Abstract
Certainty about a belief system rests on a defence mechanism or a defensive organisation of the personality. The feeling of certainty is secured by adherence to a group of other people committed also to a similar categorising of others. Therefore, although the way social categories are used is a social phenomenon, the beliefs and conviction are necessarily individual matters coordinated by a group. In considering race as one example of these destructive forms of stereotyping, I shall argue that the organisation of the individual mind is a basis on which the organisation of social categories necessarily depends.
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Hinshelwood, R.D. (2017). Being Racist: The Certainty of a Pathological Organisation of the Personality. In: Mintchev, N., Hinshelwood, R. (eds) The Feeling of Certainty. Studies in the Psychosocial. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57717-3_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57717-3_6
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