Which concept best describes both the manager's remark about women an…

Kavita, a qualified engineer, attends a job interview at a construction firm. The manager tells her that the post needs someone who can handle pressure on site, and adds that women usually cannot. That evening, Kavita watches a television serial in which the people of one region are shown as hot-tempered by nature, with no one from that region behaving differently. A few weeks later she learns that the post has gone to a less qualified man, though the firm told her that the selection was done purely on merit.

Which concept best describes both the manager's remark about women and the serial's portrayal of the region's people?

Answer & explanation

Correct answer: option 1

The correct answer is Option (1) → Stereotyping

Option (1) Stereotyping — Correct. Both the manager and the serial give a whole group one fixed trait: women cannot handle pressure, and the region's people are hot-tempered. Stereotypes are fixed and inflexible characterisations of a group that ignore the variation across individuals.

Option (2) Discrimination — Incorrect. Discrimination is actual behaviour that keeps a group from opportunities open to others. A remark and a television portrayal are ideas about a group, and neither describes an act of keeping anyone out.

Option (3) Social exclusion — Incorrect. Social exclusion means being cut off from full involvement in wider society, such as from education, health or banking. Neither the remark nor the serial cuts anyone off from such services.

Option (4) Social stratification — Incorrect. Social stratification is the ranking of groups into layers of unequal wealth, status and power. The two examples rank no groups; they give each group a single fixed trait.

NCERT (2026-27): “Social Inequality …
Prejudices are often grounded in stereotypes, fixed and inflexible characterisations of a group of people. Stereotypes are often applied to ethnic and racial groups and to women. In a country such as India, which was colonised for a long time, many of these stereotypes are partly colonial creations. Some communities were characterised as ‘martial races’, some others as effeminate or cowardly, yet others as untrustworthy. In both English and Indian fictional writings we often encounter an entire group of people classified as ‘lazy’ or ‘cunning’. It may indeed be true that some individuals are sometimes lazy or cunning, brave or cowardly. But such a general statement is true of individuals in every group. Even for such individuals, it is not true all the time – the same individual may be both lazy and hardworking at different times. Stereotypes fix whole groups into single, homogenous categories; they refuse to recognise the variation across individuals and across contexts or across time. They treat an entire community as though it were a single person with a single all-encompassing trait or characteristic.”

Which concept best describes both the manager's remark about women and the serial's portrayal of the region's people?

Answer & explanation

Correct answer: option 1

The correct answer is Option (1) → Stereotyping