The Manager's Pocket Guide to Diversity Management

Stereotyping and Discrimination

As we discussed earlier, stereotypes are defined as fixed, inflexible notions about a group. Stereotyping occurs when we apply our biases to all members of a group. If you were raised to think all members of a particular ethnic group are lazy, you may still hold this stereotype, no matter what your day-to-day experience tells you. If you believe strongly in this stereotype, you may also spread it to others. A more technical look at stereotyping finds that it is a process that allows us to manage complex realities using categories to store information, to quickly identify things, to handle multi-sensory experiences, and to make sense of things. We often attach strong emotions to these stereotypes, even when they’re ...