (the same type of word formation, when the same concepts replace each other), argued that the thieves' environment different nations is distinguished by one and the same type of thinking, a stereotyped attitude towards the surrounding world. This thinking is dominated by " general views”, Which L. Levy-Bruhl considered a characteristic feature of pralogical thinking. The mass consciousness of modern man in terms of collective representations is largely characterized by the features of deindividualizing, primitive thinking.

First, it is extremely emotional. A stereotype, penetrating into consciousness, has a powerful effect on emotions, not on intellect, and is easily consolidated by collective experiences. An individual, personal relationship to an object is never expressed in this expressive form. This emotion conveys an exclusively group, collective attitude.

This is the affective function of stereotypes, which is generated by the socialization of human emotions in large groups. Concepts expressing, for example, ethnic negative assessments ("Jew", "Moskal", etc.) evoke certain strong emotions. But this expression is qualitatively poor, not deep, extremely monotonous. The concept of "blonde" (being stupid and sexy), widespread in American jokes, acting as a stereotype and reinforced by cultural patterns, evokes an undifferentiated but vivid emotion. Emotion is closely related to bodily motility and is reinforced by gestures. The motor type of thinking ... creates a situation in which the word acts not only on the cerebral cortex, but also on the muscular system of a person. The connection of stereotyped images and behavioral reactions not only with the mental, but also with the physiological nature of a person has been well studied and is used in the practice of psychotherapy, in which they try to find and change stable emotional connections of some phenomena with others. The person is taught to treat sequestered relationships as addictions or bad habits that can be destroyed with the help of awareness and special training. For example, Louise Hay wrote that a person has many different addictions. “Including - the addiction to the creation of certain stereotypes of thinking and behavior. We use them to isolate ourselves from life. If we do not want to think about our future or face the truth about the present, then we turn to stereotypes for help that keep us from touching reality. Some people eat a lot in difficult situations. Others are on medication. It is possible that genetic inheritance plays a significant role in the progression of alcoholism. However, the choice still remains with a specific person. Often, "bad inheritance" is simply the child's acceptance of parental methods of managing fear. "

Of course, basic emotions are universal cultural phenomenon... However, according to the data of psycholinguistics and cultural linguistics, there are national differences in emotions, faced with which in a situation of intercultural contact, an individual can experience what is called “ culture shock"Caused by mismatching expectations. Within a culture, habits are usually not reflected. In another culture, there is a possibility of encountering emotional characteristics that are different from our own.

The emotional structure of the personality is formed at an early age, and then, when the culture sets stereotypes, this primary situation of increased suggestibility is reproduced. First of all, the process of stereotyping captures the gullible people. Suggestibility creates favorable conditions for implementation traditional customs and beliefs. Closed traditional cultures, living with the dogma of custom, require from a person not individualization, but assimilation. We associate the differentiating and integrating functions of stereotypes with the collective representations inherent in each local culture, i.e. the primary division of everything in the world into "ours" and "aliens".

The description of the world characteristic of childish and primitive consciousness through a system of binary oppositions ("bad - good", "warm - cold", "day - night", "light - dark", "up - down", etc.) without observing gradations and shades, participates in the formation of initial moral attitudes, but not so much in the form of the opposition "good - evil", as in the form of the basic opposition "we / ours" and "they / others." As a rule, “friends” are perceived with positive emotions, they are given preference over “others”. In this case, as noted by psychologists, the following cognitive consequences are observed: 1) it is believed that all “strangers” are similar to each other and are different from “ours”; 2) there is more variety among “friends” than among “aliens”; 3) assessments of "strangers" tend to extremes: they, as a rule, are either very positive or very negative.

The integrating function of the stereotype appears here in a double aspect. Firstly, under the concept of "our" objects and phenomena of the most varied kinds are united. People with a certain type and the pace of speech, rituals and forms of meetings, habits and addictions of all kinds. As P. Weil and A. Genis wrote in their gastronomic and cultural book: “You cannot take your homeland on the soles of your boots, but you can take with you Far Eastern crabs, spicy Tallinn kilka, waffle cakes,“ pralines ”, candies like“ Bear in the North ” , curative water "Essentuki" (preferably number seventeen). With such a price list (yes, strong Russian mustard), living in a foreign land (even hot-pressed sunflower oil) becomes both better (slightly acidic tomatoes) and more fun (Ararat cognac, 6 stars!). Of course, at the table set in this way, there will still be room for nostalgic memories. Either in a pink haze, jelly (more correctly, steuden) will emerge for 36 kopecks, then pies with "jam", then "borscht b / m" (b / m - this is without meat, nothing indecent). Also - hot fat cutlets, bloody roast beef, Strasbourg pie. However, sorry. This is no longer nostalgia, but a classic. " Let us notice here not only an explicit quote from A.S. Pushkin, but also a hidden one - from I.V. Stalin, as well as an allusion to Gogol's texts.

The second aspect of integration based on stereotypes of thinking and behavior consists precisely in uniting people into groups ranked according to some obvious criterion. When Ronald Reagan called the Soviet Union an "evil empire" he found an apt metaphor that integrates a whole spectrum of stereotypical emotions and serves the messianic aspirations of American democracy. The exaggerated image of the enemy exclusively contributes to the consolidation within the socio-cultural group. It is stereotypes that carry out the function of a unified language regulation for prejudiced people; the task of stereotypes is to strengthen the opinions of their speakers. Thus, the suggestive power of language models the picture of the world for a specific cultural group. The picture of the world determines the actions of the carriers of this mentality, not only at the interpersonal, but also at the public (up to the government) levels.

Under the differentiating function of a stereotype, we propose to understand primarily the sensitivity to cultural differences. The traditional community of understanding excludes the carriers of another culture from the zone of its action. The American anthropologist FK Bock introduced the category of cultural forms into scientific circulation. Under cultural form Bock understood a set of interrelated and partially arbitrary expectations, understandings, beliefs and agreements shared by members social group... Culture includes all beliefs and all expectations that people express and demonstrate. “When you are in your group, among people with whom you share a common culture, you do not have to think over and project your words and deeds, because all of you - both you and they - see the world in principle the same, you know what to expect from each other ... But being in a foreign society, you will experience difficulties, a feeling of helplessness and disorientation, which can be called a culture shock. " In cultural studies, cultural shock is usually understood as a conflict of two cultures (primarily nationally and ethno-centered) at the level of individual consciousness. It is associated with the very ability to capture the value differences of different societies, i.e. with the differentiating function of consciousness. The more complex a personality is organized, the more subtle distinctions it is capable of making. However, the differentiating function of stereotyped thinking always remains within the simplest oppositions, fixing only the division into "masculine / feminine", "one's / another's", "good / bad".

It is interesting to note that the integrating function of stereotypes is more pronounced than the differentiating one, since it often has a positive emotional connotation. The use of logical quantifiers of universality in relation to particular cases, which finds its expression in the use of linguistic formulas starting with the words "all", "always", "never", generates both a differentiating and an integrating judgment. However, the integrating function is more noticeably expressed in the mechanisms of stereotyping. One of them is bringing together the heterogeneous characteristics of people as necessarily accompanying each other. For example, in American culture poor is very often used in combination with uneducated and stupid, and blond means dumb for granted.

Of course, this is due to the obvious simplification of the real diversity of life phenomena. Almost the main function of stereotypes is precisely the function of simplifying the diversity of the world. We call it reducing, i.e. reducing the real life diversity to a simple scheme of interrelated definitions. This is the way of grouping information inherent in the stereotype as a cognitive phenomenon. The task of a stereotype is not just to explain and justify existing social relations, but to reduce these explanations to a generally available combination of images and actions. “The French consider the British petty, ill-mannered, rather ridiculous and completely unable to dress people who most spend time digging in the garden beds, playing cricket or sitting in a pub with a glass of thick, sweet, warm beer ... The British in France are also considered "treacherous" (Yapp N., Syrett M. These strange French. M., 1999. P. 7). This is the British observation of their stereotypical perception in modern France. And according to the data of 1935 for a Frenchman, an Englishman is an inelegant, stupid, arrogant and unable to express himself clearly with a red face. The poor quality of the English cuisine is noted, the habit of the British is to eat poorly cooked meat. The French consider the British to be rude barbarians, agreeing with the Germans only that the British are hypocritical.

Culturally marked features that form the content of a stereotype (clothing, occupations, traditions) can change over time, while the evaluative characteristics are more stable, although they are characterized by a certain dynamics. For example, in the ethnic stereotype of the Chinese, the sign of "attachment to the family" stands out: among Americans, a greater degree of attachment to the family causes perplexity associated with ridicule, as well as the sign of "passion" in relation to the Italian stereotype, "nationalism" in relation to the stereotype of the German, " ambition "in relation to the stereotype of a Jew. The reduction, which is carried out by the cultural-collective consciousness forming the stereotype, itself can be assessed in two ways. Of course, the Russian philosopher and culturologist G. Fedotov is right: “There is nothing more difficult national characteristics... They are easily given to a stranger and always respond to vulgarity for “their own”, who has at least a vague experience of the depth and complexity of national life ”.

The reducing function of the stereotype contributes to the formation of prejudices, a phenomenon in general negative and hindering communication. Existing in the form of everyday ideas, being, often, at an unconscious level, a stereotype cannot have a complex logical ramification. In this case, the operation of attribution (highlighting features) in order to explain the nature of the object is designed to adapt the subject in the world of diverse and innumerable connections by the method of their deliberate minimization. Therefore, the reducing function of stereotypes is closely related to their adaptive function. So the task of the autostereotype is to create and preserve a positive "I" -image, as well as to protect group values. This function is performed due to the selective perception of information. “Sometimes consciously, sometimes not realizing it, we allow ourselves to be influenced only by those facts that correspond to our philosophy. We don’t see what our eyes don’t want to pay attention to. ” The emotional fullness of stereotypes is also a defense mechanism. The harder the assessment, the more emotion, as a rule, any attempt to question the stereotype will evoke. The adaptive function is closely related to the principle of economy of thought.

Stereotypes can exist not only at the level of everyday ideas, but also in the form of scientific knowledge. In these cases, the explanatory model "sins" with overly broad generalizations. For example: "Men assert themselves in their affairs, and women in how they look and what they say about them." Most interest Ask the functioning of stereotypes is to study how mass representations manifest themselves at the level of individual consciousness. How do stereotypes affect the subjective meanings and values of a person? After all, the axiological nature of stereotypes is obvious. It means the development within the framework of one culture of its value-hierarchical system, its own type of moral consciousness and behavior, and its own evaluative structures. In culture, only those values are stereotyped that are capable of performing general guidelines for all its carriers, to influence the formation of their cultural appearance and individual style life. “Values do not represent reality, either physical or mental. Their essence lies in their significance, and not in their facticity "(Rickert G. Nature sciences and cultural sciences // Culturology. XX century. Anthology. M., 1995. P. 82).

The methods and criteria, on the basis of which the very procedures for evaluating the phenomena of life are made, are fixed in culture as “subject values”. These are the attitudes, imperatives and prohibitions, goals and normative ideas that serve as guidelines for human activity. Stereotypes are directly related to subjective values. We associate their very ability to play the role of a criterion in assessing the phenomena of reality with the selective function of the stereotype.

The stereotypes used in assessing a particular sociocultural group make it possible to evaluate the behavior of others in accordance with the value scale of one's own group. The mechanism of stereotyping in this case acts as a necessary and useful assessment tool. Simplification and schematization, which are the basis of any stereotype, are the inevitable costs of such processes that are absolutely necessary for the regulation of human activity as a whole, as the limitation and categorization of incoming information. The selector in this case is the governing rule on the basis of which the selection is made.

The stereotype is also intended to eliminate the contradiction in the general picture of knowledge about the world. A clearer picture of the world allows us to successfully solve specific practical problems. Stereotypical consciousness moves from fixing opposites to their emotional assessment, followed by resistance to them. According to the linguoculturologist V.V. Krasnykh, all stereotypes-images can be conditionally divided into two groups. The first includes images-representations of the "correct world", which play the role of a stabilizer, maintain confidence that the given world(group, nation, state) is favorable for life, subject to certain rules.

Images-representations of the second group paint the world as unfair, unfit for life, and the rules of behavior in it are false ("good" does not triumph over "evil"). Such views, despite the predominance of the negative component, emphasize the importance of the individual and the relativity of traditional group values. Both groups of stereotypes peacefully coexist at the level of everyday consciousness, reproducing the initial ambivalence, and maintaining the completeness of the system of meanings. The images of the “right” and “wrong” world are formed into a single picture according to the principle of complementarity. Reconciliation of contradictions of various kinds plays an important role in the adaptation of a person and society. It ensures the maintenance of stability and enables further development.

In this way, main principle actions of a stereotype are the transformation of the conditional into the unconditional. That which might require proof becomes "natural" with the help of a stereotype and acts directly through the evoked associations.

Like other cognitive cultural formations, the stereotype has a field structure. It can be allocated a core - a leading principle or concept - and the periphery - invariably accompanying the nuclear concept-image of attribution and judgment (unambiguously expressed " folk wisdom"). A stereotype is accompanied by an associative context that provides links to other stereotypes of the same kind. Here is an example of stereotypes being broadcast by the film industry. American film in the genre of an action movie with elements of comedy, in the episode, he presents three mafias operating in the United States: Russian, Chinese and Italian. In the first case, the agent negotiates in a bathhouse (with vodka and black caviar), in the second - at an abandoned factory (with the attributes of martial arts: "oriental" flavor - kicks in the face), and in the case of the Italian one, negotiations are conducted in a restaurant (with wine and spaghetti), where a charmingly sexy female agent is sent. This cultural-associative array is parodically stereotyped, it is primitive, easily recognizable, and, most importantly, reinforces the already established stereotypes in the minds of the recipients, referring associatively to other films using cine stamps based on the same stereotypes.

The core of the stereotype should be considered, first of all, the meaning of the key concept with the help of which it is described in the language of culture. For example, all the numerous connotations and expectations (as well as habitual patterns of behavior) that are associated in Russian culture with the word "friend" differ markedly from similar concepts in the American or English cultures... Moreover, as studies of cultural linguists show, the set of meanings of this concept within each of the cultures can change significantly over time. Words denoting the deepest cultural values of some peoples can only be roughly translated into the language of others.

Key concepts are cultural artifacts of the society that created them. "When this is not recognized, there is a tendency either to absolutize the meanings of words ... and view them as keys to human nature as a whole, or to ignore them and view them as something less important than the personal judgments of individual informants about relationships between people." The author of these words, Anna Vezhbitskaya, created a theory of universal elementary meanings, which is most close to our idea of the structure of the conceptual-figurative content of a stereotype.

Stereotype as a category of language and thinking is certainly an artifact of the culture that created it. Therefore, for us, not ideal philosophical ideas about friendship are the core of the stereotype "friend", but also not random overtones that depend on time and place. The core of the stereotype will be the general meaning (for all cultures without exception) of the key word that expresses it. The nuclear part makes it possible to recognize and classify stereotypes regardless of cultural differences. Thus, we emphasize the similarities in modeling and conceptualizing connections between phenomena in different cultures and societies. The core in a sense refers to the "truth", "soundness" of the stereotype. As EA Baratynsky wrote: “Prejudice is a fragment of the old truth: the Temple fell, and its descendant did not understand the ruins”.

The periphery, as a structural part of the stereotype, is everything that is created by a particular culture, but even a scientist-researcher is perceived as a general property of human nature. Reliance on your native language as a source of universal "sound" ideas about human nature and relations between people will inevitably lead to the delusions of ethnocentrism. So A. Vezhbitskaya objects to Vladimir Shlapentoch: "Being a Russian, Shlapentoch believes that the obligation to help a friend, although it turns out to be especially clearly articulated in Russian culture, is universal for all people." She cites an excerpt from his work "Public and private life Soviet people”, In which he argues that in all societies, people tend to expect that in an emergency - when your life, freedom or survival is in danger - a friend will provide you with full help and comfort. “But it is highly doubtful,” Vezhbitskaya argues, “that all societies would expect“ friends ”to“ fully provide you with help and comfort. ” Of course, no expectation of this kind is included as an integral part of the immediate meaning of the closest analogs of the Russian word "friend" in other languages, including the meaning english word friend. However, such an expectation, apparently, really forms part of the immediate meaning of the Russian word "friend" (Vezhbitskaya A. Understanding of cultures through keywords... M., 2001.S. 111-112).

Thus, the periphery is the space itself. cultural development the content that comes from the center. In addition to these expectations, the semantic periphery of the named concept in Russian culture will include the following: deep emotional relationships, intense contacts, financial support, etc. Therefore, in particular, the distinction between the words "friend", "friend" and "acquaintance" is carefully drawn not only in Russian literature, but also in everyday usage.

It is unnecessary to stress that the transfer of stereotypical behavior and stereotypical expectations to another culture threatens culture shock. Conflicts within a linguistic culture can likewise be generated by the mismatch of the periphery in the meaning of concepts that express existential values. Russians still tend to argue over the question of what is "true love", "true friendship", "male duties", "filial duty", etc.

Finally, the third structural element - the associative context - is even more individualized. These are culturally created precedent images or common symbols, the selection of which, however, is random in nature and is due to the biographical circumstances of the bearer of the stereotype. For example, a nurse can evoke both positive emotions (memories of care) and negative (associated with fear), and associations may not be directly related to the experience of personal communication, but be inspired by images of literature, cinema, stories of friends, anecdotes, etc. etc. In the case of stereotypes, the personal character of this associative context cannot be overestimated. After all, it is the tendency to accept someone else's attitude, the subject's lack of independence and inability for a spontaneous mental act, infantile forms of behavior that create the basis for the formation of a complex network of collective representations.

Appeal to the familiar associative row often used for the purpose of deliberate manipulation. Language here appears in its tool function. The word as a tool is a signal, an indication of a stereotyped position and, at the same time, an order to perform a certain action. In stereotypical thinking and behavior, language again returns to its archaic forms, when it was a way of behavior, an element of combining human efforts.

Literature:

Vasilkova V.V. Archetypes in the individual and public consciousness// Socio-political journal. 1996. No. 6.

V.P. Gudkov Stereotype of Russia and Russians in Serbian literature // Bulletin of Moscow State University. Ser. 9. Philology. 2001. No. 2.

A. G. Zdravomyslov Russia and Russians in Modern German Identity // ONS: Social Sciences and Modernity. 2001. No. 4.

A. Images of Russians in German Identity // Free Thought - XXI. 2001. No. 1.

Stereotypes are beliefs about the characteristics of group entities. It is important to distinguish autostereotypes(for example, what Americans think of themselves) and heterostereotypes(for example, what do Americans think of Japanese people or Japanese people think of Americans). Some stereotypes are correct, in which case they are called sociotypes. For example, the stereotypical belief that African Americans vote for the Democratic Party is sociotype because there is empirical evidence that about 90% of them do vote that way.

Stereotypes differ in difficulties(the number of included independent representations), clarity(degree of agreement that a given attribute is a characteristic of a group), specificity(for example, the characterization “does a good job in court” is more specific than the more abstract one - “smart / reasonable”), validity(the degree of consistency between the stereotype and objective scientific evidence) and significance (value)(the degree of inclusion of positive or negative characteristics).

Clarity of stereotypes increases when two groups are in contact. When one cultural group has many resources that are positively assessed by another group, then the wealthy group will be perceived more favorably, i.e. the value of the heterostereotype will be positive. The greater the similarity between two cultural groups, the more positive the value of the corresponding heterostereotypes.

In the work of Triandis, Lisansky, Setiadi, Chang, Marina and Betancart (Triandis, Lisansky, Setiadi, Chang, Marin, Betancourt, 1982) examples of auto- and heterostereotypes are given. For a certain period, they recorded all recruits with Spanish names recruited into service navy USA at three recruiting offices (Florida, California and Illinois). They were asked "Do they consider themselves Spanish?" Then the respondents were divided into 2 groups according to the method of random sampling (of the same size), one of which referred to itself as Spanish, and the other did not. After that, respondents from both groups were asked to name 15 characteristics each that they consider most important for describing their own and other ethnic groups. Based on the surveys, 15 attributes were identified to describe each ethnic group.

After that, the respondents were asked to rank the degree of the presence, in their opinion, of specific attributes in different ethnic groups. For example, the characteristic “the Spaniards are inherently uneducated” was ranked on a 10-point scale: from 1 = never to 10 = always. Table 4-4 shows how the Anglo-Saxon and Spanish ethnic groups ranked by these attributes the Spanish and Mexican American ethnic groups.

To understand the table, let us explain the way of analyzing judgments. First, the data for 15 attributes was subjected to factor analysis. It allows you to identify the compatibility of the manifestation of certain characteristics.

—————————————————————————————————-

Table 4-4. How Spaniards and Americans - Mexicans are perceived by Anglo-Saxons and Spaniards.
2. stimulus group: Chicano (Spanish)
3. stimulus group: American-Mexicans
4. scales
5. as perceived by the Anglo Saxons
6. how are spaniards perceived
7. factors
uneducated
educated
family oriented
friendly
unfriendly
competition oriented
cooperative
dependent
independent
not ambitious
ambitious
lazy
hardworking
ethical
unethical
23. well socialized
24.
25. good citizens
26. well socialized
27. not backward
28. good citizens
29. well socialized
30. lack of antisocial orientation
31. non-privileged
32. well socialized
33. not backward
34. socialized in general
35. factor name
Source: Triandis et al., 1982. Reprinted with permission from Sage Publications, Inc.

———————————————————————————————————–

Secondly, the table shows the percentage of the severity of each attribute in the description of stimulus groups. For example, the first column of Table 4-4 suggests that the Anglo-Saxons perceive the Chicano as cooperative, ambitious, and hardworking. This factor has been termed "well socialized". (The names of these factors are a matter of personal opinion, and the reader may use other names when viewing the tables).

The numbers in the first column indicate that the correlation coefficient between a particular attribute and a factor is approximately 0.70. The numbers in parentheses indicate the proportion of Anglo-Saxons who used this attribute to describe the Chicano group. For example, 59% of Anglo-Saxon respondents used the attribute "collaboration-oriented" when ranking Chicano. One can easily look at the rest of the table and examine the persistent differences in Anglo-Saxon heterostereotypes (in assessing Chicano and Mexican Americans) and Spanish autostereotypes (in assessing stimulus groups). Note that some factors (“well socialized”) were found to be the same, although the levels of approval (severity) were slightly different (about 60% Spanish and only about 50% Anglo-Saxon).

Table 4-5 presents similar data for the stimulus groups of Colored and White Americans. Here autostereotypes by the factor "well socialized" are supported by groups at 85%. When analyzing these tables, a number of interesting differences and similarities emerge.

Table 4-5. How colored and white Americans are perceived by the Anglo-Saxons and Spaniards.
2. stimulus group: Colored Americans
3. stimulus group: white Americans
4. good citizens
5. lack of unfriendliness
6. enterprise
7. imprudence
8. enlightenment
9. situational ethics subject
10. protestant ethics

————————————————————————————————-

- previous | next -

100 RUR first order bonus

Select the type of work Thesis Course work Abstract Master's thesis Practice report Article Report Review Test Monograph Problem solving Business plan Answers to questions Creative work Essays Drawing Essays Translation Presentations Typing Other Increasing the uniqueness of the text PhD thesis Laboratory work Online help

Find out the price

The study of cultural stereotypes, their stability, selection is associated with the needs of modern life, with the awareness of the fact that, formed by various circumstances, including accidents, limited knowledge, the image of the “other”, “other culture” as a whole, is often very far from reality , has the same historical and cultural significance as reality itself. Artificially created images-representations begin to play an active role in shaping the mentality of contemporaries and possibly subsequent generations. A person, perceiving the world in accordance with the ideas, attitudes and values prevailing in his native culture, behaves in accordance with them. Therefore, people's ideas about the world are always relative and diverse and depend on the culture in which a person was born and raised. To understand why a representative of another culture behaves in this way in a certain sociocultural context, one should first of all figure out how he perceives this world, see the situation through his eyes, imagine how his perception works. When meeting with representatives of other peoples and cultures, a person usually shows a natural inclination to perceive their behavior from the standpoint of his culture. Moreover, without the ability to quickly and correctly assess the interlocutor, it is difficult to navigate in a different social and cultural environment. Most often, a lack of understanding of a foreign language, symbolism of gestures, facial expressions and other elements of behavior leads to a distorted interpretation of the meaning of their actions, which gives rise to such negative feelings as wariness, contempt, and hostility. stereotypes are a form of collective consciousness Stereotypes reflect the social experience of people, which is common in their daily practice. They are formed as a result joint activities people by emphasizing human consciousness on certain properties, qualities of the phenomena of the surrounding world, which are well known, visible or understandable a large number people. By their content, stereotypes are a concentrated expression of these properties and qualities, which convey their essence in the most schematic and understandable way. (For example, Europeans, who first came into contact with the Japanese, were shocked and still shocked that the Japanese with a cheerful smile say such sad things, as illness or death of close relatives. This became the basis for the formation of a stereotype about the callousness, cynicism and cruelty of the Japanese. similar cases a smile must be understood in the sense that it has not in the European culture of behavior, but in the Japanese. There, she actually symbolizes the desire of the Japanese not to disturb others with their personal sorrows.) There are different types of stereotypes. These include the following: Racial and ethnic stereotypes: This additionally includes Native American, Black stereotypes, Middle Eastern and Muslim stereotypes, White American stereotypes, Irish stereotypes, Italian stereotypes, Polish stereotypes, Jewish stereotypes, East and South Asian stereotypes, and Hispanic or Hispanic stereotypes. Gender stereotypes: These include male, female and transgender stereotypes. Sexually Oriented Stereotypes: These stereotypes include gay, lesbian and bisexual people. Socio-economic stereotypes: They are classified as homeless, working class and upper class stereotypes.

Stereotypes are always national, and if there are analogs in other cultures, then these are quasi-stereotypes, because, coinciding in general, they differ in nuances, details that are of fundamental importance. For example, the phenomena and the situation of the queue in different cultures are different, and therefore the stereotypical behavior will also be different: in Russia they ask "Who is the last?" or just stand in line, in a row European countries they tear off the ticket in a special apparatus and then follow the figures that light up above the window, for example, at the post office.

So, a stereotype is a certain fragment of a conceptual picture of the world, a mental “picture”, a stable cultural-national idea (according to Yu. E. Prokhorov, “super-stable” and “super-fixed”) about an object or situation. It represents a certain culturally determined idea of an object, phenomenon, situation. But this is not only a mental image, but also its verbal shell.

Belonging to a particular culture is determined precisely by the presence of a basic stereotyped core of knowledge, which is repeated in the process of socialization of a person in a given society, therefore stereotypes are considered to be prized (important, representative) names in culture. A stereotype is such a phenomenon of language and speech, such a stabilizing factor that allows, on the one hand, to preserve and transform some dominant components of a given culture, and on the other hand, to express oneself among “friends” and at the same time to identify “one's own”.

The formation of ethnic consciousness and culture as regulators of human behavior is based on both innate and acquired in the process of socialization factors - cultural stereotypes, which are assimilated from the moment a person begins to identify himself with a certain ethnic group, a certain culture and be aware of himself as an element ...

The mechanism for the formation of stereotypes is many cognitive processes, because stereotypes perform a number of cognitive functions - the function of schematization and simplification, the function of forming and storing group ideology, etc.

We live in a world of stereotypes imposed on us by culture. The totality of mental stereotypes of an ethnos is known to each of its representatives. Stereotypes are, for example, expressions in which a representative of a rural, peasant culture speaks of a bright moonlit night: light so that you can sew, while a city dweller in this typical situation will say: light so that you can read. Similar stereotypes are used by native speakers in standard communication situations. Moreover, almost any feature can become dominant in the stereotype, not just the logically main feature.

The cultural sphere of a certain ethnic group contains a number of stereotypical elements that, as a rule, are not perceived by the bearers of another culture; These elements are called gaps by Yu.A. Sorokin and I. Yu. created a text, namely lacunas.

The stability of culture, its viability is determined by how developed the structures that determine its unity, integrity. The integrity of culture presupposes the development of cultural stereotypes - stereotypes of goal-setting, behavior, perception, understanding, communication, etc. stereotypes the overall picture the world. An important role in the formation of stereotypes is played by the frequency of occurrence of certain objects, phenomena in people's lives, often expressed in longer human contacts with these objects in comparison with others, which leads to stereotyping of such objects.

The stereotype of behavior is the most important among the stereotypes; it can turn into a ritual. And in general, stereotypes have much in common with traditions, customs, myths, rituals, but they differ from the latter in that traditions and customs are characterized by their objectified significance, openness to others, and stereotypes remain at the level of hidden mindsets that exist among “friends”.

So, the stereotype is characteristic of the consciousness and language of a representative of culture, it is a kind of core of culture, its bright representative, and therefore the support of the individual in the dialogue of cultures.

We use the scheme proposed by N.I. Tolstoy in ethnolinguistics to describe the language of a particular region in the light of cultural linguistics: the literary language corresponds elite culture, dialects and dialects - folk culture, etc.

This scheme can be used for the linguoculturological description of any other region.

The brightest language peculiarity, which reflects the culture of the people, are phraseological units and paremias, metaphors and symbols. For example, mythologemes, archetypes, standards, stereotypes, customs, rituals, beliefs are fixed in the language.

The national and cultural originality of phraseological units, metaphors, symbols is formed through cultural connotation. And yet we argue that language is not a repository of culture.

The unit of language - the word - is only a signal, the function of which is to awaken human consciousness, to touch certain concepts in it that are ready to respond to this signal.

Language is only a mechanism that contributes to the coding and translation of culture. Texts are the true guardians of culture. Not language, but text displays spiritual world person. It is the text that is directly related to culture, because it is permeated with many cultural codes, it is the text that stores information about history, ethnography, national psychology, national behavior, i.e. about everything that makes up the content of culture. In turn, the rules for constructing a text depend on the cultural context in which it appears.

The text is created from the linguistic units of the lower levels, which, if appropriately selected, can strengthen the cultural signal. It is these units in the first place that are phraseological units.

Maslova V.A. Linguoculturology - M., 2001

Culture stereotypes. Stereotype as a phenomenon of cultural space

Read also