July 23, 2021
Social Location
This is the third part of a series exploring social identity and social location.
Many of us are familiar with concepts like social identity and privilege. In the past ten/five/two years, these concepts have gotten more mainstream attention, especially in academic institutions and other educational settings. However, the concept/term “social location” might be newer for a lot of folks. Even if you’ve never heard the term before, you might have a sense of what it means or some intuitive understanding of your own social location. Let’s get into this a bit more.
We can define someone’s social location “as the combination of factors including gender, race, social class, age, ability, religion, sexual orientation, and geographic location. This makes social location particular to each individual; that is, social location is not always exactly the same for any two individuals” (NFCR, “Inclusion and Diversity Committee Report”). An individual’s social location is a combination of their social identities and the privilege/marginalization that come with them. It is an intersectional framework for understanding our experiences as social beings. Our social locations affect how others perceive and treat us, how we perceive and act in the world, and how we build relationships, educate others, and conduct research.
An awareness of one’s social identity is critical for effective teaching and communication. Dr Kim Case is the Director of Faculty Success at Virginia Commonwealth University and has written an excellent blog post about social location in the classroom. Case states that “Intersectional pedagogy requires continuous examination of instructor social location in terms of impact on learning, privilege, invisibility, bias, & assumptions.” She goes on to share that her gender and working-class background give her an understanding of some of the obstacles students might be facing in academia, but her privilege due to being white, able-bodied, and a US citizen can mean that she is unaware of some of the microagressions and structural barriers faced by students who are immigrants, disabled, or people of color.
Case sets some reflection questions educators can use to examine the influence of their social location on teaching and learning, and she lists a number of concrete steps educators can take to adjust for that influence. Some ideas include: “Consider[ing] how your social location might affect your views of students and especially the areas where you might be less aware of their experiences;” “Seek[ing] out and apply[ing] pedagogical resources that promote educator reflective practices;” and “Speak[ing] openly with students directly about how instructor social location could impact how they interact with you, how you communicate with each other, and how awareness of these influences can help us overcome preconceived notions (in both directions).” Read her very short blog post to learn more.
It’s worth exploring in more detail the last suggestion from Case listed above. In human-centered fields, such as healthcare and education, there is a lot of discussion around disclosing one’s social location and its potential risks/benefits. A good parallel to this is coming out. A teacher coming out as gay can put them at risk of disrespect from students or discrimination from their institution. But coming out can also help gay students or colleagues feel safer and show straight folks that, hey, gay people are normal, too. Some people believe that this information is irrelevant to the relationship between a doctor and patient, or teacher and student. However, acknowledging our social locations with the people we work with is helpful for communicating across differences. Having an awareness of different perspectives is the first step for bridging the gap between those differences.
Of course, some folks don’t get to make this decision. Many aspects of our social location are visible to others, whether we want to disclose or not. Generally speaking, people can tell when someone is Black, or over 60, or a wheelchair user. Since humans are almost continuously making assumptions about aspects of others’ identities, it might be a good idea to give the folks we work with a fuller picture of who we are and where we’re coming from.
Sharing social location can have a number of benefits for building relationships with others. It demonstrates some willingness to be vulnerable, which is key for connecting with other people. Regardless of the identities we hold, being open and direct about our social location demonstrates that we have some awareness of our areas of privilege and how that might affect our interactions with other people. For example, when someone shares that they are cisgender or a “cis man” or “cis woman”, they’re showing trans people that they have a basic awareness of important terminology and, probably, a basic understanding of how to interact with trans people respectfully.
If you hold marginalized or less-privileged identities and are open about that, you can signal to folks with similar identities that you may have similar experiences and a better understanding of what they might be going through. Most of us are now living in a different place from where we grew up. Think of the last time you met someone and discovered you shared a hometown or state or country; there was likely a moment of excitement followed by enthusiastic sharing or reminiscing. A similar thing often happens when two queer folks connect, or two Jewish folks, or two first-generation college students who are in a prestigious academic institution. By being open about our social location, we communicate to folks in similar places that we are a safe person to talk to.
There are a lot of ways to acknowledge your social location; it’s up to each individual to decide what they think will work best for them given their context and comfort. In a situation where someone is in a leadership position or facilitation role, a direct acknowledgement of social location is likely the easiest and most straightforward option and can be wrapped into one’s self-introduction. If someone is teaching a course or facilitating a workshop about equity and social justice topics, it might be a useful exercise to have participants list assumptions about the teacher, which can then lead into a discussion about social location and intersectionality. We can use our social location to explain how we approach topics, or why we are interested in particular areas. For teams who have established a high level of trust, consider inviting everyone to share their social location and how they see it impacting their work together.
For some folks, talking about issues like race, gender, or class can be risky, affecting the way others perceive and treat them. For people with non-dominant social identities, this is a very valid concern. If you are worried about this, take some time to reflect on your social location privately. Are your non-dominant identities visible or invisible? Do people tend to read you “accurately”, or do they make incorrect assumptions about who you are? What aspects of your identity are you willing to discuss with others? What benefits could come from discussing your social location with others, and what negative consequences could you face? What, if anything, would make you more comfortable discussing your social location with the people you interact with? Are there certain individuals or groups with whom you are willing to discuss your social location?
Some folks may not know how to identify their social location because their privilege has meant they don’t have to think about their social identities. For folks with dominant social identities, take some time to reflect on the various aspects of your identity; hopefully you made a list after reading part one of this series. What words do you use to describe the various facets of your social identity? What words would you use to describe these around others? Feel free to search for terminology on the internet. Looking back on your journey to your present situation within SAFS, how do you see your social location affecting your path? How does it feel to think about this? What support do you need to feel prepared to discuss your social location with others, and who can you get this support from?
And if you are someone who is ready to share and discuss social location with others, think about who you want to talk with and how you want to start the conversation. How will you check for consent before launching into a discussion of social location, identity, and privilege? Do you think they need to be prepared for this conversation, and if so, how will you prepare them? Are you willing to share your social location even if others don’t reciprocate? And what are you hoping will come from this discussion?