Continuity and change in the regional stereotypes of southern college students, 1970–1987

Abstract

A 1970 study, using the Katz and Braley typical trait list to examine the stereotypes of Americans, white southerners, and white northerners held by a sample of southern college students, was replicated in 1987. The stereotypes were largely unchanged from the earlier study, despite striking changes in American regions and regional relations in the intervening years. White southerners were seen as traditional, religious, family oriented, and courteous compared with white northerners and to Americans in general. Among the many changes in detail, however, were that all three groups were less likely to be seen as intelligent, white northerners and Americans in general were less likely to be seen as industrious, and white southerners were no longer characterized as lazy or ignorant.