Framework Essay 3 The Essentialist and Constructionist Perspectives The differen

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Framework Essay 3 The Essentialist and Constructionist Perspectives The difference between the constructionist and essentialist perspectives is illus- trated in the tale of the three umpires, first apparently told by social psychologist Hadley Cantril Hadley Canril relates the story of three baseball umpires discussing their profession. The first umpire said, "Some are balls and some are strikes, and I call them as they are The second replied, "Some's balls and some's strikes, andI cal 'em as I sees 'em." The third thought about it and said, "Some's balls and some's strikes, but they ain't nothing till I calls 'em The first umpire in the story can be described as an essentialist. When he says, I call them as they are." he assumes that balls and strikes exist in the world regardless of his perception of them. For this umpire, balls and strikes are easily identified, and he is merely a neutral observer; he "regards knowledge as objective and independent of mind, and himself as the impartial reporter of things 'as 495 are. Thus, the essentialist perspective presumes that items in a category all share some "essential" quality, their "ball-ness" or "strike-ness." For essentialists, race sex, sexual orientation, disability, and social class identify significant, empirically verifiable differences among people. From the essentialist perspective, each of these exists apart from any social processes; they are objective categories of real differences among people The second umpire is somewhat removed from pure essentialism. His statement, "I call 'em as I sees 'em." conveys the belief that while an independent, objective reality exists, is subject to interpretation. For him, the world contains balls and strikes, but individuals may have different perceptions about which is which. The third umpire, who says "they ain't nothing t I calls 'em," is a construc- tionist. He operates from the belief that "conceptions such as 'strikes' and 'balls have no meaning except that given them by the observer." For this constructionist umpire, reality cannot be separated from the way a culture makes sense of it; strikes and balls do not exist until they are constructed through social processes. From this perspective, difference is created rather than intrinsic to a phenomenon. Social processes-such as those in political, legal, economic, scientific, and religious institutions-create differences, determine that some differences are more important than others, and assign particular meanings to those differences. From this perspective, the way a society defines difference among its members tells us more about that society than the people so classified. The Meaning of Difference operates from the constructionist perspective, since it examines how we have arrived at our race, sex, disability, sexuality, and social class categories. Few of us have grown up as constructionists. More likely, we are essentialists who believe that master statuses such as race or sex entail clear-cut, unchanging and in some way meaningful differences. Stll, not everyone is an essentialist. Those who grew up in multiple racial or religious backgrounds are familiar with the ways in which identity is not clear-cut. They grow up understanding how

Explanation / Answer

This passage talks about two views in life, one is essentialism and other is constructionialism. Essentialists have faith in stability. They take things in their natural form. They believe that events should be accepted in a form in which they are beleived to have for a long period of time. Constructionists have faith that things can be changed according to circumstances. They believe in changings. They have a trust that surroundings have major impacts on one's ability and aptitude.

Both the views can easily be understood with the example of sexual orientation of people. Essentialists think that homosexual persons have their sexual orientation naturally by birth while constructionists think that such sexual orientaions are developed according to the circumstances. They believe that such sexual behaviour can be changed with change in a person's company and surroundings.

Construcionists think progressive. Essentialists lead a stereotypic life. They don't want to give chance to grow to women and disables. Constructionists believe that everyone is unique and can develope new skills and techniques if provided with proper circumstances. Such thinking creates harmony and leads to a developed society.

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