CANADIAN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS' STEREOTYPES OF CANADIANS AND AMERICANS

Abstract

The authors, who are American, teach sociology and anthropology in a Canadian university. The location of our university on the Canadian-American border offers an excellent opportunity for cross-cultural research, as a teaching device, to facilitate the students' understanding of the dynamic interrelationships of social processes. To augment their understanding of the formation and functions of stereotypes, the students in an Introductory Sociology and an Anthropology Culture Change class were asked to describe the Canadian image of American and Canadian citizens. The responses to the assignment produced a surprisingly vivid description of the students' image of their neighbours across the river and of their national self-image. Although there is evidence to suggest that the attitudes of the students are shared by many Canadians, no claim for the universality of the results is made. No attempt was made to select a statistically representative sample of respondents. Our concern was for the elucidation of specific stereotypes by the members of the two classes and the analysis of the factors that influenced their development and persistence.