ETHNIC AND GENDER STEREOTYPES OF RUSSIAN AND CHINESE

Abstract

The article considers variation of social stereotypes within four ethnic-gender groups: Chinese males, Chinese females, Russian males, Russian females. The authors carried out the study as a cross-group experiment using the semantic differential method. The participants (30 pers. in each group, 120 pers. in total) evaluated the attributes of appearance, character and intellect of each group considered. The data analysis showed complex interaction between the ethnic and gender factors: the ethnic factor is more important for the Chinese subjects (both males and females), while the gender factor is the leading one for the Russian females. The types of attributes that are stereotypically referred to different groups and are preferably used by different groups also vary. Thus, appearance attributes are mostly used for describing females; the Chinese participants evaluate ethnic-gender groups using the character and appearance attributes; the Russian females evaluate ethnic-gender groups using the intellect attributes. Chinese and Russian females, both as an evaluating subject and an object of evaluation, are more “stereotypical” (females evaluate other groups using a wider range of attributes, and stereotypes about females include more attributes than stereotypes about males). Males as an object of evaluation are less stereotyped than females and, at the same time, perceive social groups less stereotypically. Almost no stable stereotypes were revealed about the Russian males. Overall, the results indicate that in each particular case of social categorization attributing stereotype features to different groups is a complex cognitive process determined by a unique combination of various factors.