In polemical times a colourful world is reduced to black and white. People and situations are awarded black or white hats by narrow criteria and esteemed or excoriated accordingly. When reflecting on this tendency we do well to attend to the difference between thin and thick description.
Thin description represents people and events by reference to a single action, characteristic or attitude. A person who kills someone, for example, is seen simply as a murderer, without reference to their background or the circumstances of what they have done. Thin description leads to quick, certain and unchangeable judgments.
Thick description tries to capture all the varied aspects of human behaviour, relationships, background and motivation of a person, and to set them and their actions within that complex framework. It will always be open to more complex judgments, based on a broader knowledge of relevant relationships and contexts.
Thin description, which looks only at one aspect of a situation, will often be appropriate, and indeed demanded. In emergency surgery, for example, a good doctor will not delay on the wealth, marital status and state of mind of patients but will consider only the relevant anatomical and medical aspects.
Reflection on human behaviour always moves properly from thin to thick description. Nevertheless thin description often rules. It is the province of the tabloids and other media equivalents. People are described simply in terms of their execrable or praiseworthy actions. People are described as Rapists, Murderers, Gang members, Heroines, Saints or Hypocrites, and their actions defined simply by those names. Subtleties of motivation, of conflicted loyalties, of background, of context are not taken into account.
In partisan writing, too, people and opinions are judged simply by whether they promote the right cause. Protagonists and victims in situations are then reduced to stock characters in the chosen drama.
Thick description is the province of reflective media. It looks beyond immediate events and single strands of meaning to reflect on the ethical, social, political and economic complexities and their significance for society. It is about opening questions, reflecting, and finally making broad and nuanced judgments. It focuses on the persons and the relationships involved, looking beyond the single issues with which they are identified.
"These are all aspects of the events but are too thin to do justice to the human reality involved in them."
Examples of the need for thick, and the propensity for thin description are many. The trials of Israel Folau, for