Abstractions of categorism
This is an outdated legacy page from The 2014 system.
This page is obsolete and will be phased out. The idea of "Abstractions" is that the categorization itself can be a problem, and that idea remains through:
There are two ways in which categorization becomes categorism. The one called "abstractions of categorism" is the one where the categorization itself is the problem. This is when facets of categorism are applied to how we divide people into categories. (For the other one, see foci of categorism.) Note that categorization, and thus abstractions of categorism, operate on at least six levels.
List of 10 abstractions
This list is available at page 70 of the thesis. The list is not intended to be conclusive, as there are many ways in which categorization itself can become problematic or worse.
- 1. Categorist Co-definitions: Merging two groups in a way that creates phenomena such as "Guilt By Association" and "Association By Guilt".
- 2. Categorist Distinctions: Dividing a group in a categorist way. Such as to deny them their rights or make their problems invisible.
- 3. Equivocations: Different concepts magically becomes the same thing through using the same term for them.
- 4. Incomprehensibilization of the categorization: Who need to have comprehensible definitions anyway?
- 5. Categorization by Narrativism: Categorizing people by what narrative roles you assign to them.
- 6. Dichotomism: Rigid division into categories, with the assumption that every person is either one category or the other category.
- 7. Zero-category: A core category is excluded from categorization.
- 8. Loosely defined Abyss-category: The ultimate "other" needs no coherent definition.
- 9. Categorization by emotional bias: Including or excluding from a category, based on attitudes.
- 10. Termism: Getting stuck in a definition of a word. Tends to seamlessly lead to the “No true Scotsman” fallacy.
Other Abstraction
- Xenophobia: Categorism against "the other", whoever this "other" may be. Xenophobia and "loosely defined Abyss-category" are two sides of the same coin: While Xenophobia is about excluding people from the in-group, LDAC is about including people in a specific out-group.
- Excuse shift: Drifting from one categorization to another. "Of course it's not racism to hate brown-skinned people, because I just realized that it's about them being Muslims rather than about their skin-color itself".
