Abstract

In this article, I will argue that stereotypes are the starting point for building subjectivity inside language through the act of enunciation. I will show the double dimension - virtual and actual - of stereotypes. This double dimension makes stereotypes the encyclopaedic product of intersubjectivity that defines the background of our perception of the world. In the end, starting from Umberto Eco's semiotics and from enunciation theory, I will show that stereotypes are not the product of an average competence nor of inauthenticity, but the effect of a «being-together», offering us a certain image of affairs to which we try to concatenate our own image.