Social Generics in Context

ABSTRACT Generics about social categories, like “Black people are tall” and “Women are nurturing,” have, often rightfully, been subject to serious criticism. Some theorists have even adopted the prohibitionist stance that all social generics should be avoided. Others hold that this goes too far and that some social generics, such as “Black Americans are economically disadvantaged” and “Women are expected to want children,” can be helpful for describing our social world. There is not, however, enough clarity on what determines whether a social generic is problematic or helpful. I distinguish between essentializing social generics, which are almost always harmful, and positional social generics, which tend to be helpful. I then argue that this distinction cannot be drawn at the level of the generic sentences in isolation, but must appeal to context and specifically question under discussion (QUD). I discuss how this key idea can be implemented on approaches that rely on either pragmatic reasoning or semantic context‐sensitivity. Overall, I show that the responsible use of social generics depends on careful attention to what is at issue in the particular conversation.