LITHUANIAN AND LATVIAN URBAN YOUTH PERCEPTIONS AND STEREOTYPES OF FARMER AND AGRICULTURE

Abstract

The article examines the theoretical approach of the terms stereotypes and occupational stereotyping. The term "stereotype" is seldom encountered in the sociological or economic papers dealing with farmer, farming, and agriculture. There are existing differences of characteristics of stereotypes; thus, the article will try to detect features described by Lipmann W., Dyer R., Oskamp S., Schultz R.W., and others. Some of the definitions offer a thought that stereotypes are oversimplifications or generalisations, while they are more complicated as it seems from the first sight.\rThe current article will discover sociological concern of how stereotypes function in social thought and the specific concerns how stereotypes function in urban youth thoughts. The article will distinguish negative, neutral, and positive stereotypes. The article will include both qualitative and qualitative research methods in order to reveal Latvian urban youth perceptions and stereotypes of farmer and agriculture.