Italians were stereotyped by Aborigines on eleven items out of
a possible seventeen, eight of these positive, compared with 'Australians’
stereotyped on seven items. There was thus a higher degree of
consensus overall. There was also a higher degree of consensus on
individual items. The strong point of difference is that whereas
’Australians' were seen by Aborigines as 'friendly' (56.0 per cent),
Italians were seen by 33.0 per cent of Aborigines as unfriendly,
though with the highest support at the mid-point (37..2 per cent);
33.9 per cent of non-Aborigines also saw Italians as 'unfriendly',
with 41.2 per cent seeing them as friendly. Italians were Stereo-
...
typed by Aborigines as untrustworthy (40.3 per cent) and quick-
tempered (58.0 per cent). They were not stereotyped as 'drinking
too much'.
On the whole Italians were stereotyped in a way similar to that
of 'Australians' - good parents, good providers, caring for possessions,
motivated, having a purpose in life. They were seen additionally as
having a strong sense of right and wrong, being c 1-е an and tidy and
being careful withι.mouey.
Two negative stereotypes were recorded: Italians were over-
whelmingly judged not to speak proper English, and despite having a
strong sense of right and wrong they were seen as untrustworthy by
both Aborigines and non-Aborigines. They were not seen, as Australians
were, as being friendly. They were seen as deviant from Australian
norms in that "they know when to stop drinking".
One may speculate that Italians are seen as a close-knit ethnic
group projecting a strong value system. Several explanations may
be offered as to why Italians were seen as 'unfriendly' and
'untrustworthy'.
This may be set into the context that Simmel outlines in his essay
on The Stranger (Wolff, 1950:402-408), that is, that a minority ethnic
group cannot be counted on to reflect the values of the dominant group;
its members are apt to distance themselves as strangers who import
qualities into a group which do not stem from the group itself. From
the point of view of Aborigines, Italians as a minority group could
be seen as socially near to Aborigines, and as migrants taking jobs