positive and negative stereotypes: preconceived notions of a person or thing, not necessarily based on fact – these can be either positive (e.g. English people are polite) or negative (e.g. Germans have no sense of humour).

counter-types: a representation of a person or thing that challenges dominant stereotypes about that person or thing.

misrepresentation: a false or misleading representation of someone or something.

selective representation: when a producer chooses to represent one or several aspect(s) of something over and above all others.

dominant ideology: the social, cultural and political framework shared by most people in a given society, informing their values, attitudes and beliefs.

constructed reality: the ‘reality’ constructed by humans through the process of social interaction – e.g. a school is a school because society as a whole agrees that it is a school

hegemony: the ideological domination of society by the ruling class within that society, serving to justify the political and social status quo.

audience positioning: the techniques used by the creator of a text to try to get the audience to understand the ideology of the text and accept the intended reading of said text.