Stereotypfördömandet - en fördom om fördomar?

Abstract

Is the condemnation of stereotypes unjustified?

This article discusses the present negative evaluation of stereotypes. Do people who use stereotypes believe that a characteristic attributed to a group is categorical; that all members of group A have this trait? Empirical research and ordinary observations indicate that judgments are not so crudely made, but that people categorize in terms of probabilities. Therefore the rule “one should not generalize” seems unjustified. Further, such a view often endorses a strategy of correcting old stereotypes with the promotion of new stereotypes. The main problem is often not the negative view of others, but the idolized or victimized picture of the own group. The way to improve group relations according to the presented analysis is to become more tolerant to skeptical views of the own group. Knowledge about the universal human propensity for in-group preferences and honest statistics about actual differences will be helpful in this process.