Passing
Encyclopedia
Passing is the ability of a person to be regarded as a member of social group
s other than his or her own, such as a different race, ethnicity
, social class
, gender
, intelligence
, age and/or disability status
, generally with the purpose of gaining social acceptance. This may take the form of changing only one group from the person's own, such as a person's dressing such as to pretend to be of a higher social class.
Etymologically
, the term is simply a clipped form of the phrasal verb
pass for or pass as, as in a counterfeit passing for the genuine article or an impostor passing as another person. It has been in popular use since at least the late 1920s.
. Whereas racial and gender passing is often stigmatized, class passing is generally accepted as normative behavior (see Norm (sociology)
). Class passing is common in US media and is linked to the notion of the American Dream
and of upward class mobility. English-language novels which feature class passing include The Talented Mr. Ripley
, Anne of Green Gables
, and the Horatio Alger novels. Films featuring class-passing characters include Catch Me If You Can
and Andy Hardy Meets Debutante
. Class passing also figures into reality television
programs such as Joe Millionaire
: contestants are often immersed in displays of great material wealth, or may have to conceal their class status.
Motives for class passing might include:
For example, South Americans and Spaniards
in the U.S. may claim Chicano
descent for the purpose of enjoying benefits under affirmative action
programs and practices.
Circumcised Jewish males in Germany
during World War II
attempted to restore
their foreskin
s as part of passing as Gentile
.The film Europa, Europa explores this theme.
has traditionally been an action taken by homosexual
men and women who pretend to be heterosexual to avoid social bigotry. The phrase "in the closet" is often used for a secret homosexual (or bisexual).
is a complex situation more commonly addressed via the parallel terms visible and invisible disabilities. Visible disabilities'are those impairments which are readily apparent to a non-disabled person: for instance wheelchair
use or facial disfigurement
; invisible disabilities are those which are not immediately apparent: for instance hearing impairment
s, mental health
or neurological disorders. Whether a particular disability is "visible" or "invisible" can vary on both individual and contextual bases; a wheelchair user may only use the wheelchair under certain circumstances and move apparently normally under others, a prosthetic limb may or may not be apparent, depending on clothing. A particular disabled person may often have both visible and invisible disabilities.
Whether a disabled person is invisibly or visibly disabled or both can affect the provision of services and the likelihood and types of discriminatory behaviour which is experienced. Visibly disabled people are more likely to suffer random harassment for appearance; invisibly disabled people may experience harassment when attempting to access facilities provided for people with disabilities. A disabled person with both visible and invisible disabilities may experience substantial difficulty in directing attention to the less apparent invisible disability.
The inherent visual aspect of a visible disability provides a visual foundation for building charitable or campaigning activity around, for instance the March of Dimes
; while this foundation is absent for invisible disabilities. This dichotomy may result in less funding and care for invisible disabilities. For whatever reason, Medicare
in the United States provides much less funding for mental than physical disabilities
.
or as religious at all is common among minority religious communities, such as Jews living among Christians at certain times, or Shi'i Muslims living in Sunni communities.
In an intentionally humorous echo of homosexual passing or "being in the closet
", many Wiccans refer to hesitating to admit their religion as being in the "broom closet".
Passing as less intelligent is not uncommon, especially in teenagers. Peer pressure may insist that they not be a "dork" or a "geek". These teens say that they just want to be normal.
Group (sociology)
In the social sciences a social group can be defined as two or more humans who interact with one another, share similar characteristics and collectively have a sense of unity...
s other than his or her own, such as a different race, ethnicity
Ethnic group
An ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy...
, social class
Social class
Social classes are economic or cultural arrangements of groups in society. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political scientists, economists, anthropologists and social historians. In the social sciences, social class is often discussed in terms of 'social stratification'...
, gender
Gender
Gender is a range of characteristics used to distinguish between males and females, particularly in the cases of men and women and the masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them. Depending on the context, the discriminating characteristics vary from sex to social role to gender identity...
, intelligence
Intelligence
Intelligence has been defined in different ways, including the abilities for abstract thought, understanding, communication, reasoning, learning, planning, emotional intelligence and problem solving....
, age and/or disability status
Disability
A disability may be physical, cognitive, mental, sensory, emotional, developmental or some combination of these.Many people would rather be referred to as a person with a disability instead of handicapped...
, generally with the purpose of gaining social acceptance. This may take the form of changing only one group from the person's own, such as a person's dressing such as to pretend to be of a higher social class.
Etymologically
Etymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
, the term is simply a clipped form of the phrasal verb
Phrasal verb
A phrasal verb is a combination of a verb and a preposition, a verb and an adverb, or a verb with both an adverb and a preposition, any of which are part of the syntax of the sentence, and so are a complete semantic unit. Sentences may contain direct and indirect objects in addition to the phrasal...
pass for or pass as, as in a counterfeit passing for the genuine article or an impostor passing as another person. It has been in popular use since at least the late 1920s.
Social class
Class passing, analogous to racial and gender passing, is the concealment or misrepresentation of one’s social classSocial class
Social classes are economic or cultural arrangements of groups in society. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political scientists, economists, anthropologists and social historians. In the social sciences, social class is often discussed in terms of 'social stratification'...
. Whereas racial and gender passing is often stigmatized, class passing is generally accepted as normative behavior (see Norm (sociology)
Norm (sociology)
Social norms are the accepted behaviors within a society or group. This sociological and social psychological term has been defined as "the rules that a group uses for appropriate and inappropriate values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. These rules may be explicit or implicit...
). Class passing is common in US media and is linked to the notion of the American Dream
American Dream
The American Dream is a national ethos of the United States in which freedom includes a promise of the possibility of prosperity and success. In the definition of the American Dream by James Truslow Adams in 1931, "life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each...
and of upward class mobility. English-language novels which feature class passing include The Talented Mr. Ripley
The Talented Mr. Ripley
The Talented Mr. Ripley is a psychological thriller novel by Patricia Highsmith. This novel first introduced the character of Tom Ripley who returns in the novels Ripley Under Ground, Ripley's Game, The Boy Who Followed Ripley and Ripley Under Water...
, Anne of Green Gables
Anne of Green Gables
Anne of Green Gables is a bestselling novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery published in 1908. Set in 1878, it was written as fiction for readers of all ages, but in recent decades has been considered a children's book...
, and the Horatio Alger novels. Films featuring class-passing characters include Catch Me If You Can
Catch Me If You Can
Catch Me If You Can is a 2002 American biographical comedy-drama film based on the life of Frank Abagnale Jr., who, before his 19th birthday, successfully performed cons worth millions of dollars by posing as a Pan American World Airways pilot, a Georgia doctor, and a Louisiana parish prosecutor...
and Andy Hardy Meets Debutante
Andy Hardy Meets Debutante
Andy Hardy Meets Debutante is a 1940 American family comedy film directed by George B. Seitz. The film stars Lewis Stone, Mickey Rooney, Cecilia Parker, Fay Holden and Judy Garland...
. Class passing also figures into reality television
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
programs such as Joe Millionaire
Joe Millionaire
Joe Millionaire is an American reality television show that was broadcast on Fox beginning in January 2003. It was broadcast in the UK that same year...
: contestants are often immersed in displays of great material wealth, or may have to conceal their class status.
Motives for class passing might include:
- Achievement of class mobility. Individuals may class pass to achieve social mobility. For instance, working-class students may class pass in educational institutions to obtain academic credentials and the associated rewards.
- Concealment of previous class status. Upwardly mobile individuals may class pass to conceal previous membership in the lower or working classes.
- Membership in the Working Class. Membership in the working class can be construed from multiple viewpoints: on the one hand, working-class identification can be a source of positive identification; on the other, working-class identity can be a source of stigmaSocial stigmaSocial stigma is the severe disapproval of or discontent with a person on the grounds of characteristics that distinguish them from other members of a society.Almost all stigma is based on a person differing from social or cultural norms...
. Working-class individuals report fear of disclosure of their identity, particularly if poor performance at work or school or deviant behavior may be attributed to them. For instance, a study of working-class students found that they link the fear of performing poorly on standardized tests to a fear of being discovered as working class.
Ethnicity and race
Passing as another ethnicity is a common phenomenon. Discriminated groups In North America and Europe frequently modified their accents, word choices, manner of dress, grooming habits, and even their names in an attempt to appear to be members of a majority group or of a privileged minority group.For example, South Americans and Spaniards
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
in the U.S. may claim Chicano
Chicano
The terms "Chicano" and "Chicana" are used in reference to U.S. citizens of Mexican descent. However, those terms have a wide range of meanings in various parts of the world. The term began to be widely used during the Chicano Movement, mainly among Mexican Americans, especially in the movement's...
descent for the purpose of enjoying benefits under affirmative action
Affirmative action
Affirmative action refers to policies that take factors including "race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation or national origin" into consideration in order to benefit an underrepresented group, usually as a means to counter the effects of a history of discrimination.-Origins:The term...
programs and practices.
Circumcised Jewish males in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
attempted to restore
Foreskin restoration
Foreskin restoration is the process of expanding the residual skin on the penis, via surgical or non-surgical methods. It can be performed for several reasons, among them being a desire to create the appearance of a natural foreskin covering the glans penis, or to increase sexual sensitivity of...
their foreskin
Foreskin
In male human anatomy, the foreskin is a generally retractable double-layered fold of skin and mucous membrane that covers the glans penis and protects the urinary meatus when the penis is not erect...
s as part of passing as Gentile
Gentile
The term Gentile refers to non-Israelite peoples or nations in English translations of the Bible....
.The film Europa, Europa explores this theme.
Gender and sexual orientation
Passing as a different sexual orientationSexual orientation
Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...
has traditionally been an action taken by homosexual
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
men and women who pretend to be heterosexual to avoid social bigotry. The phrase "in the closet" is often used for a secret homosexual (or bisexual).
Disability
Passing among persons with disabilitiesDisability
A disability may be physical, cognitive, mental, sensory, emotional, developmental or some combination of these.Many people would rather be referred to as a person with a disability instead of handicapped...
is a complex situation more commonly addressed via the parallel terms visible and invisible disabilities. Visible disabilities'are those impairments which are readily apparent to a non-disabled person: for instance wheelchair
Wheelchair
A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, designed to be a replacement for walking. The device comes in variations where it is propelled by motors or by the seated occupant turning the rear wheels by hand. Often there are handles behind the seat for someone else to do the pushing...
use or facial disfigurement
Disfigurement
Disfigurement is the state of having one's appearance deeply and persistently harmed medically, as from a disease, birth defect, or wound.Disfigurement, whether caused by a benign or malignant condition, often leads to severe psychosocial problems such as negative body image; depression;...
; invisible disabilities are those which are not immediately apparent: for instance hearing impairment
Hearing impairment
-Definition:Deafness is the inability for the ear to interpret certain or all frequencies of sound.-Environmental Situations:Deafness can be caused by environmental situations such as noise, trauma, or other ear defections...
s, mental health
Mental health
Mental health describes either a level of cognitive or emotional well-being or an absence of a mental disorder. From perspectives of the discipline of positive psychology or holism mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life and procure a balance between life activities and...
or neurological disorders. Whether a particular disability is "visible" or "invisible" can vary on both individual and contextual bases; a wheelchair user may only use the wheelchair under certain circumstances and move apparently normally under others, a prosthetic limb may or may not be apparent, depending on clothing. A particular disabled person may often have both visible and invisible disabilities.
Whether a disabled person is invisibly or visibly disabled or both can affect the provision of services and the likelihood and types of discriminatory behaviour which is experienced. Visibly disabled people are more likely to suffer random harassment for appearance; invisibly disabled people may experience harassment when attempting to access facilities provided for people with disabilities. A disabled person with both visible and invisible disabilities may experience substantial difficulty in directing attention to the less apparent invisible disability.
The inherent visual aspect of a visible disability provides a visual foundation for building charitable or campaigning activity around, for instance the March of Dimes
March of Dimes
The March of Dimes Foundation is a United States nonprofit organization that works to improve the health of mothers and babies.-Organization:...
; while this foundation is absent for invisible disabilities. This dichotomy may result in less funding and care for invisible disabilities. For whatever reason, Medicare
Medicare (United States)
Medicare is a social insurance program administered by the United States government, providing health insurance coverage to people who are aged 65 and over; to those who are under 65 and are permanently physically disabled or who have a congenital physical disability; or to those who meet other...
in the United States provides much less funding for mental than physical disabilities
Physical disability
A physical disability is any impairment which limits the physical function of one or more limbs or fine or gross motor ability. Other physical disabilities include impairments which limit other facets of daily living, such as respiratory disorders and epilepsy....
.
Other
Passing as a member of a different religionReligion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
or as religious at all is common among minority religious communities, such as Jews living among Christians at certain times, or Shi'i Muslims living in Sunni communities.
In an intentionally humorous echo of homosexual passing or "being in the closet
The Closet
The Closet may refer to:* The Closet , Chinese film* The Closet , French film* The closet, referring to undisclosed homosexuality- See also :* Closet* Closet * In the closet...
", many Wiccans refer to hesitating to admit their religion as being in the "broom closet".
Passing as less intelligent is not uncommon, especially in teenagers. Peer pressure may insist that they not be a "dork" or a "geek". These teens say that they just want to be normal.
See also
- On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dogOn the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog"On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog" is an adage which began as the caption of a cartoon by Peter Steiner published by The New Yorker on July 5, 1993. The cartoon features two dogs: one sitting on a chair in front of a computer, speaking the caption to a second dog sitting on the floor...
- Stigma managementStigma managementWhen a person receives unfair treatment or alienation due to a social stigma the effects can be detrimental. Social stigma can be defined as any aspect of an individual’s identity that is devalued in a social context . For some individuals, a stigma can be invisible to others, leading to an...