The article breaks down the term "stereotype" into three parts. The first defines "stereotype" as a "standardized conception or image of a specific group of people or objects". It then provides an analogy: stereotypes are "mental cookie cutters". This is to say that humans enforce a simple pattern upon the complexity of a mass and assign "a limited number of characteristics to all members of a group." When applied to humans, these characteristics involve age, sex, race, religion, vocation, and nationality.
The second part of the breakdown speaks of the commonality of the belief and conception of the specific stereotype amongst a group. According to the article, we all have "narrow images of people, places, or things which are unique to our personal outlook". However, it is important to study stereotypes in a cultural mindset rather than an individual one.
The third part states that "stereotypes are direct expressions of beliefs and values". A stereotype plays the role of a tool in understanding the underlying values society holds, and how popular thought came to be. Moreover, it is essential to study how popular thought evolves over time within a society, and what springs about the evolution.
Cultures can be formed using stereotypes, as they endorse moral or immoral actions based upon their own assumptions and beliefs. It is apparently inescapable, as stereotyping is "a natural function of the human/cultural mind". However, stereotyping can be sometimes useful in the means of grouping and classifying (freshman vs. seniors). This is also useful in storytelling, as conventional characters do not need as much time spent on an explanation of who they are. With the existence of a stereotype, the audience already understands the character and more time can be spent on the plot line or action of the story.
More so, there are "countertypes", which are positive stereotypes. A countertype essentially promotes "good" emotions and associates a group with socially approved characteristics. An example of the movie Shaft is provided, for it acted as a countertype to the negative stereotypes of African Americans by presenting a strong and intelligent black man protagonist.
The article continues with a breakdown of the term "sountertypes", with the first point reminding the reader that a countertype is still a stereotype. This entails that the viewpoint is still oversimplified, and cannot be accepted at face value. Next, stereotypes can often be found beneath the surface layer of the countertype, suggesting that stereotypes are truly difficult to alter or shake.
There are two outstanding dangers of a stereotype. The article explains that because stereotypes are frequently negative and based a culture bases its actions on beliefs and values, stereotypes can be associated with "actions of an exceedingly negative and harmful nature". This is seen when looking at history, with the 1950's Civil Rights Movement in America, the Japanese American concentration camps of the 1920s, and the years leading to the Holocaust with Germany's viewpoint of Jews. The second danger is the event of stereotypes lending themselves to being mroe than a description but also a a predetermined sketch of how a group is to behave and perceived. Ultimately, the members within the group which is stereotyped begins to believe in the stereotype assigned to them. This is illuminated with the phrase "live up to their stereotypes", as it encourages them to act like the images a culture already has formed for them. Such an occasion of an "internalized stereotype" disables any freedom from a narrowness.
At the conclusion of the article, four characteristics of stereotypes developed by the journalist Walter Lippmann are presented. According to Lippman, stereotypes are:
1) Simple, and often simpler than reality. This perhaps exists to help society understand and organize itself.
2) acquired secondhand and is passed on. The stereotypes are not gained from an individual's own direct experience.
3) erroneous. This is to say that all stereotypes are ultimately false.
4) resistant to change.
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