ABSTRACT
Globalization has highlighted the social reality that researchers of stereotypes and prejudice must contend with. Arguably the recent research in stereotypes and prejudice has largely presumed firsthand experience-stereotypers are in direct interaction with the targets of the stereotype. It is generally true about the intergroup relations within the United States. In the globalized world, however, equally important intergroup processes unfold through public and private discourse. Whether they be political, economic, environmental, legal, or moral, many a contemporary social issue requires us to deliberate and decide on a course of action based not necessarily on our firsthand experience but on our knowledge about the world, which we acquire mostly secondhand through the mass media, the Internet, and word of mouth. In other words, the question is about how stereotypes conveyed in communication (i.e., cultural information about social groups) shape intergroup relations. It is there that the current social psychology is wanting; there lies a frontier of research in stereotypes and prejudice.
