Pictorial stereotypes in the Euro crisis

Stereotypes simplify perception of the world and reduce complex facts to a single concept. Following Pierre van den Berghe, they are helpful in giving us orientation in everyday life because they offer low cost for explanations about a subject. Nevertheless, van den Berghe admits, too, that stereotypes also serve as means to devaluate out-groups or opponents in conflict situations. Considering that stereotypes seem to have an obvious and unquestionable kernel of truth to which it refers, they are often used for legitimizing proper interests and claims.

In the ongoing public discourse on the Euro crisis we can almost daily observe stereotypes describing different European nations as groups with stereotypic attitudes ascribed to them. Traditional discourse and content analyses use to examine stereotypes by scrutinising texts. The paper seeks to extend our knowledge by following the so called pictorial turn in social sciences. By analysing pictures on the Euro crisis in German print media we will focus on the following aspects:

- Which national stereotypes are conveyed?

- To what extent does the textual message support the pictorial representation of the content?

- Does the stereotypic image include a recommendation for action?

The paper aims at generating a typology which consists of different national stereotypes, different media and the development over time.