STEREOTYPES THAT ALL BLACK PEOPLE ARE LAZY
“Not willing or wanting to work or use effort to do something.” (Cambridge). When we think of the word lazy, we associate it in a negative context by reason of how we relate it to the familiarity as to how it is used. Psychology Today talks about a laziness myth that claims:
Human beings have a deep-seated need to grow and learn throughout their lives. Meaningful work fulfills that basic need to learn and grow. Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers discusses the characteristics of meaningful work: it is complex, it offers autonomy, and there is a relationship between effort and reward. We have to think if some people are inherently lazy, or are they simply non-productive when the work that they are being asked to do is not meaningful and is therefore poorly suited to help them meet their basic needs?” (Psychology Today).
I …show more content…
Some of the most influential African Americans have changed the world because of their attainment. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela, Rosa Parks, and President Barack Obama, were all icons who fought diligently and relentlessly to create a change that affected the lives of millions and millions of people. Forbes released a list of Black Billionaires of 2015 containing 1,826 people. Of the 1,826 people that were privileged to be on this list, 11 of them were African Americans. Needless to say, the richest man in the world is of African American descent. Aliko (Forbes, 2015).
The myth of laziness can be defined by “unwilling to work or use energy”. In U.S. culture, we attribute laziness to people when they have failed to do specific tasks that we value. We tend to say people are lazy if they lack concrete goals, fail in their education, or lack what is known as “work ethic”. If we use this ethnocentric definition of laziness in examining the African American culture, we will see that they are far from
“Not willing or wanting to work or use effort to do something.” (Cambridge). When we think of the word lazy, we associate it in a negative context by reason of how we relate it to the familiarity as to how it is used. Psychology Today talks about a laziness myth that claims:
Human beings have a deep-seated need to grow and learn throughout their lives. Meaningful work fulfills that basic need to learn and grow. Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers discusses the characteristics of meaningful work: it is complex, it offers autonomy, and there is a relationship between effort and reward. We have to think if some people are inherently lazy, or are they simply non-productive when the work that they are being asked to do is not meaningful and is therefore poorly suited to help them meet their basic needs?” (Psychology Today).
I …show more content…
Some of the most influential African Americans have changed the world because of their attainment. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela, Rosa Parks, and President Barack Obama, were all icons who fought diligently and relentlessly to create a change that affected the lives of millions and millions of people. Forbes released a list of Black Billionaires of 2015 containing 1,826 people. Of the 1,826 people that were privileged to be on this list, 11 of them were African Americans. Needless to say, the richest man in the world is of African American descent. Aliko (Forbes, 2015).
The myth of laziness can be defined by “unwilling to work or use energy”. In U.S. culture, we attribute laziness to people when they have failed to do specific tasks that we value. We tend to say people are lazy if they lack concrete goals, fail in their education, or lack what is known as “work ethic”. If we use this ethnocentric definition of laziness in examining the African American culture, we will see that they are far from