Appropriation (sociology)

Appropriation in sociology is, according to James J. Sosnoski, "the assimilation of concepts into a governing framework...[the] arrogation, confiscation, [or] seizure of concepts." According to Tracy B Strong it contains the Latin root proprius, which, "carries the connotations not only of property, but also of proper, stable, assured and indeed of common or ordinary." He elaborates: "I have appropriated something when I have made it mine, in a manner that I feel comfortable with, that is in a manner to which the challenges of others will carry little or no significance. A text, we might then say, is appropriated when its reader does not find himself or herself called into question by it, but does find him or herself associated with it. A text is successfully appropriated insofar as the appropriator no longer is troubled with it; it has become a part of his or her understanding, and it is recognized by others as 'owned,' not openly available for interpretation." According to Gloria Anzaldúa, "the difference between appropriation and proliferation is that the first steals and harms; the second helps heal breaches of knowledge."