As one gets ready for an interview, he or she must look sophisticated and attractive; they must be confident; and most importantly, they must be qualified for the job. He or she walks into the office: they look around next to them just to see models everywhere. There is not an unattractive person in sight. Why is this? As the human’s changing views of society becomes increasingly popular via social media and advertisements, expectations also increase in the workplace. Individuals who are more attractive are proven to find more success in the workplace than those individuals who are less attractive. Sex, race and attractiveness all fall into biases and expectations set by society. In today’s world, the prettier one is- the more successful he or she will be. The …show more content…
Confidence, defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary, is explained to be “a feeling or consciousness of one's powers or of reliance on one's circumstances” - simplified as how powerful and beautiful you feel. The amount of confidence a person has affects how someone carries him or herself in the workplace; more specifically, an interview. The more confidence a man or woman have walking into an interview, the more an interviewer will notice their professionalism and the more the inquirer will take the job seeker seriously. Confidence is a key to having success in a workplace. Someone must have confidence walking into a job interview, and one must have confidence doing the job as well. Society has a great way of knocking confidence down. The body image ideas of how men and women should look bring confidence down when in reality no one can truly look like that without Photoshop. Society encourages confidence, yet knocks it down with bias and discrimination and ideal images even when you need confidence to overcome those obstacles. The vicious circle in society all leads back to the stereotypes
Many companies are using new techniques to attract modern day society. One of these techniques is revising their hiring practices. Instead of hiring based on intelligence, or skill sets, they desire employees with “the look”. Companies want people that represent their product or brand. In the article, “Going for the Look, But Risking Discrimination” by Steven Greenhouse, the store Abercrombie and Fitch hire people with a “classic American” look. However, there are many problems that can arise with this. Marshall Cohen, a senior industry analyst, claims that companies are forced to do what is necessary. I disagree with this statement. Companies that hire based on looks are risking more they assume.
Women are told that in order to get anywhere in life they must constantly worry about their outer appearance. In Jennifer Weiner’s article, “When Can Women Stop Trying to Look Perfect?” she delves deeply into how today’s society women’s worth is based on how they look. Weiner believes that women who do not meet the standards of beauty do not have as many opportunities.
However, another article from Science Daily entitled “Hiring Practices Influenced by Beauty” explains that the decisions of what people hire are being affected by The Halo Effect, too. This article makes clear that hiring practice...
The general consensus among American citizens is that the retail industry as one of the worst jobs a person can take, just short of fast food and any job that is janitorial. There are many reasons behind this stigma that affects people both in and out of the retail industry. The perspective of the customer will always differ from that of the retail worker, with the exception of those who have worked or currently work in retail. However, just because the perspective is different, the level of respect has no reason to shift.
Melissa Nelson, a dental assistant in Iowa, experienced her workplace to be a place where she was judged by her looks and not by her skill level. She was fired because her boss thought that she was too attractive and too threatening to his marriage. Therefore, she was fired for her appearance, not because she did something wrong (Kimmel). An article in The Washington Post expresses beauty’s role in work perfectly: just like goldilocks’ porridge, you can’t be too unattractive or too beautiful, you have to be just right (Rampell). Ms. Nelson’s experience is proof that beauty is not all it’s cracked up to be at
When the issue of discrimination materializes, the common types that come to mind are class, race, and gender discrimination. However, appearance-based discrimination in the workplace is a growing issue in America. Discrimination based on appearance is different from other forms in that it can be used to discriminate against a wide range of people. From gender, race, and sex, to social class, age, and weight, every person has a physical appearance, which in turn makes every person a candidate for being judged. Whether intentional or unintentional, the physical appearances of workers from all walks of life are being subjected to corporate scrutiny. When deciding who should represent their companies, American employers tend to focus on a person’s ability to conform and outward appearances rather than a person’s skill level.
According to the Author Shankar vedantam Article How a self fulfilling stereotype can drag down performance.” Stereotypes is a highly simplified,general and exaggerated type of representation they are also can be negative”. “Stereotype could be positive or negative anytime your grouping race or individuals together and make a judgment about them without knowing them, this is an example of a stereotype.” “Stereotyping is the defined of over simplified attitude people hold toward those outside one's own experience who are different”. I made a google form to find out what people think more than 80 percent of kids taking my survey are 15 year old the other 20 percent was a 14 year old. Mostly 60 percent are female the other 40 percent are males.
In a growing world, relying on education and intelligence, judgments in a social environment are still continuously based off of appearance. A study of the importance of outer looks was produced through a TV game show. Contestants fought to answer questions correctly to improve their personal score. At the end of the game, the player with the highest score was asked to eliminate a team member. Although many times an unattractive player would have higher scores and could be more beneficial than another teammate, only 27% of unattractive members were chosen to advance to the next round (Belot, Bhaskar, and van de Ven 852-853). When society overlooks qualities and characteristics of high value for looks, discrimination conquers.
People may feel uncomfortable in the diverse workforce. It is moderately normal for humans to find unfamiliar things uncomfortable at first. Consequently, every individual has their own view of what is comfortable to them. People can become uncomfortable when they encounter people with different point of views and the way they perceive the world. Some people might struggle to work with a large number of diverse employees with different sexual orientation, race, religion, or another number of factors that make them unique. We all have particular stereotypes of different groups of people, which could lead to biased decision making. Stereotypes are different generalizations about a particular group of people. The assumption that men are strong,
Besides that, the negative stereotype that depicts women as incapable, less intelligent, and uneducated adversely hinders job opportunities for women including the process of hiring, promotions, and wages. These negative perceptions about women are implanted in our society, causing potential employers to have the same stereotypical perspectives about women, and not wanting to hire or promote them to a higher position. According to the statistics from “Today’s Workplace,” less than sixteen percent of Fortune 500 corporate officers are women, and less than two percent of Fortune 500 and 1000 CEOs are women (Dodds). This statistic vividly shows these deep-rooted stereotypes pose serious challenges to women’s career advancements. Employers are
What is stereotype? The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines stereotype as “believing unfairly that all people or things with a particular characteristic are the same.” Stereotypes are everywhere. Stereotypes cover racial groups, gender, political groups and even demographic. Stereotypes affect our everyday lives. Sometimes people are judged based on what they wear, how they look, how they act or people they hang out with. Gender and racial stereotypes are very controversial in today’s society and many fall victims. Nevertheless, racial and gender stereotypes have serious consequences in everyday life. It makes individuals have little to no motivation and it also puts a label about how a person should act or live. When one is stereotype they
There is a famous saying that states, “ we should not judge a book by its cover”, but oftentimes the first thing noticed on a person is their looks. One’s “physical beauty” strongly influences people’s first impressions of them. As a whole, we tend to assume that pretty people are more likeable and better people than those who are unattractive. Around the world, we believe that what is beautiful is good. There is a general consensus within a culture about what is considered physically appealing and beautiful. “Physical beauty” is associated with being more sociable, intelligent, and even socially skilled. Society shares this common notion of who has and who does not have “physical beauty”. Thus, “physical beauty”, as seen
Kantianism and utilitarianism are two of the most popular ethical principals. Both determine how people ought to act in accordance with their actions to other people’s affectedness. Kantianism, discovered by Immanuel Kant, focuses on what is morally good. He comes up with the theory that the only good that is actually undeniably good is good will; everything else is only used to achieve an immoral end. For example, loyalty is not good in hindsight, if one is being loyal to someone that is evil.
Employment discrimination legislation has evolved to include race, disabilities, sexual harassment of either gender, and age. In lieu of this evolution and an increasing trend toward equality for all individuals in the workplace, the time has come for the protective reach of employment discrimination law to cover ugliness. While the proposal may cause titters at first, evidence exists that discrimination based on looks (or physical appearance) occurs in the workplace. An investigation was conducted by ABC’s 20/20 news program in 1994 that sent two men and two women into the workplace to secure the same jobs (Sessions 1). The individuals were coached to act in a similar manner during the interviews and took with them resumes with matching education and experience. The only difference was that one of the men and one of the women was superior in physical attraction to their counterpart. The results demonstrate whether intentional or not, looks discrimination does play a role in the employment process “In five cases out of five, the more attractive woman got the job; in three chances out of three, the more attractive man was hired” (Sessions 1).
In the modern era, stereotypes seem to be the ways people justify and simplify the society. Actually, “[s]tereotypes are one way in which we ‘define’ the world in order to see it” (Heilbroner 373). People often prejudge people or objects with grouping them into the categories or styles they know, and then treat the types with their experiences or just follow what other people usually do, without truly understand what and why. Thus, all that caused miscommunication, argument or losing opportunities to broaden the life experience. Stereotypes are usually formed based on an individual’s appearance, race, and gender that would put labels on people.