Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
Key Words
Children Essentialism Intergroup attitudes Power Social groups
Stereotyping
Ramaswami Mahalingam [2007, pp. 300–319] draws on his own and others’
empirical work on children’s and adults’ understanding of social categories to argue
persuasively for the utility of a ‘folk sociology’ of social categorization and inter-
group relations. In doing so, Mahalingam seeks to integrate two dominant perspec-
tives on social categorization – cognitive-developmental and social constructivist
views. He is to be commended for his admirable job of addressing (a) the role that
power plays in the conceptualization of social groups, and (b) the role of myths and
other cultural narratives in developing and reinforcing both power structures and
social categories. In our commentary, we address two issues raised in Mahalingam’s
paper. In the first section of our commentary, we highlight what we consider to be
the greatest contribution of Mahalingam’s work, the spotlight that he shines on the
role of power and status in social categorization and reasoning about social catego-
ries. In the second section, we discuss the ways in which Mahalingam’s model of the
operation of a folk sociology is related to a recent theoretical account of the forma-
tion of social stereotypes and prejudice among children [Bigler & Liben, 2006,
2007].
[2007] offered college students the chance to (a) submit a DNA sample and receive a
profile of their racial composition (essentialist condition) or (b) become a member of
a Native American tribe through a cultural training program (social constructivist
condition). Brief exposure to messages about these opportunities altered participants’
perceptions of race. Students who heard about the DNA testing adopted a more bio-
logical – or essentialist – view, whereas those who heard about the Native American
tribe adopted a more social constructivist view of race. Much more research is needed
on this topic and the additional question of whether children’s conceptions of social
categories change as a result of specific types of environmental messages.
Conclusion
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