Whistling vivaldi, a new study of cultural stereotypes by claude m. Steele addresses one of the most perplexing social issues of our time. The acclaimed social psychologist offers an insiders look at his research and groundbreaking findings on stereotypes and identity. Through the telling of dramatic personal stories, dr. Steele tried to get into a public swimming pool, but was told that the pool was only open to white people that day.
Join the leading website for book clubs with over 35,000 clubs and 20,000 reading guides. Identity contingencies are characteristics of ones identity that can result in reward or punishment depending upon the circumstance 68. Steeles whistling vivaldi how stereotypes affect us and what can we do in order to develop self and social awareness when they are in situations where stereotypes may be present. The book gets its title from a story a black new york times writer, brent staples, told steele about how he had to whistle vivaldi anytime he walked on the streets of hyde park a suburb of chicago so he wouldnt look violent. How stereotypes affect us and what we can do ebook by claude m. Enjoy a great reading experience when you buy the kindle edition of this book. Whistling vivaldi, then, is about what its like to live in a cloud of stereotypes, and the ways this cloud influences peoples lives. Steele offers a lay persons peek into the scientific world, explaining his thought processes and backing all the. A teacher summary and student reading guide are included to assist students comprehension of this text. Claude steele calls this an example of the stereotype threat. How stereotypes affect us and what we can do issues of our time at. Through dramatic personal stories, claude steele shares the experiments and studies that show, again and again, that exposing subjects to stereotypesmerely reminding a group of female math majors about to take a math test, for example, that women are considered naturally inferior to men at mathimpairs their performance in the area affected by the stereotype. Nortons issues of our time series of books by leading thinkers exploring ideas that matter in the new millennium. How stereotypes affect us and what we can do issues of our time paperback april 4, 2011.
Through dramatic personal stories, claude steele shares the expe. Within its pages, the highly thoughtof social psychologist shows us how, even in the absence of explicit racism, negative stereotypes can continue to pervade american life, and have farreaching. The book gets its title from a story a black new york times writer, brent staples, told steele about how he ad to whistle vivaldi anytime he walked on the streets of hyde park a suburb of chicago so he wouldnt look violent to the dominantly white people who lived on that part. How stereotypes affect us and what we can do read an excerpt of this book.
Whistling vivaldi hardcover and other clues to how stereotypes affect us issues of our time by claude m. And other clues to how stereotypes affect us by claude steele the book is very revealing, showing through many careful experimental studies how stereotypes have wideranging effects beyond our conscious awarenessfor example, how just simply being in a society where there are stereotypes can depress academic performance of black students or math. Rent whistling vivaldi how stereotypes affect us and what we can do 1st edition 9780393339727 and save up to 80% on textbook rentals and 90% on used textbooks. Claude steele is professor of psychology and provost at columbia university. The title comes from brent staples, an africanamerican writer who used to whistle vivaldi or the beatles while walking. Whistling vivaldi summary from litcharts the creators of. Walking down the street between his classes while attend. In whistling vivaldi, steele looks back on his 30year career investigating the impact of social biases and prejudices on everyday life.
In many ways, the book is all about the tension between what society tells us we should be and our power to assert our individual hopes, dreams and aspirations. When the book marya read seemed to take life through her, she could get her emotions, which are usually experienced and nurtured through building relations with other people. Its significant, steele argues, that he first became. In whistling vivaldi, claude steele describes the powerful role that stereotypes play in human behavior.
The book looks at how stereotypes affect our performance. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Start studying stereotypes final exam whistling vivaldi. Brent staples whistled vivaldi and other classical music as he walked down the streets of chicago as a young africanamerican graduate student, hoping to combat the negative stereotypes that he saw on some passerbys faces. From between the world and me to whistling vivaldi. That is, as an executive vice chancellor and provost at berkeley, he sometimes sends a friendly mass email to the whole campus during finals week to remind everyone to please take care of one another. Steele is the new executive vice chancellor and provost at uc berkeley as of march 31, 2014. The title comes from brent staples, an africanamerican writer who used to whistle vivaldi or the beatles while walking in chicago so that people wouldnt think he was dangerous.
And other clues to how stereotypes affect us by claude m. These are proven strategies for creating identity safety, but they need to begin early in childrens lives. How stereotypes affect us and what we can do issues of our time. In whistling vivaldi, described as a beautifullywritten account of the relationship between stereotypes and identity, claude steele offers a vivid firstperson detailing of the research that brought him to his groundbreaking conclusions. Whistling vivaldi how stereotypes affect us and what we. How stereotypes affect us and what we can do is an explanation of socialpsychological research into the field of identity contingencies and stereotype threat. In the book whistling vivaldi, the two main concepts steele discusses are stereotype threat and identity contingency. And yet, as ive have urged throughout this book, it is precisely these pressures that make a social identity real for us. This delightfully written book also imparts a better understanding of ourselves. This is difficult to appreciate by reflecting on our experience. He begins by recalling his childhood in 1950s chicago, and the day when he first truly became aware that he was black.
Since whistling vivaldi was first published in 2010, its likely youve read it or at least browsed through it at a bookstore. Discussion questions for whistling vivaldi feel free to pick and choose among these discussion questions, or ask your own. The one book initiative is the universitys community reading program. Staples who knew he had a social identity because he was black used the whistling to steer through that part of his. The corset is probably the most controversial garment in the history of fashion. How stereotypes affect us and what we can do, by social psychologist claude steele, is the 20142015 one book one northwestern book selection. Nortons issues of our time series of books by leading thinkers exploring ideas that matter in. The book explores various identity contingencies, which steele describes as the things you have to deal with in a situation because you have a given social identity, because you are old, young, gay, a white male, a woman, black, latino, politically conservative or liberal. In this 90minute lesson students will read an excerpt from claude m. Identity contingencies stereotype threat this books is about what my colleagues and i call identity contingenciesthe things you have to deal with in a situation because you have a given social identity, because you are old, young, gay, a white male, a woman, black, latino.
The acclaimed social psychologist offers an insiders look at his research and groundbreaking findings. A highly readable, firstperson account, whistling vivaldi by claude steele was published in 2010 as part of publisher w. In one striking passage, coates relates to his son the particular burden of. Brent, too, is a black male who grew up in chicago. Clash how to thrive in a multicultural world by hazel. Written in the form of a letter to his black teenage son, the book was published. The title of the book comes from the experience steele describes of brent staples, now a columnist for the new york times but at the time of the story a graduate. Today, staples story is the inspiration for the title of the 2015 common reading book, whistling vivaldi. Whistling vivaldi is a mustread in the age of identity politics and an excellent tool against tribalism and im not saying that to be political the very terms liberal and conservative have become tribal identities themselves. In addition to serving as executive vice chancellor and provost, steele will have an appointment as professor in the department of psychology and the graduate school of education. Steele ends whistling vivaldi with prescriptions for countering the effects of stereotype threatcreating selfaffirming narratives, for example, and mindsets that emphasize growth and change rather than fixed abilities.
If not, its worth a read, both for its important content on the impact of stigma on the stigmatized and its accessible description of a twodecade research process. This entry was posted in cityreads nyc, people from the blog and tagged claude steele, d train, manhattan, stereotypes, whistling vivaldi on february 7, 2017 by cityreadsnyc. The main idea of value that i gained from this book came in chapter 9 when the author surmised that interestingly, topdown decision making with stress on basic. Go here for a glossary of psychology terms used in whistling vivaldi prepared by deb hoskins, ph. In his book, whistling vivaldi, he lays out a plan to reshape those expectations.
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