Cultures are partly similar and partly different in solving common problems. For each pair of cultures compared, the area of overlap is perceived as correct and is usually not noticed. The area of difference causes surprise, irritation, rejection and is perceived as a typical national trait - a stereotype of culture.
Russian stereotype: lazy, irresponsible, melancholy.
American stereotype: naive, aggressive, unprincipled, workaholics.
German stereotype: insensitive, bureaucratic, overzealous at work.
French stereotype: arrogant, hot, hierarchical, emotional.
Close to the concept of culture, the concept of national mentality is an integrating characteristic of people living in a particular culture, which allows you to describe the originality of these people's vision of the world around them and explain the specifics of their response to it.
Topic 5. The concept of "culture shock". Strategies for Overcoming Intercultural Conflict
The phenomenon of cross-culture shock is widely known. Almost everyone who worked or lived abroad for a relatively long period faced it.
Cross-cultural shock is a state of confusion and helplessness caused by the loss of usual value orientations and the inability to answer the questions: where, when and how to do the right thing?
Collisions that have arisen on the basis of cross-cultural errors are especially common during the first meetings and acquaintances. It is in these situations that managers and leaders, especially those who do not speak foreign languages and do not have much experience in dealing with foreigners, should be extremely careful and cautious.
Six manifestations of culture shock:
tension due to the efforts made to achieve psychological adaptation;
feeling of loss due to deprivation of friends, position, profession, property;
a feeling of loneliness (rejection) in a new culture, which can turn into a denial of this culture;
violation of role expectations and sense of self-identification; anxiety, turning into indignation and disgust after the realization of cultural differences;
feelings of inferiority due to inability to cope with the situation.
The main cause of culture shock is the difference in cultures. Symptoms of culture shock can be very different: from exaggerated concern for the cleanliness of dishes, linen, water and food quality to psychosomatic disorders, general anxiety, insomnia, fear.
Cross-cultural shock, characterized by a state of indecision, helplessness, depression, dissatisfaction with oneself. Almost without exception, businessmen have experienced this condition. This is connected not only with moving to another country, but also with a change in the type of activity, a change in official position, a transition from one company to another, etc.
Many researchers believe that the basis of cross-cultural shock is a violation of intercultural communications. There are usually four classic phases of cross-culture shock.
Phase of euphoria, joyful revival. This phase is often referred to as the "honeymoon" of cross-cultural shock. This period is characterized by a high degree of expectation, a desire to focus on positive values.
The phase of culture shock itself, frustration and irritation. Symptoms of this phase include homesickness, restlessness, depression, fatigue, irritability, and even aggressiveness. For many, this condition is accompanied by the development of an inferiority complex, unwillingness to perceive new culture, limiting communication only with their compatriots.
The third phase is the phase of gradual adaptation, recovery. During this period, there is a comprehension of the new cultural environment, a positive perception of the surrounding world returns, and a feeling of hope for the best grows stronger.
The fourth phase is the phase of full adjustment, reversible culture shock. This phase is characterized by an awareness of the values of the new culture and at the same time a critical understanding of the culture of one's own country.
Reverse culture shock is a set of sensations experienced by a person who has lived abroad for a long time when returning home.
Success in the market largely depends on the cultural adaptability of the company, its employees, and their competence in the field of intercultural communications. Cultural incompetence, inflexibility in intercultural communication puts the company's success at risk, including financially. When making an unsuccessful transaction, and here, perhaps, the inability to communicate with a foreign partner plays an important role, ignorance of the customs, history, and culture of the country of partners can reduce the volume of sales and purchases, worsen the attitude of buyers towards the company. An important component of the effectiveness of cross-cultural contacts is the knowledge of foreign languages. tongue plays important role when collecting information and evaluating it, language gives access to understanding the culture of other people, they become more open. Cross-cultural studies show that without knowledge of a foreign language it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to seriously study and understand the culture of another country. Entry into global world, the successful conduct of international business requires the formation of cross-cultural literacy. Another barrier in intercultural communications can be stereotyping, simplified perception and standardization of the phenomena of reality. A manager who trusts past experience, a stereotype, often makes mistakes. His communication skills are difficult and most often lead to cross-cultural shock. Strictly speaking, stereotyping paralyzes creative thinking and has a detrimental effect on the ability to perceive the new.
In a cross-cultural environment important place occupies the system of values, norms and traditions of a particular country. Respectful attitude not only to the cultural heritage of the country, but knowledge of the religious, ethical norms of this country is necessary for a manager associated with international activities. Unfortunately, ethnocentrism, which is associated with a sense of superiority that representatives of one culture experience in relation to others, is still the most important reason for the disruption of cross-cultural communication and the occurrence of cross-cultural shock. There is nothing more destructive to cooperation than dismissive attitude to a partner, the desire to impose his system of values and views on him. The manifestation of ethnocentrism and egocentrism is always detrimental to business and is usually accompanied by a loss of competitiveness. Impossible under current conditions to achieve business success, not respecting the culture and traditions of other countries, just as it is impossible to achieve career success in a company whose business culture the manager does not accept and condemns. In business, as in any kind of activity, the golden rule of morality is still relevant: Treat others the way you want to be treated.
The severity of culture shock and the duration of intercultural adaptation depend on many factors: internal (individual) and external (group).
In the first group of factors, the most important are the individual characteristics of a person: gender, age, character traits. Therefore, in recent years, researchers believe that the factor of education is more important for adaptation. The higher it is, the more successfully adaptation takes place. Education, even without taking into account the cultural content, expands the inner possibilities of a person. The more complex a person's picture of the world, the easier and faster he perceives innovations.
In connection with these studies, scientists have attempted to isolate a certain universal set personal characteristics which a person who is preparing for life in a foreign country with a foreign culture should have. The following personality traits are usually named: professional competence, high self-esteem, sociability, extroversion, openness to different views, interest in other people, a tendency to cooperate, tolerance for uncertainty, internal self-control, courage and perseverance, empathy. If the cultural distance is too great, adaptation will not be easier. The internal factors of adaptation and overcoming culture shock also include the circumstances of a person's life experience. The most important thing here is the motives for adaptation. Having knowledge of the language, history and culture, of course, facilitates adaptation.
Foreign companies operating in Russia bring new ways of communication, new models of organization of work processes, new requirements for the professionalism of employees. Despite the fact that many employees of international companies have a good command of foreign language, orientation in complex cultural space can be very difficult, which affects decision-making and just communication between employees. A prerequisite for successful staff interaction is the development of cross-cultural competencies.
Ways to resolve the conflict of an individual with an alien environment:
Ghettoization (from the word "ghetto"). This phenomenon occurs when immigrants, having arrived in a foreign country, due to certain internal or other external causes close in their own circle, minimizing communication with the surrounding society and its culture. They often settle in the same area of the city where they speak mother tongue preserve the consumption patterns they are accustomed to in their home countries. In many large and even medium-sized cities of the West, one can see Chinese and Indian quarters. Brighton Beach in New York is a cultural enclave created in America by immigrants from Soviet Union unable or unwilling to undergo socialization again. In such cultural ghettos, restaurants offering national cuisine, souvenir shops of the corresponding country, etc. are concentrated. In these areas, a corresponding demand for cultural attributes is formed. that country where the residents of the area or their ancestors came from.
Assimilation is a way of coping with culture shock, the opposite of ghettoization. In this case, the individual seeks to abandon his culture as quickly as possible and assimilate the culture of the host country. Such people in America are much more American than those whose ancestors landed in the New World hundreds of years ago.
An intermediate strategy in which immigrants strive to assimilate a new culture, but at the same time enrich it with the one they brought with them. Thus, Italian spaghetti, pizza have become the national dishes of the United States, and Indian, Chinese cuisine has become a part of consumption in the UK, the USA and many other countries.
Partial assimilation is the rejection of one's culture and the development of a new one only in certain areas. So, most often, immigrants are forced to adapt to the norms adopted in a given country at work. However, in the family they often try to maintain their national culture, remain committed to national cuisine, the style of apartment decoration. Often adherence to their traditional religion remains.
Colonization is the imposition by immigrants of their cultural property, norms, language local residents. In this case, the style of consumption is introduced on a new basis and becomes dominant either in the country as a whole or in certain groups of the population. A classic example of cultural colonization was the creation of empires of Western European countries in Asia and Africa, accompanied by the planting of elements of European culture there.
However, the Americanization of life in Western Europe after the Second World War is sometimes cited as an example of cultural colonization. In this approach, cultural shifts in post-Soviet Russia can also be called cultural colonization.
Cognitive dissonance - (from the English words: cognitive - "cognitive" and dissonance - "lack of harmony") - the state of the individual, characterized by a collision in his mind of conflicting knowledge, beliefs, behavioral attitudes regarding some object or phenomenon, in which from the existence of one element the denial of the other follows, and the feeling of psychological discomfort associated with this discrepancy. Dissonance may arise due to differences in cultural practices.
Stereotypes are forms that define behavior not only individual people but also groups, cultures, ethnic groups, societies. It is quite obvious that they should be taken with some limitations in mind. Ethnic psychologists who study ethnocultural stereotypes note that nations that are on high level economic development, emphasize such qualities as intelligence, efficiency, enterprise, and nations with a more backward economy - kindness, cordiality, hospitality. This can be confirmed by the study by S. G. Ter-Minasova, according to the results of which, in American society professionalism, diligence, responsibility, etc. are more valued, while in Russian - hospitality, sociability, justice.
According to research in the field of ethnocentrism, it can be concluded that most individuals consider what is happening in their culture to be natural and right, and what is happening in other cultures to be unnatural and wrong. It concerns behavior, customs, norms and values.
As a rule, on the one hand, ethnic stereotypes represent a serious barrier to intercultural communication. On the other hand, for all its schematism and generality, stereotypical ideas about other peoples and cultures prepare for a collision with a foreign culture, weaken the blow, reduce culture shock.
Stereotypes allow a person to form an idea of the world as a whole, to go beyond his narrow social, geographical and political world. The reason for the formation of stereotypes, as a rule, is ignorance of the national and cultural specifics that determine the behavior of representatives of a particular community, limited horizons, etc. Stereotypes entail certain expectations about the behavior patterns of representatives of other cultures. However, it should be noted that the formation of stereotypes is partly supported by real facts. Nevertheless, stereotypes, as a rule, are not identical with either the national character or the idea of the people about themselves.
It is quite obvious that stereotypes are reflected in the language. Constantly repeating phrases eventually acquire a certain linguistic stability and move to the level of clichés.
The functions of stereotypes can be of the following nature (E. N. Belaya):
- 1) the function of transferring relatively reliable information. When entering a foreign culture, people tend to streamline and generalize what they see, to create a primary cultural model;
- 2) the orienting function of stereotypes follows directly from the previous function. Its role is to create a simplified matrix of the surrounding world, a kind of "guidebook";
- 3) the function of influencing the creation of reality - with the help of stereotypes, there is a clear differentiation into one's own and others' cultural models. The stereotype helps to preserve the primary cultural identity.
By type, stereotypes can be differentiated into autostereotypes(steady opinions that have developed about themselves, their own culture under the influence of various sources of information) and heterostereotypes - external stereotypes that are formed among representatives of one culture about another.
Several common sociocultural stereotypes can be cited as an example.
German stereotype: bureaucratic, overzealous at work, overly punctual. Rationalism is put at the forefront.
Stereotype about the French: arrogant, hot, emotional. As a rule, they are very careful both in official and in informal relationships. Painful about politeness. Economical and thrifty.
Stereotype about the British: very conservative, quite reserved and arrogant towards representatives of other cultures.
Stereotype about Norwegians: silent, distrustful, completely unromantic, withdrawn.
Stereotype about Finns: they don't talk much, they don't eat much, they don't like feasts. Giving etiquette does not accept expensive gifts.
The study of cultural stereotypes, their stability, selection is associated with the needs modern life, with the awareness of the fact that, formed by various circumstances, including accidents, limited knowledge, the image of the “other”, “another culture” in general, often very far from reality, has the same historical and cultural significance as reality itself . It is these images that guide many of us in our practical activities. Artificially created images-representations begin to play an active role in shaping the mentality of contemporaries and possibly subsequent generations.
Despite the stability of stereotypes and, at first glance, sufficient knowledge, their study in each new historical era is important scientific problem, if only because there is a constant voltage pulsation between the traditional installation and its erosion, between enrichment with new historical facts and rethinking already known. Despite sufficient attention on the part of researchers to this phenomenon, the explanation of the nature, emergence and functioning of stereotypes, as well as understanding the term "stereotype" itself, is still a problem.
At present, there is no consensus in scientific thought regarding its content. The term "stereotype" can be found in various contexts, where it is interpreted ambiguously: the standard of behavior, the image of a group or person, prejudice, cliché, "sensitivity" to cultural differences, etc. Initially, the term stereotype was used to refer to a metal plate used in printing to make subsequent copies. Today under the stereotype in in general terms is understood as a relatively stable and simplified image of a social object, group, person, event, phenomenon, etc., emerging in conditions of information deficiency as a result of generalization of the individual's personal experience and often preconceived notions accepted in society.
At the same time, stereotypes are often identified with traditions, customs, myths, and rituals. Despite the unconditional similarity of stereotypes with traditions and customs, it should be noted that stereotypes differ to a large extent from them in their psychological basis. The functional field of stereotypes lies mainly in the sphere of mental structures, while cultural traditions, customs and myths are the objectified results of their formation, fixed by rationalized (ideological, political, conceptual) or irrationalized (artistic-poetic, mystical-religious) ways and means. in which society is interested (or not interested).
In other words, traditions and customs are distinguished by their objectified universal significance, openness to others, while stereotypes are the product of the individual's hidden subjective mindsets. Myth, as an eternal way of ordering reality, is a product of collective belief and acts as an extremely successful mechanism for the emotional consolidation of society.
The author of the term, Walter Lippmann, understood stereotypes as: “... preconceived notions that decisively govern all processes of perception. They label certain objects, both familiar and unfamiliar, so that the barely familiar seem well known and the unfamiliar seem profoundly alien. W. Lippman explained the functioning of stereotypes through an analysis of the socio-psychological aspects of people's activities and considered stereotypes to be the mental material on which the public consciousness generally. Stereotypes, according to the scientist, streamline the world and facilitate the process of thinking of people, thanks to them a person feels confident. The scientist identified two main reasons that influence the emergence of stereotypes.
The first reason is the use of the principle of economy of effort, which is characteristic of everyday human thinking and is expressed in the fact that people tend not to react each time in a new way to new facts and phenomena, but try to bring them under existing categories. To abandon the economy of attention in favor of a pure experiential approach would undermine human existence. Thus, the process of stereotyping is always preceded by the process of categorization, as one of the ways of human cognition. surrounding reality.
The second reason for the formation of stereotypes is the protection of existing group values. Lippman called stereotypes a fortress that protects our traditions and pointed out that any encroachment on our stereotypes is regarded by us as an attack on the foundations of our worldview. Stability, rigidity, conservatism - these are the main characteristics of stereotypes according to W. Lippmann. The stereotype was studied by him in the system of those factors that cause its occurrence and determine its functioning.
The formation of stereotypes is based on the features of human thinking and the psyche. Firstly, this is concretization - the desire to explain abstract, and, therefore, difficult to digest concepts with the help of any accessible and understandable for the individual and all members of this community, real images. Secondly, this is a simplification, which boils down to highlighting one or more features as fundamental for the disclosure of complex phenomena. social factor The emergence of stereotypes is, as a rule, the presence of limited, one-sided experience.
In the late forties of the XX century, the most popular definition in Western scientific thought was the one proposed by the American psychosociologist Kimball Jung. The stereotype was understood by scientists as "a false classificatory concept, with which, as a rule, some social sensual-emotional tones of similarity and difference, approval or condemnation of another group are associated." In his definition, K. Jung emphasized the distorted nature of the assessment of phenomena and objects by stereotypes, and thus initiated the understanding of a stereotype as an erroneous assessment or prejudice about phenomena or groups of people.
In the future, the stereotype began to be perceived as an image or representation, obviously false, about a person or group. In Western science, the concept of a stereotype has increasingly become identified with ethnic or racial prejudice. As a result, there was a narrowing of the content of the concept of "stereotype" even in comparison with the original one, which was proposed by W. Lippman - these are images of any object or phenomenon that exist in the mind of a person and are manifested in his behavior. Now stereotypes are interpreted as a set of distorted ideas. Falsehood became so strongly associated with the concept of "stereotype" that the term "sociotype" was proposed to refer to standard but true knowledge about a sociocultural group.
Only in the late 1950s. O. Kleinberg's hypothesis about the presence of a "grain of truth" in this phenomenon became widespread. According to this hypothesis, stable simplified representations can be either true or false. The American researcher argued that "partially incorrect, superficial, limited stereotypes, nevertheless, generalize the real features of culture." Under the influence of Kleinberg's hypothesis, discussions arose again about the correspondence of stereotypes to true knowledge about objects and objects of the surrounding world. There is a tendency to identify stereotypes with generalizations of phenomena that really exist, although perhaps not in the form in which they are reflected.
However, it should be noted that some Western scientists who studied the stereotype as a phenomenon human psychology and cultures, generally do not consider the problem of the content of the "grain of truth" in the stereotype to be worthy of attention. From their point of view, any generalization regarding the assessment of human behavior is already a stereotype.
In fact, the problem of the ratio of true and false in stereotypes is very important. The main difficulty in resolving this issue lies in the absence of a reliable criterion for determining the degree of truth of a judgment. Note that the truth, in this case, is understood as an adequate reflection of objects and phenomena of the surrounding reality. The evolution of views on the problem of the truth-falsity of stereotypes can be represented in the form of three stages. At the beginning, stereotypes were considered to be predominantly false formations. It was assumed that stereotypes, functioning both at the personal and collective levels, cannot act as an absolutely true reproduction of reality. Later social stereotypes began to be understood primarily as a simplification, schematization of real objects. Simplification itself can be both false and true. The process of stereotyping is neither good nor bad, it performs the function of categorizing the social world that is objectively necessary for a person. The American psychosociologist E. Bogardus defined stereotyping as the lower stage of the evaluation process, but at the same time vital. Stereotyped perception arises from the great variety of groups and individuals and the inability for most busy people to weigh every reaction to every person. Thus, persons and groups are typified. Stereotyping plays an evaluative role and makes life easier in society.
A negative attitude towards stereotypes can be traced in the definition of another American researcher J. Wishman. The scientist identified the following main characteristics of the concept that underlies the stereotype:
1. the concept is rather simple than differentiated;
2. more erroneous than true;
3. it is rather acquired from others than received in direct experience with reality;
4. it is resistant to new experiences.
Stereotypes are effective, but unreliable. Thus, scientists point out the conditions for the emergence of stereotypes, namely the inadequacy of perception and the lack of contact with reality. In this case, the stability of this phenomenon is especially emphasized.
Today, the most common opinion is about the simultaneous truth and falsity of a stereotype. This is possible when a person's actions, due to "false" stereotypes, influence the further course of events in such a way that even false ideas and expectations come true, are validated in the eyes of the bearer of this stereotype. IN this issue one can agree with the opinion of P.N. Shikhirev, who argues that what is important in a stereotype is not truth itself, but conviction in it.
In understanding the phenomena language picture of the world” and “value picture of the world”, the concept of “stereotype” plays an important role. Most dictionaries note that the word "stereotype" has a negative connotation. An example is the definition of a stereotype given by Mike Cordwell's Dictionary of Psychology: “A stereotype is a rigid, often simplified representation of specific group or categories of people. Since we are generally prone to simplifications, we form stereotypes to make other people's behavior more predictable. These stereotypes are often negative and based on prejudice and discrimination. Stereotypes are not necessarily false; they usually contain some grain of truth. They are shared by a significant number of people, which generally contributes to their rooting. Stereotypes can change over time, but it is often difficult for their bearers to shake off their internalized beliefs.” [Cordwell 2000: 46]
In the Concise Dictionary of Cognitive Terms we find the following definition: “A stereotype is a standard opinion about social groups or individuals as representatives of these groups. The stereotype has a logical form of judgment in a sharply simplifying and generalizing form, with emotional coloring, attributing certain properties or attitudes to a separate class of persons, or, conversely, denying them these properties or attitudes. Expressed as a sentence like: Italians are musical, southerners are quick-tempered, professors are absent-minded, etc.” [ Concise Dictionary cognitive terms 1997: 198]
The phenomenon of “stereotype” is considered not only in the works of psychologists, but also in the works of linguists, sociologists, ethnographers, cognitive scientists, ethnopsycholinguists (W. Lippman, Yu.D. Apresyan, Yu.A. Sorokin, Yu.E. Prokhorov, E. Bartminsky and others .)
Representatives of each of these sciences highlight in the stereotype those properties that they notice from the standpoint of their field of study, and therefore social stereotypes, communication stereotypes, mental stereotypes, cultural stereotypes, ethno-cultural stereotypes, etc. are distinguished. For example, social stereotypes manifest themselves as stereotypes of thinking and behavior of an individual. Ethnocultural stereotypes are a generalized idea of typical features characterizing a people.
The term "stereotype" (Greek stereos - solid, typos - imprint) was introduced into scientific circulation by the American sociologist W. Lippman. By stereotype, Lippmann meant special form perception of the surrounding world, which has a certain influence on the data of our senses before these data reach our consciousness. . According to Lippmann, a person, trying to comprehend the world around him in all its inconsistency, creates a “picture in his head” regarding those phenomena that he did not directly observe. A person has a clear idea of most things even before he directly encountered them in life. Such stereotypes are formed under the influence of the cultural environment of a given individual. “In most cases, we do not first see and then give a definition, we first define a particular phenomenon for ourselves, and then we observe it. “.
V.V. Krasnykh understands a stereotype as “the structure of a mental-lingual complex formed by an invariant set of valence bonds attributed to a given unit and representing the concept of the phenomenon behind this unit” [Krasnykh 2001: 78].
According to Yu.A. Sorokin, a stereotype is “a certain process and result of communication according to certain semiotic models, the list of which is closed due to certain semiotic-technical principles adopted in a certain society. At the same time, the semiotic model is realized at the social, socio-psychological levels (standard) or at the linguistic, socio-psychological levels (norm). The standard and the norm exist in two forms: as a stamp (excessively explicated complex sign) or as a cliché (insufficiently explicated complex sign) [Sorokin 1998: 56].
Maslova V.A. distinguishes between a stereotype of behavior - the most important among stereotypes, which can turn into a ritual. In her opinion, “stereotypes have much in common with traditions, myths, rituals, but they differ from the latter in that traditions and customs are characterized by their objectified significance, openness to others, and stereotypes remain at the level of hidden mindsets that exist among “their own” [Maslova 2001: 208].
V.A. Maslova also emphasizes that “the basis of the formation of ethnic consciousness and culture as regulators of human behavior are both innate and acquired in the process of socialization factors - cultural stereotypes that are assimilated from the moment a person begins to identify himself with a certain ethnic group, a certain culture and be aware of oneself as an element of it” [ibid: 59].
Thus, the formation of stereotypes is based on cognitive processes, and stereotypes perform a number of cognitive functions: the function of schematization and simplification, the function of forming and storing group ideology, and other mental functions.
In our study the greatest interest represent ethnic stereotypes that embody ideas inherent in everyday consciousness about their own and other peoples.
N.V. Ufimtseva differentiates ethnic stereotypes and cultural stereotypes: “ethnic stereotypes are inaccessible to self-reflection of a “naive” member of an ethnic group and are facts of behavior and the collective unconscious, they cannot be specially taught, and cultural stereotypes are accessible to self-reflection and are facts of behavior, individual unconscious consciousness, they can already be taught” [Ufimtseva 1996: 140].
Ethnic stereotypes not only summarize certain information, but also express an emotional attitude towards the object. What in relation to one's own people is called reasonable economy, in relation to others may be called avarice. What is characterized as perseverance in “oneself”, the firmness of character in a “stranger” is called stubbornness. One and the same psychological complex, depending on the relationship to its carrier, can be called spontaneity, and carelessness, and irresponsibility [Dictionary of cognitive terms 1997: 189].
The concept of N.A. Erofeev, which is based on historical material. “Ethnic ideas are, as it were, the result of acquired information, the result of its processing and a generalized conclusion from it, they often affect relations between nations, ethnic groups and states." [Erofeev 1982: 11].
The main reason for the development of stereotypes is related to the protection of group values as a purely social function, which is realized in the form of a statement of its dissimilarity, specificity. “Stereotypes are a fortress that protects the traditions, views, beliefs, values of the individual, he is comfortable behind the walls of this fortress, because he feels safe there. Therefore, any encroachment on stereotypes is an attack on the safety of the individual, he regards such actions as an attack on the foundations of his worldview” [Platonov 2001: 139].
One of central issues arising from the study of stereotypes - this is how objective they are and reflect reality. There is no consensus on this issue. If the stereotype is based on reality, then it should be relatively stable, but if it is completely and completely false, then it should change depending on the historical, international and even domestic political situation in a particular country.
There are autostereotypes that reflect what people think about themselves, and heterostereotypes that refer to another people, to another people, and they are just more critical. For example, what is considered a manifestation of prudence among one's own people, a manifestation of greed among another people. People perceive ethno-cultural stereotypes as patterns that must be met. Therefore, stereotypes have a rather strong influence on people, stimulating in them the formation of such character traits that are reflected in the stereotype.
“Specialists in ethnic psychology who study ethnocultural stereotypes note that nations at a high level of economic development emphasize such qualities as intelligence, efficiency, enterprise, and nations with a more backward economy - kindness, cordiality, hospitality” [Maslova 2001: 58]. The above can be confirmed by the study by S. G. Ter-Minasova, according to the results of which professionalism, diligence, responsibility, etc. are more valued in English society, and hospitality, sociability, justice in Russian [Ter-Minasova 2000: 255].
According to E.Yu. Prokhorov, a stereotype is a superfixed phenomenon that does not change even in the face of real experience that refutes its truth. [Prokhorov 1997: 124].
According to Maslova V.A. An important role in the formation of stereotypes is played by the frequency of occurrence of certain objects, phenomena in people's lives, often expressed in longer human contacts with these objects in comparison with others, which leads to the stereotyping of such objects [Maslova 2001: 109].
With all its schematism and generality, stereotyped ideas about other peoples and other cultures prepare for a collision with a foreign culture, reduce cultural shock. “Stereotypes allow a person to form an idea of the world as a whole, to go beyond his narrow social and geographical world” [Pavlovskaya 1998: 139].
Yu. P. Platonov defines a stereotype as “a stable mental formation, in which some sufficiently hard fact reality, first of all, the image of some social group or community, easily extended to all its representatives. Stereotypes are sensually colored images that accumulate social and psychological experience communication and relationships between individuals” [Platonov 2001: 131].
The most popular source of stereotyped ideas about national characters are the so-called interethnic jokes, that is, jokes built on a template plot: representatives of different nations, once in the same situation, react to it differently, in accordance with those features of their national character which are attributed to them in the homeland of the anecdote.
An anecdote, being a text created by the people and for the people, is a reflection of the stereotypes that have developed in a particular linguistic and cultural environment.
After analyzing the concept of “stereotype” in various sciences, it can be noted that each person has an individual personal experience, a special form of perception of the surrounding world, on the basis of which the so-called “picture of the world” is created in his head, which includes an objective (invariant) part and a subjective assessment of reality by an individual. The stereotype is an integral part of this picture.
The main feature of stereotypes is their cultural determinism - a person's ideas about the world are formed under the influence of the cultural environment in which he lives. Stereotypes are shared by most people, but they can change depending on the historical, international, and domestic political situation in a particular country;
The phenomenon of “stereotype” itself is considered not only in the works of linguists, but also in the works of sociologists, ethnographers, cognitive scientists, psychologists, ethnopsycholinguists (W. Lippman, I. S. Kohn, J. Collen, Yu. D. Apresyan, Yu. A. Sorokin, V.A.Ryzhkov, Yu.E.Prokhorov, V.V. Krasnykh, P.N. Shikhirev, A.V. Mikheev, S.M. S. Batygin, S.V. Silinsky and others).
Representatives of each of these sciences highlight in the stereotype those properties that they notice from the standpoint of their field of study, and therefore social stereotypes, communication stereotypes, mental stereotypes, cultural stereotypes, ethno-cultural stereotypes, etc. are distinguished. For example, social stereotypes manifest themselves as stereotypes of thinking and behavior of an individual. Ethnocultural stereotypes are a generalized idea of the typical features that characterize a nation. German accuracy, Russian "maybe", Chinese ceremonies, African temperament, irascibility of Italians, stubbornness of Finns, slowness of Estonians, Polish gallantry - stereotypical ideas about a whole people that apply to each of its representatives. Most of the jokes about the national character are based on taking into account stereotypical ideas. Here is an example: “We sent a film to representatives of different nationalities with the following content: a hot desert and a scorching sun. A man and a woman walk with difficulty. And suddenly the man takes out a juicy orange and gives it to the woman. Viewers are asked the question: what nationality is he?
The French spectator replies: “Only a Frenchman could treat a lady so gallantly!” Russian: “No. This is Russian: you must be such a fool! I would eat it myself." Jew: "No, it's a Jew: who else could get an orange in the desert?" Here the stereotypes are the gallantry of the French, the recklessness of the Russians, the resourcefulness of the Jews.
There are autostereotypes that reflect what people think about themselves, and heterostereotypes that refer to another people, and they are just more critical. For example, what is considered a manifestation of prudence among one's own people, a manifestation of greed among another people. People perceive ethno-cultural stereotypes as patterns that must be met so that "people do not laugh." Therefore, stereotypes have a rather strong influence on people, stimulating in them the formation of such character traits that are reflected in the stereotype.
Ethnic psychologists who study ethnocultural stereotypes note that nations with a high level of economic development emphasize such qualities as intelligence, efficiency, and enterprise, while nations with a more backward economy emphasize kindness, cordiality, and hospitality. This can be confirmed by the study by S.G. Ter-Minasova, according to its results, in English society, professionalism, hard work, responsibility, etc. are more valued, and in Russian - hospitality, sociability, justice (Ter-Minasova, 2000, p. 255).
N. V. Ufimtseva differentiates ethnic stereotypes and cultural stereotypes: ethnic stereotypes are inaccessible to self-reflection of a “naive” member of an ethnic group and are facts of behavior and the collective unconscious, they cannot be specially trained, and cultural stereotypes are accessible to self-reflection and are facts of behavior, individual unconscious and consciousness, they can already be trained.
For the first time, the concept of a stereotype was used by W. Lippman back in 1922, who believed that these are ordered, schematic, culture-determined “pictures of the world” in a person’s head, which save his efforts when perceiving complex objects of the world. With this understanding of the stereotype, two of its important features stand out - being determined by culture and being a means of saving labor efforts, and, accordingly, language means. If the algorithms for solving mathematical problems save a person's thinking, then stereotypes "save" the personality itself.
In cognitive linguistics and ethnolinguistics, the term stereotype refers to the content side of language and culture, i.e. is understood as a mental (thinking) stereotype that correlates with the “naive picture of the world”. Such an understanding of the stereotype is found in the works of E. Bartminsky and his school; the linguistic picture of the world and the linguistic stereotype are related to him as a part and a whole, while the linguistic stereotype is understood as a judgment or several judgments relating to a specific object of the extralinguistic) world, a subjectively determined representation of an object in which descriptive and evaluative features coexist and which is the result of an interpretation reality within the framework of socially developed cognitive models. We consider as a linguistic stereotype not only a judgment or several judgments, but also any stable expression consisting of several words, for example, a stable comparison, cliché, etc.: a person of Caucasian nationality, gray as a harrier, a new Russian. The use of such stereotypes facilitates and simplifies communication, saving the strength of communicants.
Yu. A. Sorokin defines a stereotype as a certain process and result of communication (behavior) according to certain semiotic models, the list of which is closed due to certain semiotic-technological principles adopted in a certain society. At the same time, the semiotic model is realized at the social, socio-psychological levels (standard) or at the linguistic, psychological levels (norm). The standard and the norm exist in two forms: as a stamp (an overly explicated complex sign) or as a cliché (insufficiently explicated complex sign).
VV Krasnykh divides stereotypes into two types - stereotypes-images and stereotypes-situations. Examples of stereotypes-images: a bee is a hard worker, a ram is stubborn, and stereotypes-situations: a ticket is a composter, a stork is a cabbage.
Stereotypes are always national, and if there are analogues in other cultures, then these are quasi-stereotypes, because, while coinciding in general, they differ in nuances, details that are of fundamental importance. For example, phenomena and the queue situation in different cultures are different, and therefore stereotyped behavior will also be different: in Russia they ask “Who is the last one?” or they simply stand in line, in a number of European countries they tear off a ticket in a special apparatus and then follow the numbers that light up above the window, for example, at the post office.
So, a stereotype is a certain fragment of the conceptual picture of the world, a mental “picture”, a stable cultural and national idea (according to Yu. E. Prokhorov, “super stable” and “super fixed”) about an object or situation. It is a certain culturally determined idea of an object, phenomenon, situation. But this is not only a mental image, but also its verbal shell. Belonging to a particular culture is determined precisely by the presence of a basic stereotypical core of knowledge that is repeated in the process of socialization of an individual in a given society, therefore stereotypes are considered to be precedent (important, representative) names in culture. A stereotype is such a phenomenon of language and speech, such a stabilizing factor that allows, on the one hand, to store and transform some of the dominant components of a given culture, and on the other hand, to express oneself among "one's own" and at the same time recognize "one's own".
At the heart of the formation of ethnic consciousness and culture as regulators of human behavior are both congenital and acquired factors in the process of socialization - cultural stereotypes that are assimilated from the moment a person begins to identify himself with a certain ethnic group, a certain culture and realize himself as their own. element.
The mechanism for the formation of stereotypes is many cognitive processes, because stereotypes perform a number of cognitive functions - the function of schematization and simplification, the function of forming and storing group ideology, etc.
We live in a world of stereotypes imposed on us by culture. The totality of the mental stereotypes of an ethnic group is known to each of its representatives. Stereotypes are, for example, expressions in which a representative of a rural, peasant culture will speak of a bright moonlit night: it is light so that you can sew, while a city dweller in this typical situation will say: it is light so that you can read. Similar stereotypes are used by native speakers in standard communication situations. Moreover, practically any, and not just the logically main feature, can become dominant in the stereotype.
The cultural sphere of a certain ethnic group contains a number of elements of a stereotypical nature, which, as a rule, are not perceived by the bearers of another culture; these elements are called lacunae by Yu. A. Sorokin and I. Yu. created text, namely gaps.
The stability of culture, its viability are determined by how developed the structures that determine its unity, integrity. The integrity of culture involves the development of cultural stereotypes - stereotypes of goal-setting, behavior, perception, understanding, communication, etc., i.e. stereotypes overall picture peace. An important role in the formation of stereotypes is played by the frequency of occurrence of certain objects, phenomena in people's lives, often expressed in longer human contacts with these objects in comparison with others, which leads to the stereotyping of such objects.
A stereotype of behavior is the most important among stereotypes; it can turn into a ritual. In general, stereotypes have much in common with traditions, customs, myths, rituals, but they differ from the latter in that traditions and customs are characterized by their objectified significance, openness to others, while stereotypes remain at the level of hidden mindsets that exist among “their own”.
So, the stereotype is characteristic of the consciousness and language of a representative of culture, it is a kind of core of culture, its bright representative, and therefore the support of the individual in the dialogue of cultures.
To describe the language of a particular region in the light of linguoculturology, we use the scheme proposed by N. I. Tolstoy in ethnolinguistics: the literary language corresponds to the elite culture, dialects and dialects to folk culture, etc.
This scheme can be used in the linguistic and cultural description of any other region.
the brightest linguistic feature, which reflects the culture of the people, are phraseological units and proverbs, metaphors and symbols. For example, mythologemes, archetypes, standards, stereotypes, customs, rituals, and beliefs are fixed in the language.
The national and cultural identity of phraseological units, metaphors, symbols is formed through cultural connotations. And yet we maintain that language is not the repository of culture.
The unit of language - the word - is only a signal, the function of which is to awaken the human consciousness, to touch certain concepts in it, ready to respond to this signal.
Language is only a mechanism that contributes to the coding and translation of culture. Texts are the true guardian of culture. Not the language, but the text reflects the spiritual world of man. It is the text that is directly related to culture, because it is permeated with many cultural codes, it is the text that stores information about history, ethnography, national psychology, national behavior, i.e. about everything that constitutes the content of culture. In turn, the rules for constructing a text depend on the context of the culture in which it appears.
The text is built from the lower levels of linguistic units, which, if appropriately selected, can enhance the cultural signal. Phraseological units are such units in the first place.
