Prejudice and negative stereotypes perceived by children of emigrants of their schoolmates

Abstract

A social discourse fed by prejudiced attitudes and ideologies exists towards children of migrants with the particular risk of social exclusion in the educational context; a topic of debate and concern for the society. The research presented in this paper aims at identifying prejudices and stereotypes perceived by emigrant children created by classmates children of no emigrant families. A total of 384 children of emigrant families belonging to the fourth through the seventh year of basic education from 18 public and private schools in the cantons Cuenca, Girón and Gualaceo belonging to the Province of Azuay, Ecuador, participated in the research. The research variables were measured through a questionnaire by means of two scales: the first one the subtle and blatant prejudice scale developed by Pettigrew and Meertens (1995) and further adapted by Rueda and Navas (1996), and a second one developed by the authors. The research concludes that there are no obvious signs of manifest and subtle prejudice, based on the perception of the children belonging to migrant families. In terms of stereotypes, those children perceive that their classmates negatively stereotype them as lazy, rude, interested in money, using ugly clothes and coming from a lower social class. In addition, they feel that their classmates consider them as no clean and tidy, that they are less inclined to play and share their time with them, not loving them, treated as not nice people, having no family, not being defended.