Unwrapping the Bundle of Stereotypes. An Analysis of the ECHR case law

FEDERICO JOSÉ ARENA

Milán

Seminario; Seminario; 2016

Universitá Bocconi

The ECHRcase law shows a recent effort to deal with the negative effects ofstereotypes. Some legal philosophers have claimed that this may be done byextending the anti-stereotyping principle to all forms of stereotypes. Even ifthe anti-stereotyping principle was a useful tool in order to combat thenegative effects of gender stereotypes, I claim that this proposal is notfine-grained enough. Stereotypes have heterogenic uses. On the one hand, somestereotypes purport to offer information about the characteristics of a groupand of each one of its members (descriptive stereotypes). On the other hand,some stereotypes define and constitute the roles members of a category orsocial group should assume (normative stereotypes). The difference in theirdirection of fit requires fine-tuned criteria of relevance distinguishing, foreach use, unacceptable, acceptable, and even mandatory uses of stereotypes.