Abstract
The negative effects of stereotyping arising from a victim’s acceptance and internalisation of stereotype identities are well-known. As stereotypes are created and maintained in discourse, understanding how targets of stereotyping employ discursive resources to resist the constraining structures of stereotypic identities imposed upon them can provide insight into the process of stereotyping and contribute to efforts to reduce the threat of stereotyping. We examined the strategies used by targets of stereotyping in contesting stereotypic representations of their social group through the mobilisation of a range of discourse strategies when presented with stereotyping attacks on the group. The findings revealed that stereotypes are subtle in nature and may not be easily recognised and hence, difficult to resist. Participants employed a number of discourse strategies to repair their fragmented self and group identities. However, in their attempt to maintain identity coherence, they ended up using stereotyping discourses themselves to devalue the perceived outgroup as well as subgroups they created within their own social group. The study highlights the complexity of stereotyping and its self-perpetuating character, and sheds light on the difficulty faced by targets of stereotyping discourse in reconciling their identities through intense discursive and identity work.
Funding source: Universiti Putra Malaysia
Award Identifier / Grant number: GP-IPS/2017/9560500
Funding
This study was funded by a research grant (ref: GP-IPS/2017/9560500) cprovided by Universiti Putra Malaysia.
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Research Articles
- Transnational postgraduate students’ experience of voice and participation
- Discursive work in resisting stereotypic representations of the Chinese among Chinese students
- Why to speak French to French speakers? Outgroup vitality, motivation and linguistic accommodation in the Aosta Valley
- Emotional intelligence as a mediator in the relationship between neuroticism and L2 achievement
- Effects of willingness to communicate on L2 output and leadership roles during jury discussions
- Uncovering transfer effects of dominance and proficiency in L3 English acquisition using the visual moving window paradigm and grammaticality judgments
- Study abroad experiences count: Motivational profile of EFL listeners and its impact on top-down and bottom-up processing
- A cognitive approach to the conceptual metaphors in Shi Jing (The Book of Poetry)
- Study abroad, language usage, and the development of multilingual identities: The case of 1.5 generation Korean–American students