The National Hispanic Media Coalition recently released a report, “The Impact of Media Stereotypes on Opinions and Attitudes towards Latinos,” that looked at perceptions of Latinos in the U.S. A survey about views on Latinos, as well as media representations of them, was administered by phone to a national sample of 900 non-Latinos in March 2012.
The study found that the overwhelming majority of respondents agreed with a number of positive stereotypes of Latinos, such as the idea that they are hardworking and family-oriented:
A range of negative stereotypes were persistent as well. Participants were asked how well a number of negative views described Latinos. Fully half agreed that Latinos can generally be described as welfare recipients and poorly educated, while significant minorities agreed with a number of other negative views:
The researchers created a familiarity index based on personal contact with Latinos, frequency of such interactions, and general cultural awareness. Overall familiarity varied significantly by age, with younger adults reporting higher levels than older adults:
All groups, regardless of level of familiarity, felt generally positively about Latinos. However, when asked about “illegal aliens,” feelings were much more negative. Feelings were based on a scale from 0 (worst possible opinion) to 100 (highest possible opinion). The more familiar a group was with Latinos, the higher their average rating of both “Latinos” and “illegal aliens,” but every group had distinctly more negative opinions when asked about illegal aliens:
Which news source a person favored affected their perceptions of Latinos, with those who listed FOX News and conservative talk radio reporting more belief in negative stereotypes than those who rely on other TV sources or NPR for their news. However, though the gap was significant, it often wasn’t as large as you might expect given common perceptions of the wide divergence among, say, MSNBC and FOX News fans:
The researchers also conducted an online experiment on the impacts of negative media images on individual’s perceptions of Latinos. You can read the results of that aspect of the study in the full report (and read more about the research firm’s methods here).
Comments 10
Yrro Simyarin — September 27, 2012
So according the numbers I found, roughly 1/10th of hispanics in the US are illegal immigrants. Is it valid to compare public opinion of the two groups? Isn't the comparison itself playing into the stereotype?
Other group stereotypes with similar ratios:
White people and people making over $100,000 a year.
Black men and people who have been to prison.
The numbers seem to show a that the number of people who dislike people who broke the law to come here is much higher than the number who hold racist views against latinos, which seems to be as it should.
David — September 29, 2012
Religious/Churchgoing is a "positive" trait? A tad unfair to us atheists but an interesting post.
Cinni002 — September 30, 2012
After reading this report regarding the perception of
Latinos in the United States, it seems contradictory that there are such mixed
views about this group. The
juxtaposition of extremely positive and negative connotations for Latinos
suggests that media portrayal is highly variable. For instance, television shows like the
George Lopez Show depict its main Latino character as a successful and hard
working family man while avoiding stereotypes like Latino(a) gangsters, drug
dealers, and maids. Representations of
Latinos in a positive light as shown by the George Lopez Show may fuel labels
such as ‘family oriented’ and ‘honest’ that are associated with Latinos. On the other hand, in the aftermath of the
Great Recession, politicians, reporters, and citizens may be tempted to blame certain
economic outcomes on a group of people.
As the largest growing minority in the US with 25.3 percent living in
poverty, Latinos have caught the attention of policy makers perhaps to the
dismay of other groups that are also feeling economic hardship. In response, popular media has labeled
Latinos as ‘illegal aliens’ or ‘job-takers’ even if such claims are mostly
sparked by economic turmoil, not statistics.
Brandon — October 1, 2012
"Which news source a person favored affected their perceptions of Latinos..."
No. There is a correlation between which news source a person favors and their perceptions of Latinos. Maybe someone's perceptions of Latinos affects their choice of news. Maybe there's a third factor that influences both.
Come on.
Franc28 — October 9, 2012
Since when is "religious" a positive stereotype?
Hispanic and Latino Immigration: What Natives Don’t Seem to Realize – The KoreanSheezus — December 13, 2016
[…] You cannot say that if you’ve never heard or seen a blatant stereotype of a Hispanic/ Latino person because the media, a huge contributor of feeding prejudices and preconcieved notions of these people, are pumped through T.V shows and the news. “ Participants were asked how well a number of negative views described Latinos. Fully half agreed th….” […]
James Jordan — September 5, 2023
I think this is a very interesting and important topic to explore, especially in light of the current political and social climate in the U.S. You have presented some of the key findings from the report by the National Hispanic Media Coalition, which looked at how media stereotypes affect opinions and attitudes towards Latinos.
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