Difference and Pathology: Stereotypes of Sexuality, Race, and Madness

"Difference in Pathology is a meditation on the strength of sterotypes, the images and categories that people of every civilization have applied to the world and to the others who inhabit it. In a wise and provocative inquiry, Sander L. Gilman looks at the history of stereotypes, exploring the ways in which the human propensity to think in terms of them has shaped history and culture.

Stereotypes persuade without argument and project an image of the world that has little basis in reality. Showing how they permeate literature, fine arts, popular culture, and science and medicine from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century, Gilman illuminates the web of cultural conventions that has affected people's perceptions and influenced their actions. His searching study will provoke every reader to think about the form and force of the unquestioned presuppositions of our time." [Gilman, SL. Difference and Pathology: Stereotypes of Sexuality, Race, and Madness. Cornell University Press, Ithaca:1985.]