Categories We Live By

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ásta
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Social Construction ◽  
Single Mothers ◽  
People With Disabilities ◽  
Social Meaning ◽  
Social Categories ◽  
Individual Agency ◽  
Life Options

We are women, we are men. We are refugees, single mothers, people with disabilities, and queers. We belong to social categories that frame their action, self-understanding, and life options. But what are social categories? How are they created and sustained? How does one come to belong to them? To answer these questions is to offer a metaphysics of social categories, and that is the project of Categories We Live By. The key component in the story offered is a theory of what it is for a feature of an individual to be socially meaningful in a context. People have a myriad of features, but only some of them make a difference socially in the contexts people travel. The author gives an account of what it is for a feature of an individual to matter socially in a given context. This the author does by introducing a conferralist framework to carve out a theory of social meaning, and then uses the framework to offer a theory of social construction, and of the construction of sex, gender, race, disability, and other social categories. Accompanying is also a theory of social identity that brings out the role of individual agency in the formation and maintenance of social categories.

scholarly journals Précis: Categories We Live By

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 229-233
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Social Construction ◽  
Social Meaning ◽  
Social Categories ◽  
Main Components

AbstractThe project of Categories We Live By is to offer a metaphysics of social categories. The strategy is to give a theory of social properties of individuals. The main components of the theory are a conferralist framework for properties; an account of social meaning; and an account of social construction; accompanying is also an account of social identity. This theory can be applies to offer concrete conferralist proposals of categories such as sex, gender, race, disability, religion, and LGBTQ categories. This précis describes the main components (conferralist framework, social meaning, social construction, social identity) briefly, but leaves discussions of applications for another time.

‘Don’t even [θ/f/h]ink aboot it’

2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Lawson
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Social Meaning ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Meanings ◽  
Lexical Effects ◽  
Rapid Spread ◽  
Using Data

As a relatively new phenomenon in the phonology of Scottish English, TH-fronting has surprised sociolinguists by its rapid spread in the urban heartlands of Scotland. While attempts have been made to understand and model the influence of lexical effects, media effects and frequency effects, far less understood is the role of social identity. Using data collected as part of an ethnographic study of a high school in the south side of Glasgow, Scotland, this article addresses this gap in the literature by considering how TH-fronting is patterned across three all-male, working-class, adolescent Communities of Practice, and how this innovative variant is integrated within a system of the more established variants [θ] and [h]. Drawing on recent work on linguistic variation and social meaning, the article also explores some of the social meanings of (θ), particularly those variants which previous research has reported as being associated with ‘toughness’, and suggests how these meanings are utilised in speakers’ construction of social identity.

Making Sense of Who We Are

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daan van Knippenberg
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Social Construction ◽  
Organizational Behavior ◽  
Organizational Identity ◽  
Role Modeling ◽  
Identity Change ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Change Perceptions ◽  
Core Role

Organizational identity—those aspects of the organization that its members perceive to be central, enduring, and distinctive—is not only an important influence on organizational behavior: it is also a social construction, and thus potentially subject to leadership to shape or change perceptions of organizational identity. This chapter presents an analysis of these leadership influences informed by social identity analyses of leadership and identity change. This analysis points to a core role of leader sensegiving—communicating the desired understanding of organizational identity—supported by other acts of leadership such as role modeling, symbolic changes, and building a coalition to advocate the envisioned identity. This analysis also highlights the role of leader group prototypicality in terms of perceived representativeness of the currently perceived as well as of the envisioned identity, both to give the leader’s identity claims the necessary credibility and to establish continuity between current and envisioned understandings of identity.

Social Construction as Social Significance

2018 ◽  
pp. 34-53
Author(s):  
Ásta
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
Social Meaning ◽  
Social Significance ◽  
Social Categories ◽  
Ian Hacking ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
The Social

Various ways in which a category of people can be said to be socially constructed is discussed before a conception of social construction that can underwrite the project of offering a metaphysics of social categories is offered. The author discusses several conceptions of causal social construction, including where the social is the cause and the effect, and where ideals or norms play a role in the construction. The type of social construction needed for the project of giving a metaphysics of social construction is constitutive social construction. The author offers her conception of constitutive social construction, the key component of which is an account of social meaning. Comparison with the accounts of social construction by Ian Hacking, Ron Mallon, and Sally Haslanger is made.

scholarly journals Challenges facing online research: Experiences from research concerning cyber-victimisation of people with disabilities

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhraa A. Alhaboby ◽  
James Barnes ◽  
Hala Evans ◽  
Emma Short
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Identity ◽  
Support Groups ◽  
Chronic Conditions ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
People With Disabilities ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Internet ◽  
The Impact

The victimisation of people living with disabilities and chronic conditions is a documented phenomenon. It ranges from harassment incidents to disability hate crimes, and causes physical, mental and psychosocial consequences. The Internet has further reshaped this phenomenon which lead to “cyber-victimisation” experiences, with no less impact upon victims. This methodology paper focuses mainly on the challenges and implications of using online methods in a UK-based study exploring the impact of cyber-victimisation on people coping with disabilities and chronic conditions. Mixed-method design was adopted via an online-survey followed by in-depth interviewing of victims. Online recruitment was through victim-support groups, patient-support groups, and social media. Out of 80 organisations and charities approached, 51(63.8%) gatekeepers helped to reach participants. Recruitment and data collection process was challenged by four overarching themes: 1) social identity in online support groups, 2) the role of online gatekeepers, 3) the contradictory role of social media, and 4) promoting inclusivity. These challenges were theorised from the perspective of the Social Identity Theory. Representing self as a victim and/or a disabled-person had its implications on virtual groups’ membership, social media use, gatekeepers’ decisions and subsequent participation. Some identity aspects were highlighted as positive points to improve engagement with research. In conclusion, the Internet has aggravated the vulnerability of people with disabilities, but it also has a huge potential in researching sensitive topics with this group. Future research in the cyberspace should acknowledge the challenges of online identities of disabled victimised people, and focus on positive identity aspects to facilitate the research process and encourage collaborative participation at early stages of research.

scholarly journals The role of elementary classroom discourse in the initial construction of student identities

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 38
Author(s):  
Michael A. Shepherd ◽  
Julia Wang
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Social Identity ◽  
Identity Development ◽  
Secondary Schools ◽  
Classroom Discourse ◽  
Academic Identity ◽  
Discursive Construction ◽  
Social Categories ◽  
Discursive Power

Despite considerable sociolinguistic research on correlates of social identity in secondary schools, the initial discursive construction of social categories remains underexplored. A discourse analysis of third-grade lessons suggests teachers discursively position some students as weaker than others by framing their participation as tentative or reluctant, and are less likely to acknowledge such students' summonses and called-out contributions. Ultimately, we argue, students whose academic identity development is thus not nurtured and who are denied access to the discursive power to advance ideas may instead seek empowerment through resistance, developing oppositional relationships toward school and forming another generation of 'burnouts.'

Introduction

2004 ◽  
Vol 49 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 247-251
Author(s):  
Philippe Hambye ◽  
Anne Catherine Simon
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Group Membership ◽  
Geographical Origin ◽  
Linguistic Variation ◽  
Social Meaning ◽  
Social Categories ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
The Social ◽  
Variationist Sociolinguistics ◽  
Definition Of

The identification of varieties (dialects) — which requires relating linguistic features to major social categories such as class, age, gender, ethnicity and geographical origin — is one of the main achievements of variationist sociolinguistics. The task is central to the aims of sociolinguistics in two ways. First, it reveals the presence of structured heterogeneity within linguistic variation. Second, it accounts for the social meaning of linguistic variants: through the definition of bounded “social”, “regional” or “ethnic” varieties, so-called inter-speaker variation is directly associated with group membership and linguistic features become social identity markers.

Exploring Social Identity Among People with Disabilities: A Mixed-Methods Approach

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adena T. Rottenstein ◽  
Ryan J. Dougherty ◽  
Alexis Strouse ◽  
Lily Hashemi ◽  
Hilary Baruch
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Social Identity ◽  
People With Disabilities ◽  
Mixed Methods Approach
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