Stereotyping among Teenagers in Canada

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Stereotyping among Teenagers in Canada
Adolescence is a unique stage in the development of human beings, more especially the youth. It is the stage during which complex changes occur in the physical, intellectual, sociological, and psychological development of the individual. In terms of sociological transformations, teens learn how to interact with peers, their seniors, and society in general. One attitude-shaping sociological experience that teenagers undergo is stereotyping. Stereotypes are perceptions/ ways of perceiving that reflect the ideas that a group or groups of people hold regarding others. More often, stereotypes are expressed in characterizing phrases that express notions that people have concerning the dignity, personality or character traits of people who are different from them, leading to negative attitudes (Rao, 2000). Similarly, stereotypes are informed by cultural biasness, experiences or group differences. In the Canadian society, group stereotyping occurs in the form of negative attitudes that the older generation has towards the youth. This paper argues that the negative view that the older generation has toward teenagers is often biased, subjective, prejudicial and reflective of media portrayal of the youth as arrogant, recklessly adventurous, rude, rebellious, and irresponsible people.
Teenage-hood is the most critical stage in human development, as it represents the period individuals develop physically, intellectually, psychologically, and socially. Although teenagers are prone to behave in a relatively similar manner during this developmental stage, there can also be developmental variations depending on the individual genetic characteristics, which would play a major role in the onset of the adolescent’s behavioral, biological and hormonal changes. Thus, the wholesale manner in which the youth are judged and given collective tags fails to recognize individual differences. For instance, some individuals are naturally extroverted while others are introverted. The former would tend to be adventurous and talkative/argumentative, traits that could be easily interpreted as reckless and being big-headed. One vital aspect that the older generation fails to take into consideration when judging teenagers is the modern, computer and information technology-driven environment of their upbringing. As they are exposed to an increasingly information-intensive and competitive environment, the youth have to adapt to these changes. Not surprisingly, therefore, they display behavioral patterns that are misinterpreted by the largely conservative older generation as recklessness and big-headedness.
It goes without saying that each generation experiences and grows up in different social environmental from the previous one. These varying social contexts often lead to behavioral departures that result in stereotypes as each older generation views their successors as deviating from th...