Social Role Valorization - Misconceptions

Misconceptions

Some criticism of Social Role Valorization is said by its advocates to be because of misconceptions about it. Such misconceptions include:

• that the theory sees that some people have more value, and others less (the theory speaks about how people are valued by society, in the assumption that all actually have equal value),
• that Social Role Valorization encourages action which supports the valuing of certain sections of society or behaviours (the theory actually encourages action that helps society to value groups previously 'devalued'),
• that Social Role Valorization works against self-advocacy efforts by a group of devalued people (the theory describes how labelling and segregating people supports social devaluation, but says nothing to deny that good can come from groups identifying themselves as having common cause or as having experiences or cultures in common).

The theory of Social Role Valorization is best understood as referring primarily to extreme devaluation (such that few people care much about what happens to an individual or group, or even actively look for their eradication) not more subtle (but still damaging) devaluation such as occurs between different social classes or between genders.