If you use negative stereotypes about people who are different from you, you are inviting everyone who hears you to use negative stereotypes about you. Below are some of the negative stereotypes other people could use about you in difficult financial situations. How many elderly people who now live in poverty planned to live in poverty at the end of their lives? None, of course.
My collection of stereotypes comes from books, magazines, newspapers, movies, television shows, radio programs, news shows, conversations, etc. Sources can be 10s to 100s to 1000s of years old.
Stereotypes and categories overlap at times. I create categories of stereotypes as I have stereotype examples to put into those categories.
The research into gossip goes back at least to the middle of the 20th century. Both men and women research gossip. Putting all of their research together, gossip is talk and writing about people — both other people and ourselves — in family, social, workplace, and public settings.
Much of the research shows that gossip is both positive and negative. I define gossip as good, bad, or ugly. Good gossip ignores or breaks stereotypes while bad and ugly gossip are based on negative stereotypes.
Negative stereotypes exist about everyone, no matter their age, gender, race, religion, profession, etc. These stereotype blog posts will help you understand the negative stereotypes about you. Each post will focus on one or two or a few characteristics.
Stereotype Updates
I add stereotypes as I come across them.
I will add the new stereotypes at the bottom of each listing, putting ~~~~~ between the older stereotypes and the new stereotypes.
More Stereotypes
Negative Stereotypes Behind Bad & Ugly Gossip: People In General
Negative Stereotypes Behind Bad & Ugly Gossip: Ethnic, National, & Racial Identities
Negative Stereotypes Behind Bad & Ugly Gossip: Workplaces
Negative Stereotypes Behind Bad & Ugly Gossip: Romance
Soft Skills Are Power Skills On Facebook
~~~~~
Soft skill power strategies could help overcome stereotypes about you.
softskillstrategycourses.com
~~~~~
People Living At Working Class, Low Income & Poverty Levels
thieving
lazy
dependent
passive
uneducated
undeserving
deviant for not being middle class
don’t work hard enough
don’t work at all
can’t improve themselves
feel bad about themselves
don’t make friends well
unable to defer gratification
lack of respect for or interest in education
dishonest
promiscuous
apathetic or ignorant about birth control
ethnic minority
lack thrift
loose morals
no personal drive
no willingness to take risks
no initiative
unwilling to work hard
fail to seize opportunities
deserve:
to live near garbage dumps and toxic waste, near noxious industries
poorer school systems
inferior medical care
more frequent arrests
harsher prison sentences
more severe social control
People Living In Slums
criminals
drug addicts
delinquents
People living in Brazilian favelas
desperate
crushed
Mothers Receiving Welfare
lazy
freeloader
wild
lack confidence
abuse the system
practice fraud
get something for nothing
sit at home
lack work ethics
keep having babies for free
unskilled laborers
live high on the hog
on drugs
fat
sits in front of television all day eating potato chips
adopted a child so they could get welfare
deserve:
contraceptive testing
involuntary sterilization
coercive treatment during pregnancy
prosecution for drug use
Fathers Of Low Income Children
deadbeat dads (only good for financial support)
Social welfare programs are meant to help
low income people
Low Income People Are Poor In
friendships
verbal skills
education
social manners
resources
health
happiness
Low Income Parents
lack educational values
Low Income Children
lack motivation
do not value education
would not benefit from:
the same education offered in schools in wealthier areas
Low Income Men
buffoon
threat
Low Income Women
slobs
plain
unattractive
neglect their children
sexually loose
accustomed to roughness
less prone to the terror or rape
can be raped only through gang rape
Points to Ponder
Did you notice that people living in poverty might not be able to improve themselves because other people think they deserve poorer school systems?
Did you notice the opposite stereotypes that people living in poverty can’t improve themselves but can take advantage of the health care system?
Did you notice that people living in poverty can supposedly take advantage of the health care system, but are in poor health?
Did you notice that people living in poverty might need to take advantage of the health care system because other people think they deserve inferior medical care?
How do people living in poverty live high on the hog when other people think they deserve to live in poor neighborhoods near garbage dumps and toxic waste, and near noxious industries?
Personal Note
I wrote letters to the editor about poverty issues for several years. I was low income because medical professionals misdiagnosed a childhood spinal injury for 33 years. Eventually, normal sitting and standing became extremely painful. How would you earn money if you couldn’t sit or stand normally?
Early in my letter writing years, a friend was in a baby sitting coop. My friend attended a meeting shortly after the newspaper had published one of my letters about poverty. One of the other women in the coop asked if anyone knew Paula Kramer. My friend said she did. The other woman asked:
“Is Paula fat and does she sit in front of TV set all day eating potato chips?”
My friend told me she set the woman straight.
My husband was part Native American and our daughter has his darker skin coloring. A neighbor asked me,
“Did you adopt your daughter so you could get welfare?”
Why would any adoption agency allow someone living at poverty level to adopt a child?
~~~~~
Critical Thinking Questions
1. What’s happening?
2. Why is it important?
3. What don’t I see?
4. How do I know?
5. Who is saying it?
6. What else? What if?
Stereotype Thinking Questions
1. What is threatening my beliefs?
2. How can I make it unimportant?
3. What can I reject?
4. What can I laugh at?
5. How can I attack people who threaten my beliefs?
6. How can I deflect?
The stereotype thinking questions are mine, based on my observations of stereotype thinkers.
~~~~~
Paula M. Kramer
© 2015 to the present
All rights reserved.
Posts on this blog alternate with posts at the link below. Posts for both blogs are published on Wednesdays as they are ready to be published. Time between posts could be weeks or months.
Resource Websites
Business Directory
Positive Identity Directory For People With Mugshots
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