As we’ve explored, categories are not always innocuous—we all have meanings in our minds when we think in categories. Some aspects of our meanings are factual and stick to the definitions in a dictionary, but we all have extra baggage that we bring into our categorical meanings. Included below are some words/phrases that each have a factual dictionary meaning. However, each of these words and phrases have the potential to call up some assumptions or stereotypes that are based on what we think, hear, or experience with respect to members of those categories. All of these words/phrases are categories that could be used to describe people. What are some of the assumptions that you or others might make about someone who is suggested as belonging to one of these categories? Today we will “dig in.”
Activities
Review, Choose, and Answer Questions: Write and Use Internet Resources (1-2 Paragraphs or 20 minutes)
1. Choose one of the following categories:
Welfare recipient
Immigrant
Homosexual
Problem student
Terrorist
Suspect
Registered sex offender
Social media influencer
Youtuber
2. Name the category you chose and give a factual and unbiased definition of what the category is.
3. Thinking of the category you chose for #1, name one positive outcome of someone being identified as a member of this category. Note: The positive outcome might benefit the person who is grouped into the category (an actor gets a shiny trophy for being in the category of Oscar Winners), or the benefit might go to one or more people who are not in the category (when an actor is in the category of Oscar Winners, their fans feel happy and validated).
4. Thinking of the category you chose for #1, name one negative outcome of someone being identified as a member of this category. Note: The negative outcome might affect the person who is grouped into the category (an actor loses their privacy and anonymity for being in the category of Oscar Winners), or the benefit might go to one or more people who are not in the category (an actor’s agent has a harder time finding good roles if they don’t win awards).
Pro Tip: Students have confused this before and so to be clear: I am not looking for you to state the good or bad things about being one of the people in the list, for example I have received “an immigrant is lucky to live somewhere better” before. The point of this exercise is to discuss how being “categorized” has positive or negative outcomes.
Construct Your Own Category (1-2 Paragraphs or 25 minutes)
Now it’s time to create your own category. Think creatively! What categories can be used to describe people? What are some of the assumptions that could be made about a person in that category?
1. Name the category you chose and give a factual and unbiased definition.
2. Name one positive outcome of someone being identified as a member of this category.
3. Name one negative outcome of someone being identified as a member of this category.
Reflection Questions (1-2 Paragraphs or 15 minutes)
Now review the new category you created.
• What could be additional positive or negative outcomes?
• What would be another interesting category that you could create? Why that one?
