Racist statements don’t seem to automatically imply lower status for the offended group. For example, many people found this “joke” offensive, even though the only claim seems to be that black people eat lots of watermelon. Similarly, a statement like “Jews control the financial system” could easily offend Jews, even though if anything it assigns them high status.
One way to look at this is that racist stereotypes promote viewing members of the target race as an undifferentiated mass with little or no individuality. This lowers the status of that group since individuality is important for status. The watermelon joke invokes such a stereotype of blacks.
BTW, I’m afraid that having espoused the idea that offense can be explained in terms of status, and having probably increased my own status in this community as a result, I’m likely quite biased on this issue now. I bet it’s much easier now for me to find arguments for this idea than counterarguments. So, reader beware. :)
If a statement concurrently attacks and asserts status of people in different ways, it can still be offensive. “Jews control the financial system” places Jews in out-group, which lowers their status, even though at the same time the statement seems to assert their status.
Stereotypes imply lack of individuality, which is usually low-status. As does grouping them as a single entity, especially if that grouping is made with a hint of sinisterity as would often be the case when talking about financial system -controlling jews.
There may be some “treating as a non-person” involved here: people are individuals with different tastes, goals, etc., and stereotypes like the ones you mention ignore this.
Racist statements don’t seem to automatically imply lower status for the offended group. For example, many people found this “joke” offensive, even though the only claim seems to be that black people eat lots of watermelon. Similarly, a statement like “Jews control the financial system” could easily offend Jews, even though if anything it assigns them high status.
One way to look at this is that racist stereotypes promote viewing members of the target race as an undifferentiated mass with little or no individuality. This lowers the status of that group since individuality is important for status. The watermelon joke invokes such a stereotype of blacks.
BTW, I’m afraid that having espoused the idea that offense can be explained in terms of status, and having probably increased my own status in this community as a result, I’m likely quite biased on this issue now. I bet it’s much easier now for me to find arguments for this idea than counterarguments. So, reader beware. :)
If a statement concurrently attacks and asserts status of people in different ways, it can still be offensive. “Jews control the financial system” places Jews in out-group, which lowers their status, even though at the same time the statement seems to assert their status.
Stereotypes imply lack of individuality, which is usually low-status. As does grouping them as a single entity, especially if that grouping is made with a hint of sinisterity as would often be the case when talking about financial system -controlling jews.
There may be some “treating as a non-person” involved here: people are individuals with different tastes, goals, etc., and stereotypes like the ones you mention ignore this.