Sociology

A stereotype can be regarded as a label associated with a specific group of people based on their race, color, age, place of origin, religious, political beliefs or other characters. Devlin (2006) defines stereotyping as the  imputation of unchanging and inflexible characteristics to all members of a particular group.  Stereotypes can be either positive or negative.

Old people are normally stereotyped as  helpless and incompetent. Younger people paint pictures of a helpless elderly generation whose members need constant care and attention. They are therefore not expected to take physically exerting roles as it is assumed that their bodies are too weak for such roles. Companies also discriminate against the elderly when they are hiring. Research has shown that old people who believe these stereotypes fulfill them.

Old people are also portrayed as having smaller thinking capacities. In fact, they are depicted as having the  mental capacity of a child. Due to their  restricted mental capacities,  old people are associated with many failures, a view which is perpetuated by the media. Elderly people are blamed for economic crises, collapsing banks and companies.

Young people, on the other hand, are portrayed as thieves, liars and trouble-makers. They are also associated more closely with drugs. Because of these anti-social stereotypes, young people are expected to have bad poor relationships with the older people, and in need of continuous advice from the elders on topics touching particularly on sex and drugs.

Stereotypes exist for different reasons. Some people use stereotypes to insult or despise a group they are not fond of. For instance, white people find it easy to stereotype as members of violent gangs. Others use stereotypes to tell between members of one group from the other, with no intention of malice. Although some stereotypes have some truth in them, others are based on falsities or fallacies.