Social Categorization

Social categorization is a natural mind process by which we place people into social groups which they fit as per our perception (Wang, Zhang, Liu, Bai and Zhang, 2017). It is the grouping of people according to their different normal aspects regarded in the society as person identification factors. Categories in which people are grouped into include but not limited to class, age and religion. Categorization by class is where the elements of wealth, status of employment and occupation are used to categorize people (Johnson, Kim and Keil, 2016). Normally, people are categorized as high-class people, who are often perceived to be wealthy, middle-class and lower-class often perceived to poor and weak. However, people may judge other people from the outside, based on how they wear, how they walk, what they eat or even who they relate with. This is essentially true because most of the time, our economic power dictates all these aspects.

Secondly, categorisation can occur in terms of age. For instance, children below five years, teenagers, young adults, middle-aged people and the elderly. Age categorisation by just using the outside judgement may be wrong since some people’s outside appearance may not match their correct age (McDougall, 2015). In social gatherings, people who seem old and frail are respected and treated with utmost care while those who seem to be young and strong are given most roles. Thirdly, categorisation can occur in terms of religion, where people are grouped as Christians, Muslims, Hindu, Buddhists or even pagans. This is dependent on the place of worship people go to, how they dress and talk as well as who they relate with. People of a common denomination may be grouped together and judged from that perspective.

Social categorisation does not just occur. It develops from a specific perspective. Personally, I have developed the categories of class, age and religion over time. this is generally attributed to number of factors such as exposure to education. This has helped me understand economic capabilities in different people through academic tours and projects. Through understanding the economy of my country, I have been able to understand why certain people may suffer from a hike in the economy while others are not disturbed at all. Additionally, the transition of one’s mind after exposure to education is so great that he or she starts thinking differently and seeing things from a new perspective (Burch and Baker, 2016). Taking courses in gender and religion has helped me understand social categorisation in terms of age and religion. Secondly, the aspect of social setting has contributed greatly to enabling me develop those categories. This includes my social environment which categorises people, influencing me to develop these categories. It is normal when people judge you according to the social class, they perceive you are in, due to your outside appearance. It is also not a wonder when people dictate your age or even your religion from how you wear and act around them (Greenwood, 2015). This perception is easily influenced from one person to another creating a chance of development of social categories in a multitude of people living in the same geographical area. Thirdly, cultural context has played a major role in enabling the development social categories (Thibaut, 2017). In most cultures, there are different roles for every social group. For instance, young adults do the tough work which involves use of massive energy while old people rest. Additionally, a learned person who has gone to college is expected to belong to a higher social class than that who never went to college. People who resemble Arabs are most likely to be Muslims and so on and so forth. These aspects have led to development of these categories.

These categories reflect Christian virtues and values in various ways. First and foremost, social categorisation gives some people the inspiration to help humanity. People who are categorised as high-class individuals or young adults who are strong may feel they have the capacity to help people in need. Secondly, categorisation may make people feel motivated to belong to a certain category. For instance, people categorised as Christians may feel the urge to truly be Christians and authentic ones. However, these categories may counter Christian values and virtues. They may inflict pride in people thought of as high-class, strong and young or even those thought to be deep in their faith or beliefs. Secondly, they may inflict weakness and feeling of inferiority in people though of as low-class, old and frail or even low in faith or religious beliefs. Social categorisation may therefore reflect Christian values and virtues or counter them.

References

Burch-Brown, J., & Baker, W. (2016). Religion and reducing prejudice. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 19(6), 784-807.

Greenwood, J. D. (2015). Relations and representations: An introduction to the philosophy of social psychological science. Psychology Press.

Johnson, S. G., Kim, H., & Keil, F. (2016). Explanatory Biases in Social Categorization. Routledge.

McDougall, W. (2015). An introduction to social psychology. Psychology Press.

Thibaut, J. W. (2017). The social psychology of groups. Routledge.

Wang, P., Zhang, Q., Liu, Y., Bai, H., & Zhang, K. (2017). The characteristics of social categorization based on the unidimensional variation of gender versus age. Cognitive processing, 18(1), 31-37.