Stereotypes and Prejudice in the Perception of the "Other"

This paper aims to approach the delicate issues of stereotypes and prejudices in perceiving the otherness starting from the definition and the structure of otherness, continuing with the inventory of the features of stereotypes and prejudices as they occur in sociological and psychological theories and with the criticism of such theories and paying special attention to the way in which stereotypes and prejudices occur in inter-groups and inter-ethnical relationships. Conclusions show the functions of approaching otherness and bivalent effects (premises of exclusion and recognition of the other) of such approach. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).