Stereotypes of white people are essentialist

Essentialism

In philosophy, essentialism is the view that, for any specific kind of entity, there is a set of characteristics or properties all of which any entity of that kind must possess. Therefore all things can be precisely defined or described...

 oversimplifications about the character and behaviour of white people

White people

White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...

.

Positive stereotypes

Though most ethnic stereotypes are negative, different racial groups also hold some positive stereotypes of white people. A 1972 study found that, in general, white people were stereotyped with positive traits and minority groups with negative traits. In a 1983 U.S. study on the associative strength between two words, and regardless of prejudice score, subjects responded reliably faster when positive attributes (e.g., 'smart') were paired with white people than when they were paired with black people. Positively, white people are stereotyped as intelligent, socially diverse, and generally non-dangerous and unlikely to commit crime. However, they are sometimes considered racist, prejudiced, or biased and scared or uneasy around minorities.

Social stereotypes

In the United States, white people make up the majority of the nation's politicians, military leaders and corporate executives, while most minority groups have a smaller presence, and are less well-off. Other stereotypes of white people include the idea that they are all "extremely self-involved, uneducated about people other than themselves, and are unable to understand the complicated ways in which people who are not white survive."

Influence on black people

Literature in the field of clinical psychology

Clinical psychology

Clinical psychology is an integration of science, theory and clinical knowledge for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically-based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well-being and personal development...

 has said that this type of Eurocentric favoritism

Eurocentrism

Eurocentrism is the practice of viewing the world from a European perspective and with an implied belief, either consciously or subconsciously, in the preeminence of European culture...

 is indicative of the "pre-encounter" phase in the development of black identity. Some studies indicate that black people have been unduly influenced by stereotypes of white people.

Negative portrayals of other white people

As the social definition of "white people" has changed over the years, studies have shown that different racial, ethnic and nationalities have different stereotypes of white people. Ethnic group

Ethnic group

An ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy...

s such as the English

English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

, Irish

Irish people

The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...

, and Italians have been portrayed in popular media and culture in a negative fashion. White Hispanic and Latino Americans

White Hispanic and Latino Americans

White Hispanic and Latino Americans are citizens and residents of the United States who are racially White and ethnically Hispanic or Latino.White American, itself an official U.S...

 are often overlooked in the U.S. mass media

Mass media

Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...

 and in general American social perceptions, where being "Hispanic or Latino"

Hispanic and Latino Americans

Hispanic or Latino Americans are Americans with origins in the Hispanic countries of Latin America or in Spain, and in general all persons in the United States who self-identify as Hispanic or Latino.1990 Census of Population and Housing: A self-designated classification for people whose origins...

 is often incorrectly given a racial value, usually mixed-race, such as Mestizo

Mestizo

Mestizo is a term traditionally used in Latin America, Philippines and Spain for people of mixed European and Native American heritage or descent...

, while, in turn, are overrepresented and admired in the U.S. Hispanic mass media and social perceptions.

Intra-white stereotypes

The dumb blonde

Dumb blonde

The blonde stereotype, the stereotypical perception of blond-haired women, has two aspects. On one hand, over the history, blonde hair in women has been considered attractive and desirable...

 is a popular-culture derogatory stereotype

Stereotype

A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...

 applied to blond

Blond

Blond or blonde or fair-hair is a hair color characterized by low levels of the dark pigment eumelanin. The resultant visible hue depends on various factors, but always has some sort of yellowish color...

e-hair

Hair

Hair is a filamentous biomaterial, that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Found exclusively in mammals, hair is one of the defining characteristics of the mammalian class....

ed women. The archetypical "dumb blonde," while viewed as attractive and popular, has been portrayed as very promiscuous, as well as lacking in both common street-sense and academic intelligence, often to a comedic level. The dumb blonde stereotype is used in 'blonde jokes.'

South Africa

In contemporary South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

, conservative Afrikaner

Afrikaner

Afrikaners are an ethnic group in Southern Africa descended from almost equal numbers of Dutch, French and German settlers whose native tongue is Afrikaans: a Germanic language which derives primarily from 17th century Dutch, and a variety of other languages.-Related ethno-linguistic groups:The...

s have been portrayed by media as backward, overweight and bombastic.

See also

• Acting white
  Acting white
  In the United States, acting white is a pejorative term usually applied to African-Americans, which refers to a person's perceived betrayal of their culture by assuming the social expectations of white society. Success in education in particular can be seen as a form of selling out by being...
  
  
• Angry white male
  Angry white male
  Angry white male or AWM is a derogatory term which typifies a white male who holds traditional conservative views, especially in the context of U.S...
  
  
• Ethnic stereotype
  Ethnic stereotype
  An ethnic stereotype is a generalized representation of an ethnic group, composed of what are thought to be typical characteristics of members of the group.Ethnic stereotypes are commonly portrayed in ethnic jokes.-Ethnic stereotypes:*African Americans...
  
  
• List of terms for white people in non-Western cultures
• Redneck
  Redneck
  Redneck is a historically derogatory slang term used in reference to poor, uneducated white farmers, especially from the southern United States...
  
  
• Stereotype
  Stereotype
  A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...
  
  
• Stereotypes of black people
• Stereotypes of South Asians
  Stereotypes of South Asians
  Stereotypes of South Asians are oversimplified ethnic stereotypes of South Asian people, and are found in many Western societies. Stereotypes of South Asians have been collectively internalized by societies, and are manifested by a society's media, literature, theatre and other creative expressions...
  
  
• Stuff White People Like
  Stuff White People Like
  Stuff White People Like is a blog that takes a satirical aim at the interests of North American "left-leaning, city-dwelling, white folk". The blog was created in January 2008 by a white Canadian, Christian Lander, a Los Angeles copywriter who grew up in Toronto and graduated from McGill...
  
  
• White Anglo-Saxon Protestant
  White Anglo-Saxon Protestant
  White Anglo-Saxon Protestant or WASP is an informal term, often derogatory or disparaging, for a closed group of high-status Americans mostly of British Protestant ancestry. The group supposedly wields disproportionate financial and social power. When it appears in writing, it is usually used to...
  
  
• White trash
  White trash
  White trash is an American English pejorative term referring to poor white people in the United States, suggesting lower social class and degraded living standards...