Essentialist vs. Constructionist

This articles sums up how different people view different situations and how they believe they effect those situations. In the story of the baseball umpires three main ways to view balls and strikes are identified. The first one being balls and strikes exist independently in the world no matter how he calls them. Second umpire views them as independent but open to interpretation. Finally, the third umpire perceives balls and strikes as having no meaning until the interpreter gives them one. I believe one of the most important things the author points out about the differences in essentialist and constructionist is what question they would be more likely to ask. An essentialist would ask what causes people to be different while a constructionist would ask about the origin and outcomes of the classification system.

The author then goes on to discuss how many believe that just like race or ethnicity, a person’s sexual orientation is something they are born with. They have no choice as to what sex they are attracted to. The author tells the story of Chris Yates and how his family dealt with him being gay because they thought he chose to be only to later come to realize it was something in his genes that made him that way. The author then goes on to talk about names and whether we as individuals name ourselves or if those around us name us. I was very surprised to hear the story of the two females that took offense to the use of women and girl. I had never even considered either term to be able to be taken offensively.

While reading this article the question that came to mind was can really everyone be solely put into one category or the other of being an essentialist or a constructionist? Throughout the whole reading I was trying to put myself in each situation or think which would I more likely fit into and it seemed to me that in I went back and forth a lot between which I would be like. I didn’t seem at all to fit into one any more than the other.

I really enjoyed reading this article. I found it very interesting and felt I could definitely pin point people in my life that fit a lot of how I perceived each category of people to be. This article kept my attention a lot better and I definitely felt like I could relate to it quite a bit more.