8-9th of June, 2026
University of Southern Denmark, Odense. 

Stereotype threat (ST) refers to a phenomenon whereby negative stereotypes that are salient about a group undermine the performance of its members on tasks relevant to those stereotypes across a range of domains and stigmatized groups. While research on this phenomenon has mainly focused on its situational effects on particular tasks, ST has also been found to negatively affect motivational processes beyond performance, such as sense of belonging and interest in the stereotyped domain. Recent research on applied phenomenology has further proposed that everyday exposure to negative stereotypes can have enduring harmful effects on one's overall identity and self-esteem. In this presentation, I contend that the notion of atmosphere can add to this broader view of ST by underscoring its structural character. It has already been suggested that stereotypes create an atmosphere that induces a sense of "I cannot" that undermines the performance of members of the stereotyped group. However, this idea remains underdeveloped: the term receives no more than a passing mention, appears to be used more as a metaphor than as a properly theoretical concept, and remains tied to the situational effects of ST on task performance. To contribute to this expanded account of ST, I suggest taking seriously the idea of stereotypes as "a threat in the air". Taking ageism towards older people as a case study, I argue that the performance effects of ST result from stereotyped bodies inhabiting atmospheres of exclusion that adversely affect their agency. Building on literature from phenomenology, urban studies, and cultural geography, I propose that practices of social exclusion and devaluation become sedimented into material and symbolic assemblages that radiate atmospheres that permeate stereotyped bodies as they move through them, leading to a recurrent contraction of both the felt body and its action space.