The Importance of Stereotypes

The word stereotype has quite interesting origins. It comes from the French, Stério Deep, and refers to a printing method using solid plates. A stereotype is a simplified idea about what is typical for a personal group. And these images can be prejudicial. But I find it remarkable that people agree so much on stereotypes. As though all over the world, people have similar mental images about Californians, surfboards at the beach or Hollywood,. Isn't that true of India too?