Claude M. Steele Stereotypes

The title of this literature is Whistling Vivaldi: “How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do.” The author of this literature is Dr. Claude M. Steele who wrote this book as a story of social psychology research and the construct of stereotype threat. Dr. Steele was born in the outskirts of Chicago during the 1950’s (Steele, 2011, p. 1-15). His father was a truck driver and his mother was a social worker. It was at the age of seven or eight years old when Dr. Steele realized he was black. During the summertime, he wanted to swim but he learned that black kids weren’t allowed to swim at the local swimming pools, except on Wednesdays. It was at that moment, as a child, he noticed how his life was shaped, confined, and restricted by being black. As a teenager, he became engrossed in the evolvement of the civil rights movement. He even protested with other activists (Steele, 2011, p. 1-15). Dr. Steele earned his bachelor’s degree in Psychology in 1967 from Hiram College in Hiram, Ohio. Following that, he earned his …show more content…
Steele’s is the Achievement Gap. The Achievement gap is a major issue that we are currently facing in America. Dr. Steele goes to explain how in the many job fields here in America, minorities obtain less success and progress than white Americans and this is due to underperformance (Steele, 2011, p. 45-63). In many different areas, it is shown that there is a “gap” between minorities and the white Americans when it comes to achievements in a work setting. There are several reasons to why Dr. Steele believes there is a huge achievement gap in today’s society. The first reason he discussed is structural racism. Structural racism is the establishment of policies, practices, and attitudes that are designed prevent minorities from positive outcomes within an organization caused by racial inequality (Steele, 2011, p. 45-63) He feels that multiple practices have indeed been designed to show favor to white Americans versus