Stereotype

Explanation

A stereotype here is an established, recognisable attribution connecting people, groups or situations with particular properties. In the context of epithets, a recurring label can activate such expectations without supplying fresh justification in each text. Not every epithet is a social stereotype, however, and a stereotypical belief need not be false in every individual instance. The problem may instead be that variation and counterevidence disappear behind a habitual attribution. Analysis therefore examines a belief's circulation, use and effects rather than inferring a comprehensive social position from one adjective.

Movement of thought

1. Identify the attribution. 2. Check recurrence and circulation. 3. Identify the groups concerned. 4. Seek counterexamples. 5. Investigate effects of use.

Example

A narrative repeatedly calls a professional group “sober-minded” until the property appears self-evidently shared.

Counter-test

A well-supported description of one sober-minded decision does not by itself establish a group stereotype.

Scientific use case

Discourse research can examine how fixed epithets reproduce social expectations.

Effect

Stereotypes simplify orientation and can obscure differences.

Resonance

A familiar label can close the view before observation begins.

Distinction

Distinguish a stereotype from any description, every epithet and a claim necessarily false in every instance.

Sources

• EN:sep-generics-stereotypes
  documented-source-register