Eastern Michigan University DigitalCommons@EMU Senior Honors Theses Honors College 2017 "Stereotypisch Deutsch": An Examination of Stereotypes of Germans and the Effects in the Business Environment Alicia Marvinetz Follow this and additional works at: http://commons.emich.edu/honors Part of the German Linguistics Commons, and the International Business Commons Recommended Citation Marvinetz, Alicia, ""Stereotypisch Deutsch": An Examination of Stereotypes of Germans and the Effects in the Business Environment" (2017). Senior Honors Theses. 525. http://commons.emich.edu/honors/525 This Open Access Senior Honors Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Honors College at DigitalCommons@EMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Senior Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@EMU. For more information, please contact lib-
[email protected]. "Stereotypisch Deutsch": An Examination of Stereotypes of Germans and the Effects in the Business Environment Abstract Stereotypes can be seen as a tool to understand why a person or group of people behave the way they do. These stereotypes adapt over time as culture and cultural perceptions change. The purpose of this research is to analyze what stereotypes Americans have held of Germans over the years, starting in 1940, a couple years before the United States entered World War II, then the Cold War Era between 1947 and 1990, through today. The purpose of these time frames is to see how Americans viewed Germans just prior to entering the war, how the war may have changed those views, what happened to those views after the war was over, and what has become of those views since the fall of the Berlin Wall leading to today.