essentialism
(noun)
The view that objects have properties that are essential to them.
Examples of essentialism in the following topics:
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The Social Construction of Gender
- Is gender an essential category or a social construct?
- Social constructionism seeks to blur the binary and muddle these two categories, which are so frequently presumed to be essential.
- This means that gender is not an essential category.
- These performances normalize the essentialism of gender categories.
- The internalized belief that men and women are essentially different is what makes men and women behave in ways that appear essentially different.
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Use of Existing Sources
- Studying existing sources collected by other researchers is an essential part of research in the social sciences.
- The study of sources collected by someone other than the researcher, also known as archival research or secondary data research, is an essential part of sociology .
- In addition, analysts of social and economic change consider secondary data essential, since it is impossible to conduct a new survey that can adequately capture past change and developments.
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Education and Industrialization
- It has been argued that high rates of education are essential for countries to be able to achieve high levels of economic growth.
- It has been argued that high rates of education are essential for countries to be able to achieve high levels of economic growth.
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Democracy
- An essential process in representative democracies is competitive elections that are fair both substantively and procedurally.
- Furthermore, freedom of political expression, freedom of speech, and freedom of the press are essential so that citizens are informed and able to vote in their personal interests.
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Childhood
- Play is essential to the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional well-being of children.
- American culture considers outdoor play as an essential part of childhood.
- Play is essential for the cognitive, physical, and social wellbeing of children.
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The Functionalist Perspective: Motivating Qualified People
- Nurses are an example of people who are not highly compensated and do not have notably high prestige, but who work long hours and are essential to the functioning of healthcare systems.
- Nurses are an example of people who are not highly compensated and do not have notably high prestige, but who work long hours and are essential to the functioning of healthcare systems.
- Are basketball players more essential to society than teachers?
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Cooperation
- Communication plays an essential role in cooperation.
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Animism
- In animist societies, ritual is considered essential to win the favor of the spirits that ward off other malevolent spirits and provide food, shelter, and fertility.
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The Changing Definitions of Race
- These early understandings of race were usually both essentialist and taxonomic; essentialism refers to unchanging and inherent characteristics of individuals and taxonomic refers to classificatory (also usually hierarchical) in nature.
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Race
- Social conceptions and groupings of races vary over time, according to different folk taxonomies that define essential types of individuals based on perceived traits.
- Many scientists consider this sort of biological essentialism obsolete, and generally discourage racial explanations in favor of other physical or behavioral distinctions.