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Stereotypes and Intercultural Relations: Interdisciplinary Integration, New Approaches, and New Contexts
With increasing interconnectedness of the world, intensifying migration flows and the rise of the right-wing populism in many countries, the topic of intercultural relations has become more and more relevant. Cultural and linguistic diversity brings both opportunities and challenges by, on the one hand, enriching human communication and enhancing societies’ creative potential, and on the other hand, bringing rapid change, threatening the status quo and demanding adaptation to the new circumstances from all members of multilingual and multicultural societies.
At the heart of these intercultural relations are stereotypes. Stereotyping is a cognitive mechanism that underlies all aspects of intercultural processes: the way we perceive members of other groups shapes our attitudes and behavior towards them. This position stereotypes at the beginning of a sequence of psychological processes: cognition (stereotypes); affect (attitudes); and actions (discrimination). The fundamental role that stereotypes play in attitude formation and discrimination makes them an important target for scientific inquiry.
Stereotypes are complex in nature. They are affected by psychological, sociocultural, sociolinguistic and geopolitical processes, which makes the study of stereotypes relevant to researchers from various disciplinary backgrounds. A vast body of literature accumulated so far illuminates the processes of stereotype formation and activation, their content and functions, their antecedents and consequences. However, the studies of stereotypes are scattered across various research areas: social, (cross-)cultural and cognitive psychology, ethnic studies, sociology, intercultural communication and management, social neuroscience, and others. Researchers working within these areas often use different terminology and diverging theoretical and methodological approaches. The lack of integration and interdisciplinary debate hinders the development of this field of research.
The current book aims to bring together researchers from different disciplinary, theoretical and methodological backgrounds to create a space for exchange and integration of ideas. We welcomed contributions on the role of stereotypes in intercultural relations, including on cultural-ecological variations in stereotyping, how ethnic stereotypes are formed and maintained, how they change and what role they play in intergroup relations, intercultural communication, and acculturation processes. We believe this collection will contribute to the convergence of these research streams and will set directions for the further development of these fields separately.
