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To understand and evaluate a society’s expectations of a person, the need to know what composes or constitutes a society arises. This evokes the question, what is a society? According to Sinclair and Helen, a society is described as consisting of people in a particular country who share a common past, or heritage and culture. They give an example of the United Kingdom, France and the United States being parts of British, French and American societies.
There are within each society diverse and distinct communities, which people belong to (Sinclair & Grant 7). In this regard, in a society, a complex relationship exists among people of different stereotypes categorized into racial, ethnic, societal class and gender (Andersen & Taylor 276).
A society’s expectations in this context would imply what people who share common characteristics expect from each other. This article attempts to explore ways in which a society’s expectations of a person based on the above stereotypes, affects how the society perceives them and how they perceive themselves.
Gender and Society’s Expectations
Beginning with gender stereotypes, that is, those based on an individual’s gender, there are different perceptions regarding both genders. Among women, the stereotypes are expected to be more negative than those about men. In various societies, the typical woman has been referred to as subservient. This means that their usefulness is regarded as inferior compared to men. Other traditional stereotypes about women include; overly-emotional, talkative, incompetence at math and science and flighty.
These are mostly cultural, and such stereotypes have been conveyed by various media fraternities e.g. newspapers, magazines and broadcasts. As a result, women have become in certain instances, very prone to hysteria. Men on the other hand, though their portrayal is less negative than in women, are painted and portrayed as too macho, hardheaded, insensitive and generally only interested in having sex.
The society perceives women to be incompetent, especially in developing countries, and as a result there exists lack of support for women. This is also evident in advanced states where due to low fertility and low levels of gender equality, the efforts to relate employment and childrearing among women lacks support and is neglected by the society.
In this regard, men are viewed as the sole breadwinner of the family, thus the retention of gender oriented responsibilities and obligations within a family (McDonald 427). For instance, in United States, amendments to the Income Tax Act ensure that the income tax office personnel communicate only with the male counterpart, even on matters involving the wife. Examinations in schools show that boys are no more intelligent than girls.
The society has, in so speaking seen the light; and programs that were previously offered to boys only are now being offered to girls too. As a result, women now perceive themselves as equally intelligent and capable as their male counterparts.
Social Class and Society’s Expectations
A person’s social class status is another tool which a society uses to portray and rate levels of expectations of a person. Social class stereotypes are categorized into; Low class people, middle and working class people and upper class people. The society perceives low class people as incapable of improving themselves. The society expects them to live in unsanitary conditions; living in slums and being unproductive. Such people feel demoralized and neglected, and as a result growth in such cases is minimal.
Middle class people are stereotyped as being overly ambitious and obsessive. Unmotivated and lazy, this is how the upper and middle class people perceive working class individuals. The upper class individuals also perceive the lower class individuals as violent, dirty and incompetent.
The upper class people are considered as condescending, snooty and phony. Expectations therefore differ accordingly, and upper class individuals are expected to bring more to the table than the rest. Therefore, the lower class individuals feel left out and demoralized, middle and working class individuals feel less important, while the upper class individuals feel like the world rests on their palms.
Race and Ethnicity and Society’s Expectations
In the past centuries, Africans in European and American countries were perceived as inherently lazy. The ill thought of people of a certain ethnic group without any regards is called ethnic prejudice. Most individuals disavow ethnic prejudice, yet most societies carry some prejudices. Racial-ethnic prejudice occurs when for example, an American dislikes an African only because of the color of their skin.
This kind of prejudice is brought about by the belief that one’s group is superior to all other groups, and this is called Ethnocentrism. Research show that such prejudice is learnt from all levels of socialization; from primary to tertiary. For many years, Africans, African Americans, Hispanics and Asians were presented in the media only in negative stereotyped roles. Chinese were perceived as buffoons, Japanese as untrustworthy, Hispanics as ruthless and the black person portrayed as subservient and lazy.
The society’s expectations then for such ethnic groups were of a negative nature. The worldwide disapproval of such ethnic groups led to poor and slow growth among the people. In the past, racial differences have been used to justify and legitimate prejudice and discrimination. According to Howard and Michael, the terms such as race were no longer used and instead the use of the term ethnicity was more frequent (48).
The use of ethnicity is now embraced in place of race. Ethnicity in the advanced countries is now perceived as cultural difference- the way people dress, political views and the like.
Discrimination based on racial-ethnic prejudice has been in the form of; income discrimination, discrimination in education, housing discrimination and discrimination in employment and promotion. Attempts by studies, public and international organizations, such us the United Nations, to reduce the effects of discriminations have been successful in many countries like the United States of America.
For example, under U.S. law, housing discrimination is illegal. Since the 1950s, overt racism has declined significantly though it has not completely disappeared. Aversive racism has remained and is quite common in many societies. Overt racism involves physical assaults while aversive racism involves avoiding interactions.
Conclusion
Many of a society’s beliefs and expectations are now going counter to traditions and nature. Homosexuality, which was traditionally forbidden by the society and illegal, is now in many countries, legalized and accepted by the society. Intersex change, which was unimaginable in the past, is now being conducted and many societies are learning to accept it. To go beyond our society’s expectations is dangerous as we are referred to as odd.
For example, being an atheist is against the norms of a certain society and such people are viewed as traitors. The principle of stereotype interchangeability therefore holds from one social class to another, from one racial group to another and from one gender to another, and also from a social class to a gender, from a racial group to a gender.
Works Cited
Andersen Margaret L., Taylor Howard F. Understanding a Diverse Society. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning Press, 2005. Print.
Grant Helen, Sinclair Stephen., Sinclair P. Stephen. People in society: modern studies. Cheltenham, UK: Nelson Thornes Press, 2003. Print.
Howard Winant and Michael Omi. Racial Formation in the United States. New York: Routledge, 1994. Print.
McDonald, Peter. Gender Equity in Theories of Fertility Transition. Population and Development Review. Vol 26, Issue 3, pages 427-439, 2004. Print.
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