Groomers and Trigger-Happy Thugs? Public Sector Stereotypes of Teachers and Police Officers

Abstract

In an era where memes and social media cross national borders, stereotypes can jump from one country to another. We tested the level of support for two public sector stereotypes from the United States in one Canadian province. A representative sample of 3,510 Quebecers answered questions about their public sector stereotypes, for teachers (n = 1,494) and police officers (n = 1,516). Although the support for the teacher as a groomer and police officers as trigger-happy is lower and less polarized than in the original studies in the United States, the profiles of citizens who support these stereotypes are similar.