What follows is a short example of what is more generally termed “systematically distorted communication” – a term coined by Jürgen Habermas – a leading figure in the Frankfurt School which is itself a major force in the development of Cultural Marxism. [Aside: The term “cultural marxism” is itself being treated as a form of systematic distortion. For those interested in exploring this thread it is reasonable to begin with the Wikipedia entry here and compare it to the link provided previously.]
This example does not originate with Habermas but comes from an Australian academic who is actively teaching his ideas to his students.
The exercise proposed here deals with the Index (and the index alone) to the book “Undoing Privilege” by Robert Pease published by Zed Books in 2010.
Before going ahead it might be worthwhile to clear up the meaning of the term “intellectual archaeology”.
Regular archaeology uses the material objects left behind by societies to determine what those societies were actually like. Tools, utensils, dwellings, buildings, roads, docks, ships, vehicles can all let us infer things about what kinds of people lived in a place and what their values were.
This presentation of only the index of a book permits a bit of “intellectual archaeology”. The index allows reader to make educated inferences (and these inferences are contingent on the education of the individual making them) about the writer, the writer’s worldview, and the worldview of those who may read it.
If we infer the “personality” of individuals from the way they speak or act, of if we infer the cultural affiliations of individuals from the way they dress or gesture, then we also engage in the intellectual process of theoretically guided inference from so-called objective evidence.
Carrying out this task inappropriately can lead to charges of “jumping to conclusions”, “stereotyping”, and various kinds of either “-ism” or “-phobia” depending on the inference and the audience.
And how the “audience” infers the motives of the person making the inference. The social legitimacy for people in specific categories to make judgements is not symmetrical. Only certain kinds of individuals, for example, are permitted to make specific “-ism” charges. Only certain kinds of individuals, to extend this, are vulnerable to specific “-ism” charges.
That being said we can continue with the exercise.
In the last few years we have been exposed to the phrase “check your privilege”. There are many ways to be privileged. There is also the growing suspicion that the idea of “unearned privilege” may be an application of “partial rationality” because if all “unearned privileges” were simultaneously abolished the resulting set of social relationships would have no history, no path to the future, no plan for progress, and would therefore be an evolutionary dead-end.
The Appendix this post is long. It is the Index (scanned and tidied up reasonably well) to a book which is a veritable litany of all the kinds of “unearned privilege” and many of the groups which have arisen to combat them.
What examining the index allows us to do is gauge not only what is there but what is not there. We can see not only what kind of world the author is trying to build but also the kinds of themes which are sufficiently peripheral or marginal as to require either not mention at all or only negative depictions.
It is not fair, of course, to find fault with the book that was not written. It is unreasonable to attack a book on poetry for its insufficient discussion of world economics.
What is fair is to examine a book advocating thoroughgoing social change and massive challenges to the existing social order with three questions: (a)where do you want to go? what kind of world do you want to build? (b)how can we get there from here? how long will this journey take and at what cost and who will bear the cost and who will benefit? (c)once this promised land is achieved will it be stable? will human beings as we know them to be through the scientific study of evolution and psychology be able to sustain this kind of society?
Two of the items missing from Pease’s index are “children” and “parents”. Despite the frequent appeals to moral outrage there is no discussion at all of “ethics” or the need for education of the young (those missing children) into the habits of virtue. White people are never the victims of racism. Men are never the victims of sexism. While “homophobia” is mentioned no hint to the possibility of “heterophobia” can be found. (My spell checker has put a red underline beneath “heterophobia” but not “homophobia”. No surprise.) Anti-Islamic views are in the index. Anti-Christian views are not there.
The lack of any kind of historical perspective prevents us from asking about any patterns of imperialism, colonialism, or hostility to outsiders other than that shown by White Europeans.
The subtitle of the book is “Unearned Advantage in a Divided World”. This obviously leads to the question of what an “earned advantage” might be. It also dovetails with the question of the missing “family” idea. The word “family” only shows up in the book as the name of the Dulwich Family Centre. What a “family” is does not factor into any analysis in this book despite the fact that some “privileges” are “inherited” because they were “earned” by the parents and the children inherited them.
Words such as “property” and “inheritance” as well as “culture” are missing. Patriarchy is prominent but matriarchy is likewise absent.
Is this book in any way an attempt to describe a single “better world” to which we might aspire to travel? Or is it just a shopping list of grievances rooted in emotion, devoid of ethical coherence, and fully resistant to logical reconciliation?
I could go on. But I’ll let the Index speak for itself. The overarching questions relate to what terms are not defined, what relationships not examined, and what possible future scenarios are not entertained. The “margins” of the narrative tell us as much by what is excluded as what is kept in.
APPENDIX
Index
able-bodied gaze, 161
able-bodied privilege, 143-4; construction of, 157-60
able-bodied/disabled binary, 160
able-bodiedness: compulsory, 161; normativity of, 158; privileges of, 158-9; temporary, 160
ableism, xi, 149-65; challenging of, 163-4; cultural construction of, 155-7; definition of, 156; studies in, 158
Aboriginal people, 108,122-3
academics, privilege of, 32
accountability, models of, 182-3
additive analyses, 19-20
affluenza, 49
African experience, validation of, 54-6
Afrocentricity, 55-6
ageism, 155
aggression advantage, 88
aid, alternative to, 48
allies of oppressed groups, 180
anger, constructive use of, 186
anti-colonialism, 52-4,58
anti-gay attitudes, 133-4,138
anti-globalisation struggles, 6o
anti-Islamic views, 45
anti-oppressive theory, critique of, 21-4
anti-racism, 5, 125,127
Australia: Aboriginal reconciliation in, 114; discussion of whiteness in, 115; labour movement in, 68
Australian Association of Social Workers, 112
beauty, cultural views of, 151
black nationalism, 169
black women, 55
bodily normativity, 159
body: as form of social currency, 159-60; interest in, 150; multiplicity and fluidity of bodies, 164
Bourdieu, P., 26-7, 65
Bush, George, 45
capitalism, and class division, 118
caste, 52-3
class, 79-81, 143; concept of, marginalised, 69, 70, 71; construction of, 65; constructs identities, 85; impact of, on women’s lives, 19; intersectionality of, 79; marginalisation of concept of, 65; non-fluidity of, 69; personal narrative of, 6z-4; theorising of, 64-5
class analysis, reinvigoration of, 83
class-based oppression, 81-3
class consciousness: critical, 63-4; negative, 72
class elitism, 62-85
class mobility, 64
class privilege, benefits of, 77
class relations, challenging of, 70
classism, 81-3; meanings of, 82
coalitions, against oppression and privilege, 181-2
cognitive justice, 51
colonialism, 51,52,53, 54; research as part of, 57
colour blindness,
conscientisation, collective, 187
consciousness, individual, changing of, 170
consumption: conspicuous, 49-51; in North, reduction of, 50
corporate accountability, 61
critical psychology, ix
critical reference groups, 183
critical sociology, ix
222 Index
cross-class alliances, 78-9
cultural capital, 65
cultural competence, iii
cultural institutions controlled by men, 99
cultural studies approach, 64
decentring of Westerners, 59
decolonisation, 44, 48, 51, 60; of methodologies, 58
democratic manhood, 107
development, poverty of, 46-9
dialogue: across difference and inequality, 176-8; right to, 177
difference, 71; devaluation of, 13; in coalitions, AI; listening across, 178-9; seen as essential, 14
disability: as product of capitalist relations, 152; defining of, 152; fear of, 162.; feminist writings on, 154; gendered nature of, 154; intersectionality of, 154-5; seen as personal failing, 150; social model of, 151-4,157,164; tragedy model of, 152, 1624 use of term non-disabled, 160
disability awareness programmes, 164
disability people’s movement, 153
disability studies, 144, 158, 164
disabled people: non-homogeneity of, 154; use of term, 152
disablism: aversive, 156; challenge to, 164; cultural construction of, 155-7; definition of, 155-6
discrimination, concept of, 4
distribution, politics of, 84
diversity awareness, 111-12
diversity industry, 112
division of labour, in family, 98, 1o6
dominance: challenging of, xi; doing of, 33-5; internalisation of, 25-7, 76-8; Northern, 58-9; reproduction of, 7
domination: definition of, 26; matrix of, 21; relations of, 3-16
Dulwich Family Therapy Centre (Adelaide), 183, 186
ecological footprint, 49-50
ecosystem, destruction of, 50
Ehrenreich, Barbara, Fear of Falling…, 74
elite, concept of, 3, 7
elite domination, approval of, 7-8
elite studies, vii, 7-9
elitism, compatibility with democracy, 8
emancipatory interests, development of, 174–5
emancipatory participatory action research, 183
embodiment of privilege, 149-65
entitlement: discourse of, 95-7; sense of, 15-16
epistemicide, 51
epistemological humility, 60
epistemological imperialism, 12.8
epistemological multiversity, 60
epistemological privilege, 5I-2
equal rights, and gay politics, I41-2
equalisation of incomes, 106
ethical listening, 179
ethical resistance, 174
ethnocentrism, 42, 53
Eurocentrism, 39-61; moving beyond, 43-4; term questioned, 44
fair trade, 60
false consciousness, 5
Family Centre (New Zealand), 182-3
feminine, denial of, 92
feminism, vii-viii, 19, 22, 71, 79, 80, 86, 106-7, 125, 139, 145, 158, 169, 179; black, 19; critique of, 18; engagement with psychoanalytic theory, 92; lesbian, 140; men’s support for, 29; postcolonial, 18; radical, 17-18, 80; second-wave, 5, 86; support for, 6
feminist standpoint theory, 27-31
fitness, preoccupation with, 120
foreign aid, question of effectiveness of, 47-8
Fraser, N., 24–5
gay constructivism, 12.9
gay essentialism, 129
gay liberation, 5, 169
gay marriage, 140-1
gay politics, 140-2
gay rights, 147
gay theory, 12.9
gender, 54, 106,118 143; as code word for women, 13; intersectionality with whiteness, 117
gender difference, 87-90
gender domination, 24, 139-40
gender equality, 107
gender order, 86-107; theorisation of, 97-100
gender role beliefs, 142
gender studies, 87
gendering, of class, 79-81
globalisation, 57; challenge to, 60
greenhouse emissions, reduction of, 50
habitus, concept of, 26-7
health and appearance, as obsession, 150
hegemonic consciousness, 22
heteronormativity, 24, 136, 146
heteroprivilege, 128-48
heterosexism, 24, 134, 155
heterosexism awareness, 144; training workshops, 144
heterosexual privilege, 137-9
heterosexual/homosexual binary, 140-1,144
heterosexuality, xi, 34, 81, 99,
178; advantages accruing to, 137; and gender domination, 139-40; and masculinity, 142-3; compulsory, 136, 139, 143, 144; concept of, recent invention of, 131; construction of, 130-3; critique of, 141; deconstruction of, 12.8; destabilising of, 144; institutionalised, 128-48; intersectionality of, 143-4; non-homogeneity of category, 138; normalisation of, 130-I; pluralising of, 146; privileges of, 148; queering of, 146-8; reconstructing of, 106, 145-6; theorising of, 129-30
Index 223
heterosexuality questionnaire, 132-3
hierarchy, perceived naturalness of, 14
Hill-Collins, Patricia, 19, 21
homo-hatred, 135
homophobia, x, 6, 13, 17, 23, 55, 128, 133–4, 135, 142, 143, 144, 146, 152; among black people, 22; internalisation of, 5
homosexuality: construction of, 130, 140; natural, 129; regulation of, 130
housework: division of, 106; men’s participation in, 86, 91
identities, multiple, 181
identity, 71; in communal space, 54
identity politics, 18, 72
ideological hegemony, 5
ideological justifications for social orders, 185
Ignatieff, Noel, 120
illness, seen as personal failing, 150
impairment, 156, 160; definition of, 153-4; fluctuating experience of, 160
imperial knowledge, 42
imperialism, 46, 57; concept of, 39-40
indigenous knowledge, 56-8
inequality: costs of, 3; in world systems theory, 39; legitimation of, 4; mobilisation against, 7; naturalness of, 14-15; responsibility for, 171
International Monetary Fund (IMF), 40, 48, 49
intersectionality, xi, 18-24, 186; in construction of African identity, 56; of class, 79; of disability, 154-5; of privilege, 35; whiteness and, 117-19
Jefferson, Thomas,x
Johnson, A., 137
Kimmel, Michael, 184–5
knowledge, ecology of, 51
knowledge systems, diversity in, 51
224 Index
Latham, Mark, 68
listening, 180; as condition of democracy, 179
local knowledge, promotion of, 44
male crisis discourse, 103-4
male domination, 17-18
male entitlement, 104; internalisation of, 92
male privilege see privilege,
male male violence, 9, 15, 31, 86, 89, 90, 96, 98; prevention of, 183
marginalised, role of, 5
Marx, Karl, 73
Marxism, 17-18, 24, 26, 28, 53, 55, 56, 64–5, 66–7, 73, 75, 79, 80, 84, 92, 118, 143, 169
masculinity, 85-107, 142-3; complicit, 89-90; costs of, 103; dimensions of, 88; hegemonic, 89 (unlearning of, 119); hierarchy of, 90; institutionalised, 88; non-Western, 102; research, internationalization of, 102; social construction of, 87-90; straight queer, 147-8
masculinity studies, white Western bias in, 59
May-Machunda, P., 158
McIntosh, Peggy, 9, II, 77, 116-17
men: as agents of women’s oppression, 80-1; coalitions with feminist women, 181-2; deny reality of privilege, 102; natural entitlement of, 15; profeminist, 178, 180; resistance to change, 104-5; social divisions among, 101-3
Men Against Sexual Assault (MASA), 180, 182
men’s groups, 86
meritocracy, myth of, 67-70
Messerschmidt, J., 33
micro-enterprise lending, 60
middle class: activism of, 72, 78; black, 79; concept of, 67-8; new, 73; privilege of, 76-8; radicalism of, 75
Mills, C. Wright, 7-8
missionaries, 55
modernisation, 41, 46, 47
multi-issue coalitions, 169
negative identity, construction of, 175
neo-liberalism, 39
neo-Marxism, 53
new social movements, 71, 72
non-disablement, pathology of, 161-3
normal, politics of, 141
North, division and inequality in, 61
Occidentalism, 45
oppositional consciousness, 5; differential, 6
oppression, 3-16; challenging of, 172; class-based, not discussed in US, 66; complicity in, 186; consequences of, 82; elimination of, 170; interlocking, 34; internalisation of, 5; non-class, 79; personal experience of, 173; racial, 56; reproduction of, 4; responsibility for, 171; self-identification as oppressed, 186; single cause theories of, 17-18; social construction of, 84; strategies for challenging of, 169; theories of, 83
oppressor, concept of, 171
Orientalism, 44–5
othering, process of, 13
partnership model of social organisation, 185-6
patriarchal dividend, 86-107, 117
patriarchy, 6, 20, 30, 81, 88, 92, 93, 145; and control, 96; and systemic domination, 93-5; challenge to, 107; critique of, 105
patriarchy awareness workshops, 86, 180, 182
Peavey, F., 179
pedagogy of the privileged, 171-4
phallocentrism, 93, 95
physical capital, 151
physical difference, fear of, 162
political economy, 62-85
positionality, viii, 27–31, 39, 40, 58, 62, 109, 147, 149, 176, 186; of the privileged, 177
post-Marxism, 71
postcolonial studies, 52-4
poststructuralism, 53
poverty, vi; link to affluence in West, 49; reduction of, 48
privilege, x, 3-16, 176; able-bodied, 143-4 (construction of, 157-60); access to, 21-22; accompanied by oppression, 23; advantages of, 9; and positionality, 27-31; and sense of entitlement, 15-16; appropriated, 26; as function of power, 7; as structured action, 33-5; challenging of, xii, 184, 185, 187; concept of, 7; damaging effects of, 174; defence of, 28; education about, 172; embodiment of, 149-65; emotions associated with, 123; epistemological, 51-2; generation of, 6; globalising of, 40-1; heterosexual, 137-9, 178; historically specific, 20; institutionalisation of, 170; internalisation of, 25-7; investigation of, 35; invisibility of, 6, 9-12; male, vi, 27, 86, 200-1, 155, 175, 178; middle-class, 76-8; moral humility required, 178, 179; naturalisation of, 12-15 (challenging of, 170-1); of academics, 32; of activists, 172; of class, 83 (benefits of, 77); of men (consequences of, 103-4; theorising of, 90-3); of silence, 31; outside speakers for, 30; personal, interrogation of, 32; relinquishing of, 27, 183-5; reproduction of, challenged from within, 169; requires recognition, 115; social construction of, 14; social dynamics of, 17-35; strategies for challenging of, 169; to be made visible, 4; Western, 49; white, 43, 100, 111 (complexity of, 127); recognition of, 115-17; rejection of, 121,relinquishing of, vii, ix, 122; resistance to change, 123-4) see also pedagogy of the privileged
Index 225
professional work, proletarianisation of, 75-6
professionals, 64: class politics of, 62; contradictory class location of, 74; hybrid identity of, 76; in service occupations, 75; politics of, 72-6; theorisation of, 73
proletariat, as force for political change, 62
pronouns, reflecting power relations, viii
queer theory, 140-I, 144
queering, of heterosexuality, 146-8
race: as ‘other’, 111-12; impact on women’s lives, 19; invisibility of, 10; social construction of, 108; theory of, 71
race cognisance, 113
race relations, teaching of, 112
race theory, critical, 117
race to innocence, II, 173
race traitor, 120 see also traitorous identities
racial formations, 108-27
racialised gaze, 114-15
racialising of class, 79-81
racism, 6, II, 13, 20, 22, 79, 108, 109, 155; as prejudice, 109-10; as prejudice plus power, 111; aversive, 111; experience of, 126-7; institutionalised, 127; levels of, 121; see also anti-racism
radical scholars, challenge to, 32
recognition, politics of, 84
reconciliation circles (Australia), 186
redistribution, theory of, 24–5
relations of ruling, 170
research epistemologies, critique of, 57
respectability, as normative standard, 77
revolutionary force, 62
Rich, Adrienne, 139
Rochlin, Martin, 132
Rudd, Kevin, 115, 122-3
226 Index
Said, Edward, Orientalism, 44-6
self-interest, 174-5
Sennett, Richard, and Jonathan Cobb, The Hidden Injuries of Class, 63
sexism, vi, II, 13, 17, 23, 55, 93; and coercive control, 95-7; use of term, 4
silence, privilege of, 31
slavery, abolition of, x
social dominance orientation, 28
social mobility, 67-70, 78
social sciences, perceived as universal, 58
social theory, ethnocentricity of, 58
social work, professional imperialism in, 57
social workers: as working middle class, 74-5; code of ethics for, 112
socialism, 66-7
Southern theory, 58-9
speaking for others, 30
stratification theory, 64
subaltern studies, 52; impact of, 53
subjectivity: different understanding of, 56; reconstruction of, 184
subsidies, agricultural, 48
symmetrical reciprocity, 178
third way approach, 68
traitorous identities, 29-30; construction of, 175-6
transnational capital, 39
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), fall of, 66
unionisation, 76
unmarked status,10
‘untouchables’, in India, 52.
victims, blaming of, 5
violence, male see male violence
wealth, inequality of, 46
Weber, Max, 64, 73
Weinberg, George, Society and the Healthy Homosexual, 133
West: as divided entity, 46; challenge to supremacy of, 42-3; idea of, 41; opposed to Orient, 45; seen as pioneering modern world, 42
Western dominance, 39-61
Western model of progress, 47
Western social work: challenge to, 57; models of, 55
white identity, autonomous, 119
white man’s burden, 48
white supremacy, 108-2.7
whiteliness, 121
whiteness: and intersectionality, 117-19; as invisible norm, 113; as privilege, 109, 125; connected to Western dominance, 43; critical, 114; defence of, 123-4; diversity within, 118; doing and undoing of, 12.0-2; internalisation of, 121; intersectionality with heterosexuality, 143-4; list of advantages of, 116; mediated by gender, 118; politics of, 124-6; positive identity of, 120; recognition of privilege of, 115-17; relation with heterosexuality, 143; theorisation of, 115; transforming of, 119-2.0; visibility of, 112-15 see also privilege, white
whiteness studies, 113, 12.4-5
Wittig, Monique, The Straight Mind, 139
women: autonomy of, 106; earnings of, 98-9; experience of oppression, 79-81; notion of privilege of, 23; struggles of, in USA, x; subordination of, 97; white, privilege of, 18; working-class, 82
working class, 83; living conditions of, 69; new, 73; radicalism of, decline of, 70; white, and racism, 119
World Bank, 40, 48, 49
World Social Forum, 25, 61
world travelling, 60, 176
youth, eternal, fantasy of, 162
Unjustified Margins 