"Stereotypes, in and of themselves, are merely cognitive mechanisms we all use to find commonalities among groups and to simplify our perceptual worlds. Hence, they can be positive or negative or even neutral"
-Identities and Inequalities: Expressing Inequalities
This chapter right away seemed very confusing to me. I did not understand how Newman could talk about how stereotypes, even positive ones were bad and the say they were not. He talks about woman being regarded as good mothers and how that can have a negative impact on their lives in regards to pay and their behaviors and also how woman who do not have children are looked at as outside the norm. He even translate woman being regarded as good with children to its effect on abortion law. In the next section he goes on to say that stereotypes can be positive and I think he is negating his own point. Sure there can be positive stereotypes such as "Asians are smart" and perhaps being Asian you might enjoy some benefits from that. However even though being smart is a positive attribute being put in the" smart" category based on your race is not, to me at least. This is the same as woman being good mothers and nurtures. I am not good with children in the least and feel foolish when someone thrusts a child at me and I have no idea what to do with it. I am then regarded as odd because I don't think a little kid is "so cute". I just found this chapter to be a little convoluted it its argument and do not agree that stereotypes can be neutral, let alone positive. I feel stereotypes always have negative connotations (is that a stereotype?).
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I think that stereotyping is common, and sometimes comes all too naturally. I think even "positive" ones are can be dangerous. From an Educational standpoint, I can see assuming an Asian student is smart backfiring. If you rely on that stereotype, that student may fall behind.
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