Friday, September 16, 2011
Language Can Totalize
A concept I found interesting and helpful from this week's reading in Chapter 4 was that language can totalize. According to the text, totalizing happens when we respond to a person as if one thing or label completely represents who he or she is. We tend to look at that person, as that one thing defines comepltely who they are. This can relate to culture, sexual orientation, status. For example, as the text mentioned some individuals tend to totalize gay men and lesbians as if that was the main thing that made up their identities. "Totalizing is not the same as stereotyping. When we stereotype someone, we define him or her in terms of characteristics of a group. When we totalize others, we negate most of who they are by focusing on a single aspect of their identity" (Wood, 2010, pg.104-105). Another example of totalizing someone could be if they are a certain race such as Middle Eastern and because they may be of Muslim faith and they are at an airport, airport security will automatically search them more than anyone else because their culture is known as being terrorists since the 9/11 incident. Even though that may not even be true about that person.
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I also picked this concept. I think when we totalize we ruin any chance of effective communication. Totalizing and stereotyping differ, but they both get in the way of two people communicating. In both scenarios, the person stereotyping or totalizing has already made up his or her mind about the other person. The example of an innocent Middle Eastern person at an airport that is searched can also be called racial profiling. In both cases, the person already has his or her mind made up.
ReplyDeleteI thought totalizing was also an interesting concept in the book! It's like an instant judgment and we don't give time to an individual to express who they really are. It is basically like labeling the person on a first impression. Sometimes I see it when my friends and me are talking. We would mention someone and describe him or her sometimes we would be like “the gay one” or “the one with a birthmark”. Sometimes we do not really realize that we’re “totalizing”, especially cause to me, this is the first time I have ever heard of this concept.
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