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Stigma sociology essays
Stigma sociology essays
Effects stereotypes have on people
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Linguistic reappropriation is when a word is used in a negative connotation in relation to a minority. These disparaging words have been labelled informally as slurs. A slur is defined as “an insulting or disparaging remark or innuendo.” (Merriam-Webster,. n.d.) A minority party becomes oppressed through the use of these slurs because they often cause observers, not of that group, to view the minority differently often in a negative way. The view of outside parties coupled with the use of the word cause the oppressed group to have a sense of a lack of power. Power is essential to a group morale because without power, a group's will become oppressed and an individual can develop a lack of self esteem. Therefore, a member of an oppressed group will often suppress their true nature in order to avoid being persecuted. Reappropriation or "Reclaiming the Slur" is become a common practice amongst oppressed groups today, some reclaimed words include nigger (nigga), queer, dyke, slut, and bitch. However, there are instances when linguistic reappropriation can be both helpful and harmful to a minority party through the creation or removal of a groups power.
The theoretical model of reappropriation outlined by the experiments written in the article “The Reappropriation of Stigmatizing Labels: The Reciprocal Relationship Between Power and Self-Labeling” allows a better understanding of how slurs are reappropriated. The experiments conducted during the study (Galinsky, Wang, Whitson, Anicich, Hugenberg, Bodenhausen., 2013.) explain that self labeling is vital to the reappropriation of slurs. Self labelling causes the observing parties to view a certain minority as more powerful because they self labelled. The article (Galinsky et al., 2013...
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Galinsky, A. D., Wang, C. S., Whitson, J. A., Anicich, E. M., Hugenberg, K., & Bodenhausens, G. V. (2013). The Reappropriation of Stigmatizing Labels: The Reciprocal Relationship Between Power
and Self-Labeling. Psychological Science (Sage Publications Inc.), 24(10), 2020-2029. Retrieved from SPORTDiscus with Full Text, Ipswich, MA. Accessed November 14, 2013.
Gringo. (n.d). In Merriam-Webster Online. Retrieved November 22, 2013 from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gringo
Schwartz, A. (2008). Their language, our Spanish: Introducing public discourses of ‘Gringoism’ as racializing linguistic and cultural reappropriation. Spanish In Context, 5(2), 224-245. Retrieved from
http://library.macewan.ca/
Slur. [Def. 1]. (n.d). In Merriam-Webster Online. Retrieved November 22, 2013 from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slur
Moreover, the racial terms can be a projection of more positive definitions and interpretations that can establish individuality. In “Meaning of a Word” by Gloria Naylor, she talks about instances where adults of her community/race have references of the ‘n-word’ that differs from how society or individuals who may use it.
Immigrants have helped shape American identity by the languages they speak from their home country. Richard Rodriguez essay “Blaxicans and Other Reinvented Americans” reveals Rodriguez’s attitudes towards race and ethnicity as they relate to making people know what culture really identifies a person rather than their race. For example, in the essay, it states that Richard Rodriguez “ is Chinese, and this is because he lives in a Chinese City and because he wants to be Chinese. But I have lived in a Chinese City for so long that my eye has taken on the palette, has come to prefer lime greens and rose reds and all the inventions of this Chinese Mediterranean. lines 163-171”.
We’ve all done it: walking down a hallway, judging someone or thinking someone is less than what we perceive ourselves to be based on the color of their skin or how they are dressed, or even their physical features. The author of The Language of Prejudice, Gordon Allport, shares how we live in a society where we are ridiculed for being less than a culture who labels themselves as dominant. This essay reveals the classifications made to the American morale. Allport analyzes in many ways how language can stimulate prejudice and the connection between language and prejudice.
Changing attitudes towards race relations forced a change in the manifestation of racist ideologies. Bonilla-Silva also discusses the style of color-blindness. He asserts that due to the change in post-Civil Rights era thoughts on discrimination, whites had to change their language when talking about racism so as to promote white privilege in a non-racist manner. He argues that color-blind racism has “technical tools that allow users to articulate its frames”
Another struggle for identity with Latinos is their struggle with the Spanish and English languages. While some Latinos may speak Spanish in their homes, the language may not be conversationally used in their schools. Some Lat...
Gloria Anzaldua, wrote the essay “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” communicating and describing her adolescence in a society brimming with sexism, cultural imperialism, racism, low self-esteem, and identity formation. The reason one comes to America is to finer themselves academically, and intellectually. One must learn to speak English to live among the American’s, because that is the language they speak. Though, no one has the right to deprive you of your familiar tongue. At a young age, Anzaldua was scolded, even mistreated for speaking her native “Chicano” tongue. Anzaldúa described this ignorance, cruelty, and discrimination when she states: “I remember being caught speaking Spanish at recess – that was good for three licks on the knuckles with a sharp ruler.” She overcomes this hostility throughout her life.
Although our society is slowly developing a more accepting attitude toward differences, several minority groups continue to suffer from cultural oppression. In her essay “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” Gloria Anzaldúa explores the challenges encountered by these groups. She especially focuses on her people, the Chicanos, and describes the difficulties she faced because of her cultural background. She argues that for many years, the dominant American culture has silenced their language. By forcing them to speak English and attempting to get rid of their accents, the Americans have robbed the Chicanos of their identity. She also addresses the issue of low self-esteem that arises from this process of acculturation. Growing up in the United States,
In keeping with that foundation, racial microaggressions can be defined as the brief and everyday slights, insults, indignities and denigrating messages sent to people of color by well-intentioned White people who are unaware of the hidden messages being communicated (CITE). These messages may be sent verbally ("You speak good English."), nonverbally (clutching one's pu...
Thoit, Link, Bruce G., and Jo C. Phelan. "Labeling and Stigma." Handbook of the sociology of mental health. Springer Netherlands, 2013. 525-541.
A large number of people in the Hispanic community whether Hispanics are not able to get the English literacy skills that they need not because they want to keep born in Latin America or the United States, speak Spanish primarily. This is basically because in present day time, Hispanics are more likely to pass Spanish to their kids now than they have done in the past. (Ortiz, P.149) This is seen as a social problem, especially because of the fact that there is an increasing demand that English should only be taught in public school and it should also be spoken within the Spanish community. Even though Hispanics do speak a lot of Spanish most of the time, they still do learn English also, especially the young. But, because of the large flow of immigrants, the use of Spanish is used more often because they are constantly encountering immigrants who speak no English. (Ortiz, P. 150) Before hand there has been said to have been lower achievements when Hispanics make frequent use of the Spanish la...
This is highlighted in how words such as ‘crazy’ and ‘mental’ are used in the context of everyday language and are used by young children to discredit peers, ‘this signifies that stigmatisation permeates our language throughout the lifespan’ (Hinshaw 2007 p.xi).
Gall, S. B., Beins, B., & Feldman, A. (2001). The gale encyclopedia of psychology. (2nd ed., pp. 271-273). Detroit, MI: Gale Group.
Williams and Williams-Morris (2000) discuss the stigma of racism as being an attack on the ego identity of its victims.
Current Directions in Psychological Science 15.5 (2006): 265-68. Print. The.