Is it possible to perceive others without in some way judging or categorizing them? If so, how? If not, how can we make the judgments we do make fairer?
It is hard to not perceive one’s character before you meet them. Not only is there the saying “first impressions matter” but many people take these impressions and classify people into stereotypical groups. These stereotypes are hard to break through. We grow up in a society of freedom of expression and this freedom has its faults. We begin to classify people based on how they dress, their hair color and the color of their skin. I am a server and if anyone else is or has been a server before we have stereotypes. Certain groups of people do not tip as well. Some groups are ones that dress like “white trash” or young teenagers. Servers will tend not to give as great of service to these individuals because they have a perception that they will not tip as well. For me I have been trying to break my mentality of judging people and am shocked when I open a checkbook and find a 30-40% tip from a table that was not expected. It is hard to not judge people. It is almost impossible to not thing about the stereotypes that are around us. I feel that it is ok to think about these stereotypes because then we are recognizing them. The only thing that matters is how we act on the stereotypes. If we treat one group different than another then we are facilitating a stagnant society. But if we treat everyone equally we are creating change.
I personally do not believe that it is possible to truly perceive one’s character before we meet a person. I do believe though, that it is possible to label one’s character before we meet a person. Like you mentioned, as humans, we tend to classify people into stereotypical groups. I can not emphasize how dangerous this is.
ReplyDeleteTalking about stereotypes, it is impossible for me to not think about one of my favorite movies, “Pretty woman”. Although it is not considered an ‘academic movie’, it can be totally used to highlight how denigrating and humiliating stereotypes can be.
In “Pretty woman”, Julia Roberts plays Vivian, a prostitute who is hired for a week by Richard Gere, who plays Edward Lewis, a very rich man. One day Vivian needs to buy one dress to attend a business dinner with Edward. She goes to a very fancy Beverly Hills boutique and the shop assistant throws her out of the boutique, just because Vivian was wearing ordinary clothes. A couple of days later, Vivian returns to the same boutique dressed very formally. Then the same shop assistant approaches Vivian like a lady. But it is too late. Vivian had enough and gives this lady a very good lesson so that she never ever judges anyone else again.
Long story short, this movie shows how stereotypes take place. Some people “make their diagnostics” based on what they see on the surface, without knowing anything about the person they are labeling. It is such a pity that humans can be so mean sometimes. Had one allowed himself/herself to know others before making conclusions, the world would certainly be a better place for everybody. Furthermore, at the end of the day, nobody likes being stereotyped because of skin color, clothes, physical appearance, and so forth.
Ibirapuera
I agree with both of you on certain things. Kolby you mentioned that stereotypes are hard to break.. this is most certainly true. We live in a society where norms are deviant behavior are defined for us at such an early age. I also agree with ibirapuera in that stereotypes can be dangerous if not handled carefully.
ReplyDeleteI think it's almost impossible to be 100% non-judgemental, however it's extremely hard to do. It's pretty natural to judge, but assuming we know what someone else's life is like is the ignorant part. I liked your example of Pretty Woman... this also reminded me of that movie "Selena". There is a scene where she was judged in a high-end store and was not given good customer service because she was hispanic and it was assumed by the associate that she most likely wouldn't purchase anything. The woman later felt foolish when she found out Selena was there shopping for a gown for the Grammy's.
I have a relevant story on this particular subject of judging people before actually knowing them. I work as an estimator for a painting and waterproofing company. I mostly work in the office and my dress is fairly casual; jeans, collared shirt, and sneakers. Recently my boss yelled at me for my choice of shoes. My boss, who is also my uncle, left a book on my desk the other day with it turned to a chapter. The chapter was about how people tend to look at the way a person is dressed and then proceed to label them. When I read that I was a little embarrased about my choice of shoes. Now I wear dress shoes to work and it has been noticed by my co-workers as well as other contractors and I feel that they look at me different now. I hate to think that people judge people based on attire but then I find myself doing it as well. One last thing is that quite a few of my friends are servers and I have heard the stereotypes they have about people in regards to tipping. They say they give less service to people that fit into that low tipping stereotype. I always ask them why should they get tipped for bad service. The response tehy give is that "If I were to give them great service I would still not get a good tip." I think that logic is crazy because there job is to be a server. A tip is for service above and beyond and is not something that should be expected. They do not like my logic either!!
ReplyDelete