Stereotype Of Britons

This study aims at investigating what stereotype of Britons are being held by Chinese postgraduates, and at identifying and evaluating media sources of their perceptions from an intercultural perspective based on the theories of media stereotyping and media representation.In intercultural communication, stereotype studies abroad have many achievements. Hewstone and Brown(1986) pointed out that intercultural communication practice can intervene or reduce stereotype. By means of study on the White and African American undergraduates living in the USA, Hughes and Baldwin (2002) demonstrated the correlativity between communication activities and stereotype.Foreign researchers, such as Kramsch (2000), Scollons (2004), Samovar, Porter and Stefani (2005) had discussed the crucial effects of stereotype on the effective intercultural communication. In China, stereotype studies seem to be confined to theoretical discussion from certain perspectives.Many scholars, such as Hu Wenzhong(1990), Guan Shijie(1995) and Gao Yihong (2002), probed into ways to conquer the intercultural communicative barriers by means of cultural stereotype; others, such as Lin Zeyan, Xu Houdao(1996), Han Zhongtai (2001)and Wen Weiping (2002) put forward the influence of stereotype on intercultural communication competence. Even though Zhang Ping and Chen Junsen did empirical study on Chinese college students in 2000, their method had obvious defects. Therefore, empirical studies are still lacking on how Chinese postgraduates perceive the Britons.Main body of the thesis has been divided into three chapters.Chapter 1 is literature review, in which culture is firstly introduced, about its definitions and features. Secondly, it presents definitions, features and formation of stereotype. Finally, answers are given to the question—what the Britons really are:the descriptions of Britons by themselves.Chapter 2 is the theoretical framework of the research, various theories to stereotype and media are introduced and research questions put forward.Chapter 3 is comprised of descriptions of participant selection, questionnaire design methods, as well as result analysis and discussion, presenting statistical data and answers to research questions.The result suggests that most common words/phrases Chinese postgraduates used to describe Britons are generally complimentary, but their cultural stereotype of Britons is in paradox, involving many controversial ideas. Media is the most important channel for Chinese postgraduates in their information collection concerning Britons. The Internet is regarded as the most popular media source, and English movies and TV series are the most influential and credible media source. Compared with Chinese-language media and English-language media of China, media of the UK is regarded as the most influential media among Chinese postgraduates.