Stereotype

A stereotype is a generalization about a group and individual members thereof, based primarily on membership in that group. Stereotypes may be positive or negative, they may be accurate or inaccurate regarding average characteristics of a group, and may be used to justify certain discriminatory behaviors.

Quotes

 * Today, there are still political and social networks that seek to undermine full equality for all Americans. Their messages are spread using the standard tools: prejudice, fear, disdain, misinformation, trivialization, patronizing stereotypes, demonization and even scare-mongering conspiracy theories.
 * Chip Berlet "Into the Mainstream" in Intelligence Report (Summer 2003) at the Southern Poverty Law Center


 * To some extent we are all the prisoners of stereotypes; we see each other in terms of distorted and oversimplified images. Better communication in the realm of ideas, of the arts, and of science can help refashion these false images. And by seeing more clearly we may act more wisely.
 * Chester Bowles (1962) The Conscience of a Liberal. p. 255


 * All stereotypes turn out to be true. This is a horrifying thing about life. All those things you fought against as a youth: you begin to realize they're stereotypes because they're true.
 * David Cronenberg As quoted at "InFuze Magazine", 14 Dec 2011.


 * Can science ever be immune from experiments conceived out of prejudices and stereotypes, conscious or not?
 * Kay Diaz, in Z, (December 1992)


 * All members of the world community should resolutely discard old stereotypes and motivations nurtured by the Cold War, and give up the habit of seeking each other's weak spots and exploiting them in their own interests.
 * Mikhail Gorbachev (1991) Nobel Address 


 * The historian... has to conform to official interpretations of the past, the philosopher to dogmas, the writer to stereotypes of human action, the craftsman to “production-schedules.
 * John Passmore (1971) The Perfectibility of Man


 * Javier: Alright. We got an ex-Triad member, looking for work.
 * Chris: Easy! "Genghis Carnage"! Come on!
 * Javier: You gotta quit with the racist stereotypes, Chris.
 * Chris: Archetypes. Keep going.
 * Jeff Wadlow, Kick-Ass 2, (2013)