On Judgement: Esteem, Sanction & Normality

Martin & Rose (2007: 67-8):

Judgement can be thought of as the institutionalisation of feeling, in the context of proposals (norms about how people should and shouldn’t behave). Like affect, it has a positive and negative dimension corresponding to positive and negative judgements about behaviour. Media research reported in Iedema et al. (1994) has suggested dividing judgements into two major groups, social esteem and social sanction. Social esteem involves admiration and criticism, typically without legal implications; if you have difficulties in this area you may need a therapist. Social sanction on the other hand involves praise, and condemnation, often with legal implications; if you have problems in this area you may need a lawyer. Judgements of esteem have to do with normality (how unusual someone is), capacity (how capable they are) and tenacity (how resolute they are); judgements of sanction have to do with veracity (how truthful someone is) and propriety (how ethical someone is).

Blogger Comments:

[1] Contrary to the claim, the opposition 'admiration and criticism' versus 'praise and condemnation' does not characterise the distinction between social esteem and social sanction.  For example, a person can be

• praised for their cleverness (esteem, not sanction),
• condemned for their cowardice (esteem, not sanction),
• admired for their honesty (sanction, not esteem), or
• criticised for their immorality (sanction, not esteem).

[2] The term 'normality' is problematic in this context, because, unlike the terms 'capacity', 'tenacity', veracity' and 'propriety', it does not refer to a scale of gradable values, but to a midpoint on all scales.  That is, it is not only possible to assess 'normality' on any of the scales of 'capacity', 'tenacity', veracity' and 'propriety' (judgement), but it is also possible to assess 'normality' on any of the scales of 'reaction', 'composition' and 'valuation' (appreciation).  This is likely to result in confusion, even between judgement and appreciation, in text analysis.

The assessment of 'normality' itself, as positive or negative, is another matter.