White people are often presented in a positive light in American media as heroes, leaders, decision makers, central characters, experts, or talking heads while ethnic minorities and non-white people are often constructed frequently as "other," different, deviant, quaint or exotic and often stereotyped. White people are also stereotyped to have no culture and don’t season their food. In 2023, Chinese people made fun of white people on social media for eating bland foods such as raw salads, boiled eggs, chicken breast, sliced ham, and
bologna sandwiches by calling it the "lunch of suffering", contrasting it with the rich and spicy
Chinese cuisine. White people are stereotyped to be ruthless, racist oppressors and colonizers who oppress and exploit minorities such as
Black people and
Native Americans. In 2014, the film
Dear White People portrayed white people as racist. White people are stereotyped to be racist because it stems from
European colonism and the
Atlantic slave trade. The 1992 movie ''
White Men Can't Jump'' depicts and discusses the stereotype that white men can't
slam dunk in basketball, only Black men can.
Social stereotypes The term
Chad refers to a masculine
white American male who is supposed to be
well-endowed, handsome, gainfully employed and blond-haired.
Becky and
Karen have been used as terms to refer to white women who act in a clueless, condescending or entitled way. These stereotype names are derived from names that white women commonly have. Kyle, a similarly named stereotype, refers to an angry white teenage boy who consumes energy drinks, punches holes into drywall, argues with his parents, and plays video games. The
blog Stuff White People Like addressed early 21st century stereotypes of white
hipster bohemians in a humorous way. Comedian
Dave Chappelle also used humor to address the stereotype that white Americans cannot dance in a sketch in which groups of white people erupt into frenzied dancing every time they hear an electric guitar. Stereotypes of white Americans have been shown to vary according to socioeconomic status. Rednecks, conversely are seen as "
racist, hot-headed, too physical, violent, uncouth, loud, mean, undereducated—and proud of it." During the
COVID-19 pandemic, white women perceived as entitled or rude were often stereotypically dubbed as
Karens while displaying unhinged behavior. The
white trash stereotype represents a poor, unrefined, unintelligent white person from a
rural area who lives in poverty in a
trailer park and lives off
welfare and
food stamps. They usually are known for having a lack of morals, poor hygiene, inbreeding, take drugs such as meth, and drinking alcohol excessively. It is thought that their diet consists of
roadkill, as well as wild animals they hunt in their yard. Their diet is believed to be composed of cheap food such as
McDonald's and
Taco Bell, along with
government cheese,
spam, WIC-approved foods,
white bread, canned goods, and
instant ramen noodles. It is commonly thought that many individuals labeled as white trash in the southern United States have connections to the
Ku Klux Klan. In addition to their general racism, the white trash are believed to harbor animosity towards all minority groups. The white trash may also believe that there exists a
White genocide conspiracy theory within the United States aimed at eradicating the white race through immigration and the interbreeding of white individuals with various minority groups. Poor rural whites are also stereotyped to practice
incest and
bestiality.
Academic studies An early study of stereotypes of white people found in works of fiction which were written by Black authors was conducted by African-American sociologist Tilman C. Cothran in 1950. White Americans were commonly viewed as
feeling superior to Black poeople, harboring hatred for Black people, being brutish, impulsive, or mean, having a sense of pride, and
antisemitic beliefs. In another study on stereotypes in 1951, Cothran observed that the Black lower and upper classes at that time had the least favorable stereotypes about white people, and the Black middle class the most favorable. In a 1972 study, American white people were stereotyped as "materialistic and pleasure loving" when compared with Asian and Black Americans. In a study among college students of different races in 1982, White Americans were described as materialistic, ambitious, intelligent, conventional, industrious, and conservative. The study's author noted that the white stereotype had decreased in favorability over the years while the Black stereotype had increased. A 2013 University of Michigan study of stereotypes that American people of color believed people had about white women found that white women were perceived as "attractive, blonde, ditsy, shallow,
privileged, sexually available, and appearance focused," and that these stereotypes matched American media portrayals of white women. In a 2018 study of children of different races, six year olds chose photos of white men as being "really smart" over photos of white women or Black people.
Negative portrayals of white people As the social definition of "white people" has changed over the years, studies have shown that members of different
races, ethnicities, and
nationalities have different stereotypes of white people. Before the 1980s,
ethnic groups such as the
Irish,
Italians,
Armenians, and
Polish people were portrayed in popular media and culture in a negative fashion. Stereotypes of
West Virginians and
Alabamians include
incest and
inbreeding. Poor white people in the
Appalachian region have often been stereotyped as
hillbillies.
White Hispanic and Latino Americans are often overlooked by the U.S.
mass media, and frequently, American social perceptions incorrectly give the terms
Hispanic or Latino a racial value, usually mixed-race, such as
Mestizo, while they, in turn, are overrepresented in the U.S. Hispanic mass media, are admired by it, and shape social perceptions of Hispanic and Latino Americans.
Serial killers are often stereotyped to be white males. ==See also==