“I Am First and Foremost a Man of Logic” – Stereotyping, the Syndrome Character of Prejudice, and a Glance at Anders Breivik’s Manifesto

Abstract

Attitudes, stereotyping, and prejudice are often conceived of as inner, mental or cognitive processes. Drawing on discursive psychology and critical theory, this article proposes a language-based understanding of stereotyping and the “syndrome character” of prejudice that is able to avoid certain epistemological shortcomings and connect social-psychological and sociological research. Stereotyping is outlined as a relational concept that denotes a linguistic mode of relating to the world, whilst the syndrome character of prejudice is conceptualized as a phenomenon that shows in particular stereotypical speech acts, but does not completely coincide with them. The impact of this conceptual figuration is empirically illustrated using Anders Breivik’s manifesto.