stereotype

views updated

stereotype, stereotyping Derived from the Greek (stereos = solid, typos = mark), and applied in the late eighteenth century as a technical term for the casting of a papier mâché copy of printing type, the concept was developed by the North American journalist Walter Lippman in his book Public Opinion (1922) to mean the fixed, narrow ‘pictures in our head’, generally resistant to easy change. It usually carries a pejorative meaning—in contrast to the sociological process of typification. See also GENDER STEREOTYPES; PREJUDICE.

More From encyclopedia.com