The tyranny of evaluation. Literature & Language Essay

The Tyranny of Evaluation
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The Tyranny of Evaluation
Evaluation entails determining the significance, worth, or merit of something, with the use of criteria that is governed by certain standards. Evaluation helps to identify future change. It also enables reflection. In the book chapter entitled The Tyranny of Evaluation, Langer (2005) expresses her concerns in relation to evaluation in arts practice. This essay provides a summary of the concerns of the author. It also makes connections between those particular concerns and the evaluative practices occurring within an arts practice that I am familiar with, namely dance.
In Chapter 3: The Tyranny of Evaluation, Langer (2005) has extensively conveyed her concerns regarding evaluation of an artwork, particularly mindless or negative evaluation. The tyranny that evaluation is holding over people is a major barrier that needs to be overcome in order to attain a personal renaissance. When presented with the chance of expressing oneself in a creative manner, many people are hesitant. The main reason for the hesitation, according to Langer (2005), is one’s fear of other people’s negative views. Individuals form evaluations on the basis of their own needs, but people are also inclined to accept the evaluations of other people as if they were objective. By forming or accepting evaluations, people hold the world still, which is mindless. People evaluate so as to possess or do what is right/good. People utilize evaluation in making themselves happy. Even so, an evaluative frame of mind is self-defeating and brings unhappiness rather than happiness (Langer, 2005).
Evaluation is integral to how people make sense of the world. However, people mostly make or accept evaluations in a mindless manner. While people recognize that things have disadvantages and advantages, they fail to consider that each advantage is at the same time a disadvantage from another viewpoint, and vice versa. This is a more mindful approach of looking at things. When people change their attitude regarding evaluation, they would be able to understand that every behaviour makes sense from the perspective of the actor or else that actor would not have done it (Langer, 2005). The mindless nature of many evaluations serves to impose a harsh tyranny on artists.
There are very few artworks that are appreciated by everybody, and there are many artworks that have been highly praised yet they are not liked by many people. People who know little about art usually attribute a naivetй to the artist which would be mistaken (Langer, 2005). Understanding that the behaviour of people could be seen in diverse ways could free people to see that the things they judge in a negative way might, in fact, have been deliberate and successful from a different perspective. Overall, every behaviour makes sense from the perspective of the actor or else the actor would not do it. This implies that all the negative evaluations of people are suspect and actions that are founded upon these evaluations regarding other people are dubious (Langer, 2005).
Evaluation has consequences. On the whole, the cost of evaluation to people’s psychological processes is prodigi...