There are a number of stereotypes that exist in Australia, and many minority groups are subjected to the generalisation and sometimes prejudice that is associated with the generally negative nature of these stereotypes. While Australia is considered multicultural, and generally accepting nation, there are a number of race or religion based stereotypes that exist within it. People of Asian, Indian and even aboriginal descents are often placed in a stereotypical group by others and are forced to live with the negatives that go with these generalizations. This brief blog however, will focus on the minority group of young Muslim Australians, particularly males, who are of Middle-Eastern descent. It will highlight the stereotype that is often assigned to this group of people and also examine the reasons for its existence, development and maintenance within many Australian communities, as well as some possible approaches to how this stereotype could be changed.
Stereotyping can be defined as the process of perceiving and reacting to people in terms of their group membership. A stereotype is a set of beliefs about a person’s attributes, personality traits and behaviours based on assumptions about a certain group or category to which they have been assigned (Wood et al., 2004; Yzerbyt, Rocher & Schadron, 1997)
Young Muslim Australian males are often placed in a stereotypical group and assumed to all have similar traits. As will be discussed in more detail later, the reasons for this are many and complicated, but first some of the common aspects of this stereotype are outlined. People in this group are commonly referred to as ‘wogs’ or ‘lebbos’ and this portrays the young male Muslim as a type of ‘gangster’ who often spends his time in a public place with a group of friends, engaging in crime and generally being a public menace. In its most extreme form the stereotypical appearance for these young men would include the wearing of over-the-top, bright coloured tracksuits and sports sneakers, excessive jewelry and ‘slicked’ greasy hair, although appearance is a minor aspect of the stereotype as a whole. They are commonly associated with groups of expensive and ‘done up’ cars and are often thought of as inherently violent and involved in crime, some excessive cases may even assume them to be aspiring terrorists. This stereotype is also often considered discriminatory towards women and is thought to commonly mistreat them.
There are a number of very complicated reasons for the existence of this common generalization of the young male Muslim population and they have played an interrelated part in the formation of this powerful and common stereotype. One of these is based on white Australia’s lack of understanding about the young Muslim group. A NSW Youth Advisory Council forum recently asked youths living in NSW to comment on their experiences and thoughts about racism and stereotyping in the community. The most common answer for the reasons for its existence was that is stems from a lack of awareness about and understanding of other cultures (NSW YAC, 2006). It has been highlighted that often the reason for this lack of understanding is simple lack of exposure, particularly to positive aspects of different cultures. Much of the Australian population’s limited exposure to young Muslim people has been those highlighted for crimes and those who often fit the generalisation on some level. These people are often a minority within the Muslim community, but as they are the most visible, form the basis of the stereotype. Cognitively, stereotypes are essentially mental shortcuts and are used to simplify the processing of new people. As humans we automatically assign new things into preexisting schemas or groups to make the process faster. For a stereotype to be avoided there must be enough evidence for the new person to justify changing the schema, or assigning a new one (Baumeister & Bushman, 2008). Studies have indicated this is true and found that stereotyping of young Muslims is often worse in areas less exposed to their culture (Collins & Poynting, 2000; Haque, 2001), as their opinions are essentially formed on less evidence. A key example which led to the continued development of this racial stereotype was the race related riots at Cronulla and other Sydney beaches in 2005. These confrontations were the result of a complicated web of racial prejudices and stereotyping on both sides, however they were initially fuelled by the anger of white locals after violence on the beach by a small number of Lebanese youths. It was the criminal actions of this small number of youths that were assumed to be common behaviour for all members of this minority. The locals on the beaches are largely unexposed to many aspects of Muslim Australia, and the stereotype was strengthened by the actions of three visible and highlighted members of the group. It should be noted that Australia’s middle-eastern and Lebanese population is highly concentrated in Sydney and its Western and South-Western suburbs in particular. 72.2% of all Lebanese people living in Australia live in Sydney and the Lebanese population reaching 14% of total population in some suburbs such as Bankstown (Collins & Poynting, 2000).
These western suburbs of Sydney are multicultural by nature and it has been found that racism and stereotyping are often far less prevalent than in other more Anglo-Saxon areas and rural areas in particular (Collins, 2006). It becomes obvious that those exposed to a more complete picture of the minority group as a whole, are far less prejudiced and less likely to generalize. This is also highlighted in the example of rural youth. The issue of stereotyping is often magnified by living in small, less culturally diverse communities. People in these communities are more likely to hold generalized views of different cultures and are less likely to accept members of different cultural groups (Collins, 2006; NSW YAC, 2006).
The issue of small rural communities draws attention to another key reason for the development and maintenance of the racial stereotyping of young Muslim Australians – the media. Years of media rhetoric about Middle-Eastern crime, Lebanese gangs and other violence beginning in the late 1990s have led to a generalized negative being placed over the middle-eastern communities and has led to some areas of Sydney being considered by other Australians as crime ghettos similar to those in the UK or US, where this is not true (Poynting, 2006). Muslim and Lebanese Australians have been only marginally over represented in crime figures over the last 10 years, but negative coverage and sensational reporting has been massively disproportionate. Media coverage that influences the development and formation of Muslim stereotypes is not restricted to coverage of domestic issues. Globalisation of the media and its extended coverage of the theme of terrorism has influenced the many Australians in their formation of a picture of Muslims. Hage (2003) refers to the ‘worrying nation’ that is filled with inward facing fear and concerns about such things as interest rates, the future of employment and terrorism. These dynamics of fear work with people’s lack of understanding to continually strengthen the stereotypical view of the Muslim minority.
I now turn to the words of Gary Stokes (1997) to sum up the negative influence of stereotyping in society.
A person or group of people can suffer real damage, real distortion if the people or society around them mirror back to them a confining or demeaning or contemptible picture of themselves. No-recognition or miss-recognition can inflict harm, be a form of oppression, imprisoning someone in a false, distorted and reduced mode of being.
In the current situation in Australia and Sydney, most notably the issue of young Muslim stereotyping is one of the most prevalent and clearly has negative connotations. So what can be done to change this generalization of minority group and prevent social disasters in the community like the 2005 Cronulla riots from occurring again?
The solution lies in increasing the exposure to, and understanding of, Muslim and other minority groups by the majority of Australians. The goal of this process must to be to highlight the positive aspects of Australian Muslim society. This can be achieved through a combination of avenues. The first of these is education on a number of levels. It can begin in schools, but there is a general need for programs which highlight positive aspects of Muslim life and also the diversity of its group members. One of the key points that emerged from the NSW YAC (2006) forum was that where exposure and education were important it would only work if members of the community, and above all youth members, were involved in the formation of any education or advertising programs. This is surely an important element.
The balance between negative and positive aspects of Islamic people in general, but particularly the population of young males, could also greatly influenced by changes to the media’s approach to reporting (Poynting, 2006). A reduction in sensational reporting of gang and other Lebanese crime within the community and replacing it with proportional reporting of positive stories about the members of this minority and the successes of multiculturalism would also help to adjust people’s perceptions.
It is evident that this generalisation of the Muslim community in Australia, and on a larger scale its young males, is deep seated in the minds of many Sydney-siders and Australians. However, exposure to multiculturalism in a range of areas has been proven to increase acceptance and reduce stereotyping behaviours. Over time and with an increase in education and a range of community projects the misperceptions of Middle-Eastern people living in Australia could be changed.
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References
Baumeister, R. F., & Bushman, B. J. (2008). Social psychology and human nature (1st
ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.
Clements, K. P. (2006). Cronulla: Understanding the conflict and violence. From National Symposium: Responding to Cronulla: Rethinking Multiculturalism (pp. 4-18). Griffith: Griffith University Press.
Collins, J. (2006). Ethnic gangs, ethnic youth and the Cronulla beach riots. From National Symposium: Responding to Cronulla: Rethinking Multiculturalism (pp. 19-33). Griffith, NSW: Griffith University Press.
Collins, J. & Poynting, S. (2000). The other Sydney: communities, identities and
inequalities in Western Sydney. Melbourne: Common Ground.
Hage G. (2003) Against paranoid nationalism, searching for hope in a shrinking
Society. Annadale: Polity Press.
Haque, A. (2001). Attitudes of high school students and teachers towards Muslims and Islam in a southeastern Australian community. Intercultural education, 12 (2), 185-196.
Yzerbyt, V., Rocher, S., & Schadron, G. (1997) Stereotypes as explanations. In Spears, R. (Ed.). The social psychology of stereotyping and group life. Blackwell Publishing.
Stokes, G. (1997). The politics of identity in Australia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wood, J., Wallace, J., Zeffane, R., Chapman, J., Fromholtz, M., & Morrison, V. (2004) Organisational behaviour – A global perspective. Milton, Qld: Wiley.
Appendix A. Concept Map
Appendix B. Self Evaluation
Theory and Research
In my research I read fairly extensively on the issues relating to stereotypes and what the common stereotype for young Muslim Australians was. I also found discussion with friends and peers on their opinions of young Muslims in Australia very helpful in forming my ideas. Due to the selection of such a specific stereotype within Australian society I found it difficult to find a large amount of information on the causes other than general social commentary, however the forums and symposiums that I did find were extensive and provided substantial information. Due to the current relevance of the issues and their social nature I focused my discussion and research in this area and because of this focus and the word limit I found it difficult to include much commentary on the cognitive and theoretical principles of stereotyping. I think a sounder theoretical base to support my social arguments will be a focal point of improvement for my next blog.
Written Expression
APA format was followed for the most part. There were some difficulties in transferring all aspects of APA format to the blogging format, but this was attempted where at all possible. On initial completion of the blog, headings were used to make for easier reading and structure, however these were removed to maintain APA style. These could potentially be left in later blogs to assist with structure and flow of the paper. A concept map was developed in place of these headings and provides a brief guide of the concepts and points raised in the essay. This was difficult with my limited understanding of the concept mapping program and I hope to improve my skills in this area for further blogs with the intention of making the paper easier to follow.
Readability tests were conducted producing a Flesch Reading Ease of 28.7 and a Flesch-Kincaid Grade level of 12. While the reading ease score is relatively low, it falls in the high end of readability for university graduates and so should be read fairly easily by my target audience. A grade level of 12 was also around the target level. Writing in shorter, more easily read sentences may be considered in further writing so as to appeal to a greater audience. Overall I think my blog flows and generally my writing style receives positive feedback and I feel this blog shouldn’t be too different.
Online Engagement
I feel this part of the criteria is possibly my downfall (Apart from poor time management and handing the assignment in late). The whole idea of blogging was new to me and after struggling with my limited skills I began to enjoy wandering around other student’s blogs entries. I signed up to Blogger.com reasonably early in the semester and did manage to add a few cartoons and a commentary on the social psych aspects of John Lennon’s death. I enjoyed reading a number of my fellow student’s blogs, and made a few short comments, however there is room for improvement in this area. Rather than adding simple comments, for the remainder of the semester more advanced development of other student’s ideas would be beneficial. One aspect of the blogging concept I enjoyed was reading comments by students I know from the course and engaging in discussion with them at university in the following days. These discussions could be transferred to a more online form in the future.
In the weeks leading up to Parklife (a dance festival a few weeks ago) I remember having a conversation with a friend about how there was no way i was going to follow the developing trend of wearing bright fluoro colours and silly headbands etc. just to 'fit in' at the festival. But as thew day drew closer and all my friends were involved in shopping for their crazy fluoro outfits and accessories I began to feel I was going to be on the outer. My need to belong, not to the crowd as a whole, but to my close friendship group was beginning to take over. Sure enough in the days leading up to the event I had bought fluoro paints, a number of shirts, crazy bright red sunnies and some lovely green tights. I had officially succomed to my need to belong, all of a sudden felt deindividualised, and then gone a step further top make myself different again. I ended up being the brightest of the group, butI had a great day, and I didn't have to think about not belinging to the group... The things we do to belong.
