Lesya Chesnokova

The article studies the Biedermeier style, which existed in Europe in 1815-1848, in the era of bourgeois culture intensive development. This style reflects bourgeois values: diligence, honesty, loyalty to duty, attachment to family life, individualism. An important role is played by the private sphere as a space of comfort, peace and harmony that protects a person from the outside world conflicts and threats. Biedermeier became a common noun for the image of private life which embodies the interests of the ordinary common man.

The paper considers the role of stereotypes in intercultural communication. The author notes that stereotype is the natural psychological mechanism, which can reduce the complexity of social surroundings and direct disorderly stream of impressions to habitual schemes and standards. The negative characteristics of stereo-types ascribes its unwarranted generalization and simplification of features of the other cultures.