The Reproduction of Culture: Communication Processes Tend to Maintain Cultural Stereotypes

Culture can be regarded as a system of meaning that is produced and maintained through the dynamic production and reproduction of meanings in the social activities of individuals. To illustrate such a process, this paper examined the changes to a story when it is transmitted between several individuals and contains information relevant to cultural stereotypes. It was argued that people favor the reproduction of stereotype-consistent over stereotype-inconsistent information in communication, rendering the story increasingly more stereotypical and therefore maintaining the cultural stereotype. A story about a football player, who exhibited stereotype-relevant behaviors of his occupation, was transmitted through 20 four-person communication chains. Stereotype-consistent information was reproduced more than stereotype-inconsistent information, with the latter progressively screened out of the story over the course of the chain. Moreover, when the story content was compared across the chains, a divergence occurred when the story was initially transmitted but a convergence toward similar story content appeared through collective transmission. These findings are discussed with respect to the maintenance of cultural stereotypes and the reproduction of culture through the activities of individuals in a social network.