The following definitions may be useful to those
wishing to explore
how human development is linked to the social, institutional,
historical
and cultural context. They provide a set of analytical tools for
examining some of the most troubling and important challenges facing
teachers, social service providers and concerned citizens today: poverty,
inequality,
discrimination, racism, the power of media, globalization,
the changing roles
of schools, universities and corporations in the
production and validation of
knowledge. Power is the capacity to mobilize resources in
order to get things done. A minority group is any group that does not
have equal
access to power. A stereotype is a standardized mental picture
held in common
by group members involving an oversimplified opinion or uncritical
judgment. Examples: "All lawyers are greedy." "Athletes are weak
students."
Prejudice occurs when an individual's stereotypes
become
rigid and inflexible. The key issue is not that prejudiced people hold
negative stereotypes about others. It seems to me people can also hold
"positive
prejudices" - beliefs in the superiority of members of one
group over others.
The issue has to do with psychological and cognitive
rigidity. The prejudiced
individual maintains his/her stereotype about
another person or group even when
confronted with evidence to the
contrary. Racism
(sexism, ageism, etc.) takes place
when an elite (privileged and
powerful) group develops a social system in which
race (or gender, age,
ethnicity, economic class background, or language...)
is a
criterion for role assignment, socialization, or role rewards. The
social system rewards those who meet these criteria (a problem for those
who
do not). Essentializing means attributing natural,
essential
characteristics to members of specific culturally defined (gender,
age,
ethnic, "racial", socioeconomic, linguistic...) groups. When we
essentialize
others, we assume that individual differences can be
explained by inherent,
biological, "natural" characteristics shared by
members of a group. Essentializing results in thinking, speaking and
acting in ways that promote stereotypical
and inaccurate interpretations
of individual differences. For example, feminists
note that people
essentialize women when they assume that girls and women are
naturally emotional (versus rational), nurturant, docile, weak,
vain,
dependent (and so on). Essentialist thinking is often anchored in dualistic
(two-category, either this - or that) modes of thought. Classic and
contemporary
social theorists identify and challenge essentialist and
dualistic ways of thinking
about the social world (human/non-human;
human/animal; human/machine; civilized/barbaric; masculine/feminine;
intelligent/not intelligent; rich/poor; white/non-white;
anglo/non-anglo;
individual/group; psychological/cultural; leader/follower). What is the link to human
development? Do
contemporary
scholars of human development as well as "the media" (film,
television, radio, magazines, video-games...) essentialize children,
adolescents, the elderly,
the poor, minority group members? To what
extent are our assumptions about human
development, about good and bad
outcomes for children and society a reflection
of the social, historical,
cultural contexts in which we live? I think these
are interesting and
important questions, questions I encourage students to pursue
in various
ways in every course I teach. Created 3/30/03 by
jka. Last update: 8/24/03 / jka