Stereotyping: The Politics of Representation

Description

Stereotyping stands in need of serious re appraisal. This book provides a critical assessment of the concept and its use in the social sciences, considering its theoretical basis and historical development and linking these closely to the concept of the "Other". The text embraces such key topics as nationalism and national identity, gender, racism and imperialism, normality and social order, and the figure of the stranger in the modern city. It is genuinely interdisciplinary, moving between sociology, social psychology, cultural history, psychoanalysis and postcolonial theory, and offers an indispensable examination of the roots of prejudice and bigotry in modern societies.

Dr MICHAEL PICKERING is Senior Lecturer in Communication and Media Studies at Loughborough University. Previously he taught at the University of Sunderland and Massey University in New Zealand. His two most recent books are History, Experience and Cultural Studies and Researching Communications (co-written with David Deacon, Peter Golding and Graham Murdock). He is Reviews Editor for the European Journal of Communication.

'Pickering presents [the subject] with concision and clarity...' - Choice 'A first class survey of the field.' - Derek McKiernan, European Journal of Communication '...were I still teaching a final year course on political stereotyping, I would use this book as a key text because it reaches far beyond being simply a review of the social science theorising, offering accessibility to the process of, for example, reading historical advertisements and posters.' - David Dunn, Journal of Contemporary European Studies 'As a study of stereotyping in the politics of representation, and more specifically the representation of national identity, foreign cultures, strangers and race, Pickering's book is excellent. The conceptual confrontations and empirical illustrations definitely deepen our understanding of how stereotyping operates in history and society. The book is informative, rich in examples, theoretically creative and innovative. Pickering shows an impressive scholarship.' - Mats Elkstrom, Journal of Language and Politics 'Pickering's skillful balancing of theory and practice makes the book pleasurable to read. The variety of critical angles is impressive: the author constantly moves between social psychology, cultural history, psychoanalysis, postcolonial theory, and sociology and makes stereotyping part of a bigger story by examining it in the contexts of imperialism, Orientalism, nationalism, and national identity, normality and deviance, as well as race, class, and gender categories. Although Pickering works with a wide scope of reference, he never loses sight of his original intention. Moreover, he manages to convince us that the understanding of stereotypes requires openness to new vistas both in and outside the academic field.' - Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies