A Study of Ethnic Slurs: The Jew and the Polack in the United States

Abstract

ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING ASPECTS of the study of man concerns the alleged or actual character traits of different cultures and subcultures. In anthropology and psychology there is a vast literature devoted to character, ethnic psychology or Volkscharakter.1 While some scholars have despaired of ever arriving at a rigorous description of the modal or fundamental character of different groups, there seems little doubt that different peoples do manifest different personality traits. Interest in such matters depends, of course, upon whether a particular investigator wishes to emphasize the essential similarities of peoples or to dwell upon the various differences. There is an equally large literature on the apparently universal propensity of man to stereotype. Ever since the coining of the term by journalist Walter Lippmann in his book Public Opinion in 1922, social psychologists among others have actively sought to refine the concept and to document its existence and influence.2 Attention has been given both to stereotypes of self and to stereotypes of others. In addition, there have been special studies concerned with the relationship between stereotypes and prejudice. It seems clear that stereotypes do contribute materially to the formation and perpetuation of deep-seated prejudices. Yet, in examining the extensive national character and stereotype scholarship, one finds surprisingly little reference to the materials of folklore. Stereotypes are described almost solely on t…