Stereotyping and Prejudice
Here, stereotyping should be distinguished from prejudice. Stereotyping, as described by Whitley and Kite (2006--as cited by Derose) can be seen as either descriptive or prescriptive, where descriptive stereotyping just acknowledges the characteristics of a group--i.e. a generalization such as, "all Muslims are Arab." However, prescriptive stereotyping is meant to put limits on the stereotyped group--i.e. discriminate based on an individual's prejudice. The difference, then, between stereotyping and prejudice is that prejudice is a sort of faulty attitude that an individual holds about a group and the stereotype placed upon that group is how the prejudice manifests itself. However, having prejudice and stereotypic beliefs do not mean that a person, or even a group of individuals (such as a Greek Organization) is discriminatory. In fact, in my research, subjects did not indicated any sort of discriminatory acts toward Muslim Americans or even any outward stereotyping toward Muslim Americans, however they did hint toward the sort of subconscious stereotyping that Derose mentions in his dissertation. Students mentioned incidents off the record that talked about offensive things that were said in their presence under the influence of alcohol, when they were less inhibited to just say what they were thinking. Subjects expressed that they believed that people's subconscious prejudices and stereotyping was due to the media coverage in the aftermath of 9/11. I'd like to posit that debunking these stereotypes is what is necessary to live in a more tolerant society that will be beneficial for all groups.