Classification

Classification is defined as the arrangement of a group of things in classes that share some specific characteristics. We, humans, tend to instinctively classify everything around us, but why do we do it? I think the main reason for this to happen is that we are naturally curious, we have a need of knowing everything around us, and classification is an useful element we have been provided with to understand the world. So when we come across something new, we are able to have some sort of instinctive knowledge of it. For example, if we come across an unknown animal, we could have some sort of knowledge about it just by classifying it as an animal. However, there is a problem with classification, and it is that we assume it provides reliable previous knowledge that led us to prejudices and making stereotypes in the same way inductive knowledge does. An example could be when being introduced to a person we have never seen before. Even if it is in a subconscious way, we will classify this person and probably be induced to make some judgements that are not necessarily true before we even get to know the person.

During our Friday seminary on this topic, we were divided into groups consisting of either girls or boys. Each group was given some post-its and we were asked to write down adjectives describing men and women separately. Then we all pasted our descriptions on the board and we discussed them. I personally, thought that we were definitely not going to be able to successfully describe men and women. When my group was working, I really did not know what to write down, it is not that easy to classify such big groups as men and women are, there are too many of them and each is different from another, there is always an exception to the rule. At the end I think we all just wrote down what stereotypes had defined for each gender: women being nice, teary, caring, 'soft', hypocrite; and men being strong, brusque, athletic, funny. I did not feel identified with many of the characteristics my group wrote down nor with the ones written by my classmates, and I think, several of them thought the same I did. 

At the end of the lesson, we all concluded that the classification we had made was nothing else but pure stereotyping. So here is the problem with classification, it can led us to judge incorrectly someone or something without enough evidence and it can facilitate the creation of stereotypes.