FIFTH TASK

STEREOTYPES

  Stereotype is considered as an overgeneralization of a certain group. the majority of them are related with  the culture and the behavior of  the people. between countries is common to have those stereotypes, many of them do not harm any country, however there are negative stereotypes that in a certain way affect and is harmful to the culture of a country. 

  Colombia has been one of the most criticized countries, due to our history, while many of Colombians struggle to demonstrate and give a different meaning to the history, there are few who are responsible for the bad reputation of the country.  one clear fact is that  When you ask a foreigner about Colombia, what he  usually thinks immediately is drugs, violence, kidnappings, etc., but we are much more than that.

   This not only makes that people can to refrain visit our country, but also that when a colombian wants to travel abroad, we are criticized for just for being colombians,  However, nowadays thanks to the fact that the world is connected, breaking with those stigmas is easier, many people from different countries are sharing information all the time, that is why if we want to know about a culture we can obtain an objective view of the different behaviors and customs of the people.

 To conclude, stereotypes are personal opinions that when spread can be harmful to the country, it is for this reason that people must respect and take stereotypes in a critical and objective way, relying on different points of view that are now accessible around the world.

2. Select one exercise from each of the following list of topics and solve them in your blog by providing a detailed explanation of your answer. Please, include the prompt (instruction), the passage and your explained answer. 

TOPICS

·         Underlying assumptions 

Activity: For each passage below, identify the underlying assumption. Remember that an assumption is not necessarily incorrect or unreasonable. 

Passage 6.3:

Children are costing parents more. They demand more of their parents' time, expecting to be taken to activities after school, whereas in the past, parents' own interests took priority. Parents are under more pressure to provide clothes and shoes with expensive designer labels, toys, trips and even more costly brands of breakfast cereal in order for their children to be accepted by their peers. Advertising aimed at children should be banned in order to reduce excessive peer pressure

In this final part of the paragraph the writer is assuming that the reason why children now demand more cost, is because they see a lot of advertising, this assumption may be correct or not.

•          Implicit Assumptions Used as Reasons

Activity:

Read the following passage, and identify:

1. the conclusion

2. the implicit assumptions used as reasons to support the conclusion.

PASSAGE 6.9:

People used plants as a method of curing illness for centuries before the advent of modern medicines. The same plants are often used by the pharmaceutical industry as the basis for the medicines we use even today. Medicines are now expensives to produce and purchase. It would be better if we returned to traditional methods, using leaves and roots of plants rather than mass produced pharmaceuticals. 

There are 3 implicit assumptions used as reasons:

1) There were another way to cure illness, using plants.

2) the same plants are used as a base for modern medicine.

 3) modern medicine is expensive.

Conclusion 

"It would be better if we returned to traditional methods, using leaves and roots of plants rather than mass produced pharmaceuticals. "

·        False premises

Passage 6.18

Five percent of people got married last year, and five percent the year before. This means that ten percent of peple get married every two years. Therefore, in twenty years time, everybody will be married.

this is a clear false premise because the writer is not taking into a count people who divorce in that time, and the people who grow up in twenty years, so i think that this premise is absurd.

• Implicit arguments:

ACTIVITY: Identify the implicit arguments in the following passages. What are the implicit social or ideological assumptions in the following passages

PASSAGE 6.21 

Employees would do very well to bear in mind that all forms of trade union and association, other than for sports and recreation, are not viewed favourably. Employees are not to discuss their rates of pay with other workers.

In this case the company is trying to impose some ways to think, so they can not discuss about their salary, They "should not" be critical. 

• Stereotypes

We'll decorate the room pink as they have two girls. 

This stereotype is very common, when we try to define a sex with colors, blue for men and pink for women.

• Assuming causal links: (p. 106)                                                                   
•   activity:  identify the assumed causal link or links. 

•  Passage 7.1: Life expectancy is much higher in Western countries than in the past. Obesity is also much higher. Therefore, obesity must increase our life expectancy. 

• In this case two ideas are connected, obesity, with the expectation of life, in this case the passage tells us that obesity increases the life expectancy.

• Identifying the nature of the link: p. 108

Instruction: identify whether: 

 A) The reasons support the conclusion through causal links.

 B) The conclusion only works if there is an assumption or assumptions that are not covered by the reasons. Identify the assumption(s) made. 

C) There is no link between the reasons and the conclusion.  

Passage 7.4: 

Reason 1: Sugar destroys teeth.

 Reason 2: Children eat a lot of sugar.

 Reason 3: Children's teeth decay quickly. 

Conclusion:Children's teeth decay quickly because of the sugar they eat.

 in this case the casual links precede each other and  there are correct, which means  that the conclusion is strongly argued.

• False analogies : p. 113 

 Activity: For each of the passages below, identify: 

A) What the analogy is: which two things are being compared?

 B) Whether the comparisons are valid. 

" The earth's atmosphere is like a blanket of gases around the earth. It is only a thin layer but it helps to maintain the temperature of the earth, keeping us warm. It also offers a layer of protection from the intensity of the sun."

A) Direct relationship between a mantle of gases and the Earth's atmosphere. 

B) This analogy is valid because those two things have almost the same functionality, for example we use a blanket to cover and protect us as does the atmosphere.