Pigeonholing is a process that attempts to classify disparate entities into a limited number of
categories (usually, mutually exclusive ones).
The term usually carries connotations of criticism, implying that the classification scheme referred to inadequately reflects the entities being sorted, or that it is based on
stereotype
In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for exampl ...
s.
When considering various classification schemes, one must be aware of the following pitfalls:
*Using categories that are poorly defined (e.g., because they are
subjective).
*Entities may be suited to more than one category. Example:
rhubarb
Rhubarb is the fleshy, edible stalks ( petioles) of species and hybrids (culinary rhubarb) of '' Rheum'' in the family Polygonaceae, which are cooked and used for food. The whole plant – a herbaceous perennial growing from short, thick rhi ...
is both 'poisonous' and 'edible'.
*Entities may not fit into any available category. Example: asking somebody from
Washington, D.C. which state they live in.
*Entities may change over time, so they no longer fit the category in which they have been placed. Example: certain species of
fish
Fish are Aquatic animal, aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack Limb (anatomy), limbs with Digit (anatomy), digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and Chondrichthyes, cartilaginous and bony fish as we ...
may change from male to female during their life.
*Attempting to discretize properties that would be better viewed as a
continuum must be taken with caution. Example: while sorting people into '
introverted' and '
extroverted' one must keep in mind that most people exhibit both traits to some degree.
An example of pigeonholing in everyday conversation occurs when a person making an
apolitical
Apoliticism is apathy or antipathy towards all political affiliations. A person may be described as apolitical if they are uninterested or uninvolved in politics. Being apolitical can also refer to situations in which people take an unbiased po ...
or barely political comment is assumed to have a certain political belief, without ascertaining their political stance. Such an erroneous designation is especially erroneous when assigning it to people who live in places where the
right-wing left-wing dichotomy is not present.
[Lipset, Seymour Martin, and Asoke Basu. "The roles of the intellectual and political roles." The Intelligentsia and the Intellectuals: Theory, Method and Case Study (1976): 111-150.]
See also
*
Archetype
The concept of an archetype (; ) appears in areas relating to behavior, historical psychology, and literary analysis.
An archetype can be any of the following:
# a statement, pattern of behavior, prototype, "first" form, or a main model that ...
*
Labelling
Labelling or using a label is describing someone or something in a word or short phrase. For example, the label "criminal" may be used to describe someone who has broken a law. Labelling theory is a theory in sociology which ascribes labelling ...
*
Pigeonhole principle
In mathematics, the pigeonhole principle states that if items are put into containers, with , then at least one container must contain more than one item. For example, if one has three gloves (and none is ambidextrous/reversible), then there mu ...
*
Typecasting (acting)
In film, television, and theatre, typecasting is the process by which a particular actor becomes strongly identified with a specific character, one or more particular roles, or characters having the same traits or coming from the same social or ...
References
Stereotypes
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