Cultural Dimensions: Understanding and Managing Cultural Differences. We also looked at?prejudice.?In what way have the readings and video informed you on the dimensions of cu

Learning the Language

of Prejudice

·'Noone has ever been born a Negro hater, a Jew hater, or any other

kind of hater. Nature refuses to be involved in such suicidal practices.

HARRY BRIDGES (1900-1990)

· hat Harry Bridges said about bigotry is also true of prejudice. No one is born wprejudiced, yet all human beings learn

prejudice along with everything else as they pass from infancy to adulthood. Prejudices will vary depending upon family, friends, location, and racial or ethnic group; some are simply embedded in cul­ ture, specifically in language. One way to under­ stand the history of prejudice in the United States is to examine how immigrants were perceived by those already established as American citizens. To be accepted, immigrants were expected to adopt American cultural traits and integrate themselves into society. Insistence that immigrants reject their cultural heritage and adopt dominant cultural norms is a historical pattern that persists in Ameri­ can society.

How has language reflected negative attitudes toward innnigrants?

As immigrants became assimilated, they often shared existing American attitudes of suspicion, and even hostility, toward newer immigrants, the "for­ eigners" in their midst. Changes in immigration laws document a tug-of-war between those who advocated inviting others to America and those who wanted newcomers to return to their home­ land. If immigrants came to America, they were

64

usually expected to assimilate quickly. Assimila­

tion placed enormous pressure on new arrivals; to assimilate meant to abandon their roots, their native cultures and traditions, and even their native language, and to replace them with the traditions, customs, and language of standard American cul­ ture. Language especially has been a significant issue in the assimilation process. Immigrant -school children were punished if they were caught speak­ ing their native language.

Assimilation expectations endure: To be differ­ ent often arouses suspicions, stereotypes, and prej­ udices. The Hmong, American allies during the Vietnam War, were persecuted when Laotian com­ munists took control. In the 1980s, Hmong refugees entering the United States became a significant presence in communities and public schools across the nation. A large number of Hmong families set­ tled in a small, midwestern community. In the local high schools, white students resented those stu­ dents talking to one another in the Hmong lan – guage in the hallways. The white students were uncomfortable and seemed to believe that by talk­ ing in their native language, Hmong students were demonstrating a reluctance to "become American" by maintaining their culture and their differences.

In the past, many ethnic immigrants have tried to preserve their culture. While striving for eco­ nomic success, Chinese Americans established Chi­ nese schools and German Americans built German

schools to maintain their cultural heritage. Ameri­ cans have been slow to understand that the loss of native language also results in a loss of cultural identity (Macedo and Bartolome, 2001 ). The process of Americanization has usually been effec­ tive with the children of immigrants; second and third generations of immigrant families tend to adopt American norms, unfortunately losing more of their cultural heritage with each generation. Despite this success at homogenizing dilferent groups corning to America, our dominant American society has sent out curiously mixed messz,ges about language.

Carlos Cortes (2002) tells the story best. When he started school he was fluent in Spanish, but teachers told his parents not to speak Spanish so that Carlos could focus on learning English. He was so successful in school that he ultimately earned a college scholarship. When Carlos enrolled in a lib­ eral arts program, he discovered that there was a requirement to learn a foreign language. Suddenly it was desirable to be competent in another lan­ guage, like Spanish. Carlos wondered why he had not been allowed to remain proficient in Spanish as a child. He enrolled in Spanish to relearn the language he had lost, and many years later wrote two versions of his dissertation, one in Spanish and one in English, to emphasize the value of being bilingual.

CULTURAL BIASES

IN LANGUAGE

The U.S. Bilingual Education Act passed in 1968 was intended to help students maintain fluency in their native language while learning English, but resistance to bilingual education in the United States has been strong. Opponents believe bilin­ gual/bicultural education allows (and even encour­ ages) immigrants to maintc1in and perpetuate cultural differences, illustrating the ongoing suspi­ cion of immigrants as foreign, different, and some-_

how not "American." These opponents were suc­ cessful in 2002 when the Bilingual Education Act expired after thirty-four years and was not renewed (Crawford, 2002). Distrusting people because they seem different is a major factor in how people learn to be prejudiced, but people also learn prejudices from negative attitudes embedded in the language itself.

How are negative attitudes embedded in language?

Language is an important source for understanding the values and norms of any culture. Analyzing lan­ guage reveals not only assumptions, beliefs, values, and priorities of a culture, but also prejudices. Scrutiny is not limited to words alone, but also how words are used. For example, in Germany there are two words meaning to drink: trinken and saufen. ; Trinken is used to refer to humans drinking and saufen refers to animals drinking. When someone drinks alcohol to excess and becomes publicly ine­ briated, Germans may use the word saufen to refer to that person's drinking behavior. The criticism concerning public intoxication is obvious.

An eighteen-year-old German student stayed vvith a college professor during a high school cul­ tural exchange program. A few days before his final weekend in America, Franz related a recent con­ versation he had with with his new American friends. As they planned a farewell party for their·· German visitors, several high school seniors joked about "getting hammered." Franz wasn't certain, but he assumed they were talking about getting drunk at this party and asked his host if that was what they meant. After being told his assumption was correct, Franz expressed surprise. In his cul­ ture, such talk would be equivalent to saying, "Let's plan to behave stupidly, to embarrass ourselves in front of people." Influenced by his cultural beliefs, Franz was astonished that anyone would actually plan to do something so ridiculous. La11guage is a cultural mirror, but words also reflect on the indi­ vidual choosing to use them.

65

66 S E c TI o N 1 Individual Attitudes and Interpersonal Relations

What difference does our choice of words make?

Some people argue that the influence of language is overrated, that it's not the words we use but what we mean by them-our intent. If someone didn't intend to cause harm by the words he or she used, then no harm was caused. But studies show that word choice does makes a difference in people's reactions to situations. In one study, subjects were shown a videotape of a multiple-car accident. One group was asked to' estimate the speed or the cars when they "smashed" into each other; the other group was asked to estimate the speed when the cars "hit" each other. Subjects in the group with the word "smashed" in their instructions had consis­ tently higher estimates for car speed than the sub­ jects who heard the word "hit" (Aronson, 1999).

Language is a powerful tool, a reflection of cul­ ture and an influential teacher. Language teaches us cultural norms, standards, and values, transmitting them from one generation to the next. Prejudices are transmitted as well. Prejudice is not something we are born with, it is learned. An important ques­ tion to answer is: How is prejudice learned? By examining English words and phrases, we can iden – tify some blatant and some subtle lessons in preju­ dice that are being taught to American children as they learn the language of their culture.

What examples of racial prejudice exist in our language?

One pattern observed in the English language has been called the Black/White syndrome. Scholars report that this language pattern emerged in Eng­ lish long before the British knew that people described as black were living in Africa (Moore, 2000). Although the pattern likely originated in Biblical language referring to Satan, evil, and hell as black or dark, it has been argued that a consistently negative pattern for references to black affected British perceptions, of Africans and that nega­ tive connotations for blackness were readily applied to all dark-skihned people they encountered. A negative pattern for black has persisted in the English language as can be seen in familiar phrases: black deed, black day, black hearted, black mass, black magic, the Black Death, black thoughts, black looks, and blacklist.

What examples of gender

prejudice exist in our language?

One may no more live in the world without

picking up the moral prejudices of the world

than one will be able to go to Hell without

perspiring.

H.L. MENCKEN (1880-1956)

In contrast, references to white in the English lan­ guage follow a consistently positive pattern: telling little white lies, having a white wedding, cheering White Knights (in Shining Armor), indicating approval by saying "that's really white of you," and even engaging in white-collar crime (perceived as less harmful than other crimes). Some authors have exploited the pervasive black/white pattern by delib­ erately using white as a negative term, invoking images of sterility, death, or evil to shock readers with unexpected associations. Robert Frost em­ ployed this reversal in some of his poems, and it was no accident that Herman Melville chose to make Moby Dick, the symbol of evil in Ahab's obsession, a white whale.

Although other colors relating to nonwhite racial groups are used negatively, the pattern is not as per­ sistent as in the black/white syndrome (Watson and Johnson, 1972). Red is used to describe being in debt ("in the red"), possibly involving a lot of red tape, especially if the person is caught red-handed. Yellow is associated with cowardice (yellow streak down his back) and is used to designate cheap, sen­ sational, tabloid-style journalism. Children are sur­ rounded by messages pertaining to color, even with something as simple as using crayons and finding one called "flesh" that is closer to the color of the flesh of white people than other groups. Although some changes have occurred, many negative mes­ sages remain about human differences.

Unlike many other languages, English does not have a neutral pronoun that includes men and women, so the word he is used to refer to someone of indeterminate gender and man has traditionally been used in words or phrases where the referent could be female (even though there are neutral

C HAP TE R 4 Learning the Language of Prejudice 67

nouns such as human and people). A principle in English common law was that when a man and woman married, they became one, but that "one" was the man; if a woman owned property prior to marriage, legal rights to dispose of that property passed to her husband.

Some linguists continue to insist that man is generic when used in words such as businessman, chairman, congressman, fireman, layman, mailman, policeman, salesman, spokesman, and statesman, but studies do not support the claim. Arliss ( 1991) described studies using subjects ranging from ele­ mentary children to adults; all concluded that generic language invoked mental images of males.

In a study reported by Miller and Swift ( 1977) involving 500 junior high students, one group of students received instructions to draw pictures of "early man" engaged in various activities and to

Sometimes [prejudice] is like a hair across

your cheek. You can't see it, you can't find it

with your fingers, but you keep brushing at

it because the feel ofit is irritating.

MARIAN ANDERSON (1897-1993)

give each person drawn a name (so researchers could be certain that a man or woman was the sub­ ject of the drawing). The majority of students of both sexes tended to draw only males for every activity identified except the one representing infant care, and even for that activity, 49% of boys drew a male image. A second group of students was instructed to draw pictures of "early people" engaged in the same activities and to give each human figure drawn a name; once again, the majority of the humans drawn by both sexes were male. It is possible that the phrase early people sounded strange and that many students translated it as "cave men" and drew male pictures. The third group of students was asked to draw pictures of "early men and early women," once again giving names to human figures. Only in this group did the figures drawn by students include a significant num­ ber of female images, but even with these instruc­ tions, some students of both sexes drew only male figures.

Because of their commitment to gender equality, feminists have lobbied various professional groups to replace sexist language with inclusive lan­ guage. The goal is to change our culture by replac­ ing sexist terms with terms that are not only more inclusive (including both men and women) but also more accurate. Feminists have succeeded in per­ suading several organizations to change guidelines in their writing manuals to promote nonsexist lan­ guage as the preferred form for their professional publications. The fifth edition of the style manual of the American Psychological Association includes writing conventions employing language free of racist and sexist implications (see Table 4.1 ). Despite such progress, scholars still describe considerable sexist language in common words and phrases. Do we have a man-made product if it is manufactured in a factory employing only women? Can an orga­ nization "man the desk" with women? Does broth­ erly love include sisters? Does the opinion of the common man include women or are women "uncommon"?

Alternatives for sexist terms exist: a product is handmade, women can staff the desk, and the aver­ age person can give his or her opinion. But is indu- i sive language also more accurate? To use the common expression "founding fathers" denies the importance of women's historical role. The presence of immigrant families distinguished the settlements in what became the United States from New World settlements of the French (primarily men-trappers and hunters) and Spanish (primarily soldiers-con­ quistadors). Evans ( 1989) insists that compared to New World settlements of other nations, the pres­ ence of women and children in the English colonies had an impact on how American society evolved,. and that the truth of our historical development is distorted by language denying women's presence. Such prejudicial messages occur not only in individ­ ual words but also in common cultural expressions.

What are som.e com.m.on expressions reflecting prejudicial attitudes?

In addition to words and phrases, negative conno­ tations in traditional cultural expressions teach lessons about race, gender, and other human differ­ ences. Responding to a request for help by saying

68 SE c TI o N 1 Individual Attitudes and Interpersonal Relations

Problematic Gender Preferred

man a project staff a project, hire personnel, employ staff man-machine interface user-system interface, person-system

interface, human-computer interface manpower workforce, personnel, workers, human

resources man's search for knowledge the search for knowledge mothering parenting, nurturing [or specify exact

behavior] The authors acknowledge the assistance of Mrs. John Smith.

The authors acknowledge the assistance of Jane Smith.

cautious men and timid women cautious women and men, cautious people, timid men and women, timid people

Racial and Ethnic

Problematic Identity

Preferred The 50 American Indians represented . ..

The 40 American Indians (25 Choctaw, 15 Hopi, and 10 Seminole) represented …

We studied Eskimos We studied Inuit from Canada and Aleuts

The articulate Mexican American professor

the Mexican American professor

Source: Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.) pp. 71-72, 74-75.

TABLE 4.1

Language Recommended by the American Psychological Association

"Who was your nigger last year?" reveals contempt and continue to play rather than seeing them as for historic roles forced upon black people, first as putting women in "their place." slaves and later as domestic servants. Although we We also find social class prejudice in common no longer use names like Sambo and Aunt Jemima expressions such as "Where there's a will there's a or the caricatures associated with them (see Figure 4.1), we still have "Indians" representing sports teams. Nobody talks more of free enterprise and

We can find_ people who believe that "Behind competition and of the best man winning every good m?n there's a good woman," or "The

hand that rocks the cradle rules the world," or "A . than the man who inherited his father's woman's place is ip the home." People who endorse store or farm. attitudes implied in such comments are likely to argue that the expressions are a tribute to women's C. WRIGHT MILLS (1916-1962) [ power and to the important role they have played

CH APTER 4 Learning the Language of Prejudice 69

FIG u RE 4 .1 Despite the commercial advantage

of maintaining a familiar face on one's product,

Quaker Oats felt that the old image (B) of Aunt

Jemima was too much of a stereotype and updated

her image in the 1960s (A).

(A)

way," a seemingly harmless attempt to encourage children and youth to try hard and do their best. But it has a more critical meaning embedded in it: If all it takes to be successful is to have the will to suc­ ceed, then those people who are not successful are at fault for their failure. Such a simplistic view rejects issues of prejudice and discrimination in favor of a belief that those who fail just didn't "try" hard enough. This belief leads to blaming the victim

and provides an ethical escape .for middle-class peo­ ple. A person can attribute his or her success to hav­ ing worked hard and ascribe othe,r people's poverty to their not working as hard

1 which reinforc'es the

stereotype of poor people as either lazy or incom­ etent. Believing this is the reason for poverty

relieves any responsibility for a middle-class person to feel obligated to help the poor. One need only ay, "They should work hard like I did," and turn

p

s away.

THE LANGUAGE OF LABELS

The majority group has created derogatory names for members of minority groups. When a dominant group has the power to label a subordinate group, others will consistently associate that label with individuals from the subordinate group. The power to label results in the power to define the people in a group, not only for the dominant group, but sometimes for the members of the labeled group as well. In recognition of the power of such labels, many groups have engaged in efforts to label them­ selves in a positive way. In the 1960s, many in the group that the majority had labeled "colored peo­ ple" or "Negroes" rejected the majority group's names and chose to call themselves "Blacks." This was accompanied by calls for "Black Power" and claims that "Black is Beautiful." Many black people continue to prefer that designation because they believe it makes a positive contribution to an indi­ vidual's sense of identity. Since the 1960s, "African American" has also become a popular choice among black people and others as a positive label for this group.

When a majority group has the power to label and define those belonging to a minority group, they also can control subordinate group members, obviously by limiting their opportunities, but some­ times in more subtle ways as well. Macedo and Bar­ toleme (2001) compare the term migrant, which most often labels Latinos seeking economic oppor­ tunity in the United States with the term settlers,

which is used to designate English and other Euro­ peans immigrating to America to improve their eco­ nomic opportunities. Reactions to the two terms are significantly different even though both terms describe people engaged in a similar quest.

70 S E c TI o N 1 Individual Attitudes and Interpersonal Relations

How have labels been used to define and control groups of

people?

The idea that the power to label equals the power to define, which equals the power to control is illus­ trated by an example contrasting two people who love to watch college football. One is a married col­ lege professor, the other a young man labeled men – tally retarded and living in a group home. On Saturday morning, the professor and the young man are watching college football games on ESPN. As noon approaches, both decide to have hot dogs for lunch. Both put hot dogs in pans of water, turn on the stove, and return to their respective living rooms. Both resume watching football and forget about the boiling hot dogs until the water boils out and the smell of burnt hot dogs causes both to run into their kitchens to turn off the stove.

The professor's wife might say he forgot about the hot dogs because of his obsession with football and others might joke about absent-minded profes­ sors. With regard to the other man, people are most likely to say, "Well, he's retarded, you know." For a person labeled "mentally retarded," behaviors, especially negative behavior, are often explained by that single factor. Rules, guidelines, and policies are created to prevent people labeled mentally retarded from engaging in certain activities or from being hired for certain jobs. A label has defined them as people not to be trusted; thus, their opportunity is limited and those limiting them feel justified that it's "for their own good." The young man will be labeled mentally retarded for his entire life: The quality of his life will be controlled and determined primarily by that label.

Labels such as "cognitively disabled" are official, formal, bureaucratic terms; others are informal and societal-terms used or heard by people in every­ day life. The existence of derisive labels-terms reflecting a sense of contempt or ridicule based on factors such as race, class, disability, sexual orienta­ tion, and gender-and their variety suggest the extent to which prejudices exist. Words such as nig­ ger, spic, chinf<,, buck, and squaw represent only a few of the racist terms in English. Wessler (2001) described the observations of elementary educators who have heard children using such labels, espe­ cially during recess where children may feel they have more freedom to express themselves. Stephan

(1999) insists that reducing prejudice requires that teachers help children become aware of the ten­ dency to attach negative labels to others. Not only are such words heard on the streets and play­ grounds of America, but some even show up in instructional materials such as maps, textbooks, or activities.

One theory of the origin of the word squaw is that it derives from a French word meaning vagina and was used by early French trappers to indicate that they wanted sex, usually followed by an offer to pay or barter something (Chavers, 1997). Other linguists claim that squaw has a more neutral origin, merely referring to a woman, but as Green ( 197 5) demonstrated, its use has been consistently nega­ tive. The word squaw can still be found in elemen­ tary school materials and in names for lakes and other geographic sites around the United States.

Because they objected to the term, high school students in Minnesota successfully lobbied the state legislature to change the names of state geographi­ cal sites containing squaw, yet at least one white community in Minnesota, Squaw Lake, refused to change. Chavers ( 1977) reports that students have lobbied other state legislatures to delete squaw in geographic sites or town names because the word is offensive and insulting to Native American women.

What is the impact of labels on

individuals who are labeled?

Wright ( 1998) wrote that very young children are only minimally aware of skin color and often unaware of race. Asked about her skin color, a three-year-old black girl wearing a pink and blue dress responded, "I'm pink and blue. What color are you?" At about the age of four children begin to understand that skin color is permanent, yet they do not regard it as negative. At five years of age, children are like! y to become more interested in dif­ ferences of skin color and may ask teachers many questions; they also begin to be aware of race and societal attitudes about racial differences. However, true racial awareness does not tend to become a sig­ nificant issue until children are eight or nine years old. Because of children's growing awareness of skin color and racial attitudes, teachers must consciously confront name-calling and other forms of prejudice in their classrooms and on the playground.

C HAP TE R 4 Learning the Language of Prejudice 71

Racist name-calling usually involves blatant, ugly words that carry harshly negative connota­ tions: coon, jungle bunny, gook, greaser, wetback, timber nigger. What impact does it have on a child to hear such words? Sometimes members of a subordinate group believe and internalize myths, stereotypes, and prejudices expressed about their group by the dominant group; the result is termed internalized oppression. Even for those who do not internalize the negative messages, being called derisive names, especially by other children, has an impact on chil­ dren and youth. Anthropologist Jamake Highwater, who was orphaned, Native American, and gay, commented upon the many derisive terms he heard as a child:

At first, the words had no meaning to me. Even when I was told their meaning, I couldn't easily grasp why they were supposed to be shameful. … [They] were whispered in the classroom and remorselessly shouted when adults were not around. On the playground. In the locker room. In the darkness of the balcony at Saturday movie matinees. Those were the words that filled my childhood.

They were words that aroused a sense of power and self-aggrandizement for those who shouted them; they brought shame and humiliation in those at whom they were shouted. Words were weapons, fired in rapid succession in order to hold back an intrusion of outsiders-the "them"-aliens, deviants, perverts, and barbarians. Words were a psychological Great Wall of China, staunchly guard­ ing the frontiers of conformity and an unrelenting notion of the superiority of insiders. ( 1997, p. 24–25)

Highwater believes that derisives, derogatory terms, damage individuals in the dominant group as well as those in subordinate or minority groups because derisive language creates boundaries. Deri­ sive terms define the oppressor as superior and the oppressed as inferior. Herbst ( 1977) agrees that such terms create suspicion, fear, and contempt in mem­ bers of dominant groups and arouse frustration and anger in individuals from subordinate groups. In his struggle for social justice, Martin Luther King (1963) insisted that his followers not hate oppres­ sors, but instead hate oppression. Some groups have tried to take over certain words, to "own" them and reshape them in order to make them less

Race prejudice is riot only a shadow over [racial minorities],-itis a shadow pverall ofos, and the shadow is darkest over tpose who feel it least and ailow its evil effects to go on.

PEARL.BUCK (1892-1973)

hurtful. African Americans, especially urban blacks, have taken the word nigger for their own purposes, as can be heard in their rap music. Gay men and lesbians, especially young people, are using the word queer as a generic term for the gay commu­ nity, and courses in queer studies have sprung up on college campuses in an attempt to change for­ mal, bureaucratic language.

How can negative bureaucratic language be as har:rnful as social

derisive ter:rns?

When we

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