All generalisation is bad!
I am sure there is not a single one of my readers who has not thought at least once “That’s a bit of a generalisation!”. And that includes you. Go on, admit it. See, I told you!
Well, what can I say? It goes with the territory- limited time and patience for blog writing + the usual human limited time and patience for thinking = stereotyping. In other words, I will admit that it is not always a good thing. I do, however, think there is such a thing as good generalising, not just in the field of science (which is basically all generalising) but also in the slightly less scientific field of blogging. And the formula to calculate a good blog generalisation:
- A good generalisation is one that has a good effect.
- A bad generalisation is one that has a bad effect.
And ditto for lack of generalisation and giving the whole story with every….single….detail.
A good effect from a generalisation would be:
- Being able to remember it because it is short and snappy
- Not making a mistake because of it
- Being able to make conversation about something you knew nothing about before
- Being used as a weapon to defeat other, even less accurate, generalisations
- Making someone rethink their ideas
- Offending someone who enjoys being offended
- Revolution
A bad generalisation would be:
- Reinforcing someone’s preconceptions
- Meaning someone thinks they know what to expect before a situtation occurs and so sees what they expect to see rather than what really happens
- Offending someone you shouldn’t
- Skinheads cheering
As well as generalisations of countries and nationalities, this also works for grammar generalisations, generalisations during initial teacher training courses etc. etc.
