Stereo Types

Tweet

Stereotypes are ideas held by some individuals about members of particular groups, based solely on membership in that group. They are often used in a negative or prejudicial sense and are frequently used to justify certain discriminatory behaviors. More benignly, they may express sometimes-accurate folk wisdom about social reality. Often a stereotype is a negative caricature or inversion of some positive characteristic possessed by members of a group, exaggerated to the point where it becomes repulsive or ridiculous. Stereotype production is based on: Simplification Exaggeration or distortion Generalization Presentation of cultural attributes as being 'natural'. Stereotypes are seen by many as undesirable beliefs which can be changed through education and/or familiarization. However, stereotypes need not be confined to negative characterizations about individuals or groups, and can thus have positive characterizations. Is stereotyping right or wrong? Should we tar people with the same brush all the time ??