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Test Bank For Ten Questions: A Sociological Perspective - 8th - 2013 All Chapters - 9781111833763
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Test Bank For Ten Questions: A Sociological PerspectiveAfterword--SHOULD WE GENERALIZE ABOUT PEOPLE?
Afterword--SHOULD WE GENERALIZE ABOUT PEOPLE?
Generalizing, Categorizing, Stereotyping, and the Importance of Social Science
BRIEF CHAPTER OUTLINE
I. Concepts, Themes, and Key Individuals
II. Introduction
III. Categories and Generalizations
A. The Importance of Categories and Generalizations to Human Beings
B. How can we develop accurate generalizations about people?
C. The Meaning of Categorization
D. The Meaning of Generalization
IV. The Stereotype
V. Social Science: A Reaction to Stereotypes
VI. Summary and Conclusion
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After careful study of this chapter, students should be able to do the following:
1. Define the concepts of category, generalization, and stereotype.
2. Explain why humans use categories and generalizations.
3. Define the term role; describe how it is a type of category.
4. Discuss the differences between stereotypes and generalizations.
5. Explain the relationship between stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination.
6. Describe the role of the social sciences in challenging stereotypes, and in creating accurate
categories and generalizations.
ASA RECOMMENDATIONS
5. Departments should structure the curriculum of required major courses and substantive elective
courses to have at least four levels with appropriate prerequisites. At each succeeding level, courses
should increase in both depth and integration in the major while providing multiple opportunities for
students to develop higher order thinking skills and to improve their written and oral
communication skills.
6. Within this four-level model, departments should also structure the curriculum to include one (or more)
content area of substantive sequences which cut across two or more levels of the curriculum.
Departments should design sequences to develop students’ skills in empirical and theoretical
analysis along with their knowledge about one or more specialty areas within sociology.
7. Departments should structure the curriculum to develop students’ sociological literacy by ensuring
that they take substantive courses at the heart of the discipline as well as across the breadth of the field.
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,Test Bank For Ten Questions: A Sociological Perspective
Afterword--SHOULD WE GENERALIZE ABOUT PEOPLE?
DETAILED CHAPTER OUTLINE
I. Concepts, Themes, and Key Individuals
II. Introduction
ASA Recommendations 5
Whenever we try to understand people, there is the tendency to categorize and generalize. Science
categorizes nature, and in the social sciences humans are categorized.
III. Categories and Generalizations
ASA Recommendations 6 & 7
A. The Importance of Categories and Generalizations to Human Beings – Sociological research
is reported in terms of tendencies, or generalizations. The idea of making generalizations is
disturbing, but the reality is that everyone makes generalizations all of the time. We use our past
experience as a guide, and that results in our making assumptions based on that past
experience. We have no choice but to generalize from our past experiences. This is part of what
makes humans unique, and it is also a result of our use of language. Some generalizations are
more accurate than others. The question of “should” we generalize is meaningless, as
generalizing is unavoidable.
B. How can we develop accurate generalizations about people?- This is a better question. The
purpose of social science, and learning in general, it to develop accurate categories and
generalizations. Other animals respond to physical stimuli they sense in their environment. Either
through instinct or conditioning, they have a fixed response to concrete objects. Humans differ in
that we have words for objects and events, and these permit us to understand our environment,
not just respond to it. Words permit us to make distinctions and apply knowledge from one
situation to another. We label, study, and understand by creating categories and generalizing
from various specific situations to these general categories. This permits us to walk into new
situations and apply knowledge that was gained elsewhere. This is a remarkable ability which
enables us to act intelligently in situations that are far removed from any of our previous
experience. Too often, however, our generalizations are not very carefully arrived at, and it can
become difficult to change them.
C. The Meaning of Categorization - Humans categorize their environment using concepts that are
gained through social interaction. We discuss and categorize parts of our environment, and then
are able to make comparisons between and within categories. We make an infinite number of
categories using nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs. In fact, every word we use is
generalized so that we can apply it in various instances. Learning involves understanding what
categories mean, that is, the qualities and the ideas associated with them. We are able to
describe the characteristics of a person or thing that pertains to a particular category. The more
we understand the more complex these categories and characteristics become. It is necessary
for humans to categorize, define, and understand their environment. If we are honest with
ourselves we recognize that we have created or learned thousands of categories. A role is a
category we use to understand various situations. It is a set of expectations for how a person will
act in a position within a particular situation. For example, we expect an employee of a theatre to
sell us a ticket, take our ticket, and serve us popcorn. Roles help us know what to do, what others
expect us to do, and how each of us should act in relation to others.
D. The Meaning of Generalization – Categories are isolated parts of our environment that we
notice and identify. We come to associate qualities with that category. As we observe and learn
new information, we may add to these general beliefs that we hold about a particular category.
Most often our generalizations are created through a combination of our own experience and
what we learn from others. On the basis of our generalizations we are able to predict future
events. That is what a generalization is. A generalization defines a category, and describes how
members of one category are different from or similar to those of another category. Sometimes
generalizations go beyond describing a category to explaining why certain qualities develop.
Generalizations are sometimes statements of cause. The ideas that describe what belongs in a
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,Test Bank For Ten Questions: A Sociological Perspective
Afterword--SHOULD WE GENERALIZE ABOUT PEOPLE?
particular category, and that explain why those qualities exist, are called generalizations.
IV. The Stereotype
ASA Recommendations 5 & 7
Generalizations about people are difficult to do well because of our tendency to be judgmental. When
generalizations are made for the purpose of evaluating instead of understanding they become
stereotypes. A stereotype is categorization that has particular characteristics:
(1) It is judgmental. It is emotional, makes a value judgment and is meant to criticize or
praise.
(2) It tends to be an absolute category. The fact that the category is just a guide is lost, and a
sharp distinction is made between those who fit the category and those who do not.
(3) It tends to be a category that overshadows all others in the mind of the observer.
Stereotypes are overly simplistic and treat humans as if they were unidimensional. The
assumption is that the category is all one needs to know about a person.
(4) It does not change with new evidence. Stereotypes are rigidly adhered to. Those who
hold them are unwilling to alter them. In fact the stereotype determines what information
will be accepted and what will be rejected.
(5) It is not created carefully in the first place. Stereotypes are often learned and simply
accepted as it, or they are created on the basis of uncritical acceptance of limited
personal experience.
(6) It does not encourage a search for understanding why human beings are different from
each other. Stereotypes are more geared toward exaggerating difference than
understanding why people differ from each other. The assumption is that stereotypes
describe people just the way they are.
Stereotypes are highly oversimplified, exaggerated views of reality that do not aid in understanding.
They are attractive to those who wish to condemn others for being different. Stereotypes are used to
justify all kinds of violence. They are based on limited experience or hearsay, and they hinder more
accurate understanding. It can be difficult to distinguish stereotypes from categories. Most are neither
completely accurate nor completely false. Instead we should think of stereotypes along a continuum.
Stereotypes are connected to prejudice, an attitude that leads one to discriminate against one placed
in a certain category. Stereotypes are used to justify prejudice and discrimination. Stereotypes may
also act as an expectation, and too often the victims of stereotypes come to judge themselves in the
same way.
V. Social Science: A Reaction to Stereotypes
ASA Recommendations 5 & 7
Creating categories and generalizations intelligently is difficult to do. A university education is meant,
in part, to uncover stereotypes and allow a better understanding of reality. Social science tries to
diminish stereotypes through careful development of accurate categories and generalizations. Social
science is meant to question uncritically accepted stereotypes and generalizations. It does not always
succeed. Social scientists make errors and may be influenced by their own preconceived ideas or
stereotypes. Still, the social sciences are designed to counter personal bias and discover reality as
objectively as possible, in these ways:
(1) Social science tries hard not to be judgmental about categories of people. The categories
and generalizations are developed as a guide to understanding, and are not the basis of
value judgments. All individuals make value judgments, but these should be based on
objective and explicit categories and generalizations, for the purpose of understanding. A
good goal for students is to work on developing informed value judgments.
(2) Categories and generalizations in social science are rarely–if ever–absolute. Social
scientists assume that it is difficult to generalize about people, and that there will always
be exceptions. Scientific generalizations are treated as probabilities, not as absolutes.
Good scientists try to predict how many exceptions will exist within a category.
(3) Categories in social science are not assumed to be all-important for understanding the
individual. Stereotypes assume a particular trait dominates a person’s life. Humans are
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, Test Bank For Ten Questions: A Sociological Perspective
Afterword--SHOULD WE GENERALIZE ABOUT PEOPLE?
multidimensional, belonging to many categories. To be accurate we should not
pigeonhole a person into a single category.
(4) Social science tries to create categories and generalizations through carefully gathered
evidence. Stereotypes are cultural; they tend to be learned from the people around us.
Scientists must be explicit about where their generalizations come from. They identify
evidence derived from studies that have been reported and analyzed repeatedly. The
process of arriving at conclusions is extremely important to the social scientist.
(5) Generalizations in social science are tentative and subject to change because new
evidence is constantly being examined. Stereotypes tend to be held on to unconditionally,
and used as a filter so that new information is accepted only if it supports the existing
stereotype. Generalizations in the social sciences change whenever new information is
discovered. No generalization is ever understood as the final truth.
(6) Scientists do not categorize as an end in itself. Generalizations in the social sciences are
directed at identifying causes. Generalizations are made in order to understand what
causes the qualities that belong to a particular category. The goal is to understand the
social conditions that create the difference between one category of people and another.
VI. Summary and Conclusion
ASA Recommendations 5
Social science may be misinterpreted or misused by the public. Scientific generalization may be used
as the basis for creating stereotypes, or to support existing stereotypes. It is frustrating for social
scientists who are careful about the categories and generalization they create to have their work
exaggerated or twisted in order to support stereotypes. All of us categorize and generalize. It is
important to generalize carefully and to avoid stereotyping. Generalizations should be created for the
purpose of understanding, and should be considered tendencies only. Generalizations should respect
the complexity of the individual. Stereotypes limit people and place them at a disadvantage.
We should recognize that others put us into categories. This is not a problem if the categories are
carefully created or if the generalizations are positive. Sometimes we try to place ourselves or others
into favorable categories, as when we are writing a letter of recommendation. Regardless of how we
feel about it, the reality is that humans use categories and generalizations in order to understand. We
should not dispense with generalizations. As much as we may want to treat everyone as an
individual, it is only through generalizations that we achieve deeper understanding. In social science
the emphasis is on making careful and thoughtful categories and generalizations, understanding them
as a guide, and not as absolute.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Are you aware of creating categories and making generalizations on a regular basis? If so, give some
examples. If not, why do you think you are not aware of this?
2. Think about our ability to generalize our past experience and apply it to new situations. Do you think
this is a uniquely human capability, or is it possible that other animals also generalize their
experiences? What do you think? Give reasons for your answer.
3. Is it possible for someone to change the perception that others have of them, to change the category
they are being put into? What would it take to accomplish this; how might this be done?
4. Are stereotypes ever positive? What do you think? Give examples to support your position.
5. Some might say that it is impossible for human beings to keep from stereotyping others. What do you
think? Is it possible to reduce the amount of stereotyping that occurs? How could this be done?
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