sign in sign up
<<
Home , Political correctness

political correctness

John Jay Press, 1985. Sections on discretion, under- women and racial minorities. Major universities like cover operations, deadly force, etc. Stanford, the , and the Uni- Kerner, Otto. Report of the National Advisory Commis- versity of Wisconsin instituted speech codes aimed sion on Civil Disorders. Introduction by Tom Wicker. New York: Dutton, 1968. Originally published, Wash- at controlling . The political correctness ington, D.C.: GPO, 1968. debates (also referred to as the culture wars) sub- Kleinig, John. The Ethics of Policing. Cambridge: Cam- sequently took off in 1990 and 1991 in a series of bridge University Press, 1996. The most comprehen- articles in , U.S. News and World Report, sive and astute treatment of issues in police ethics. , Time, the Village Voice, and ———, ed. Handled with Discretion: Ethical Issues in Po- Atlantic Monthly about the new political correctness lice Decision Making. Lanham, Md.: Rowman and on campuses. In May 1991, President George Bush Littlefield, 1996. See Michael Davis (pp. 13–35) on types of discretion. delivered his commencement address at the Univer- Pollock, Joycelyn M. Ethics in Crime and Justice: Dilem- sity of Michigan on the dangers of political correct- mas and Decisions. Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth, 1994. ness. Since then, “politically correct” has come to be Section 6 (pp. 91–135) on “Ethics and Law Enforce- used to characterize curriculum revisions, campus ment.” speech codes, harassment policies, affirmative ac- Scarman, Leslie George. The Brixton Disorders, 10–12 tion in college admissions and hiring, the use of new April 1981: Report of an Inquiry. Harmondsworth, descriptors for minorities (e.g., African American, Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1982. The Scarman Re- port. Remainder of title: Presented to Parliament by the Native American, learning disabled), new NORMS for Secretary of State for the Home Department by Com- interacting with women and racial or cultural mi- mand of Her Majesty, November 1981. Originally pub- norities (e.g., avoiding genteel “ladies first” policies), lished, London: HMSO, 1981. and generally, to any change in language, policy, so- Whren et al. v. , 517 U.S. 806 (1996). cial behavior, and cultural representation that is Timothy Stroup aimed at avoiding or correcting a narrowly Eurocen- tric world view and the long-standing subordination political correctness of some social groups. Originating in debates over the content of higher education, the terms “politi- cally correct” or “PC” are now routinely used outside History and Definition of the academy. The term “politically correct” appears to have The current political correctness debates were originally been used in leftist circles either approv- preceded by a of social (or ) ingly to refer to someone who correctly adheres to movements, legislative initiatives, and theoretical the party line, or more often ironically and disap- developments that motivated members of the acad- provingly to someone whose adherence to the Com- emy to become mindful of the politics of education. munist Party line was excessive, tiresome, and be- The Civil Rights movement of the 1960s that was yond good sense. Confessions of being politically followed by the women’s rights movement, gay and incorrect might also be used self-deprecatingly to re- lesbian liberation movement, animal liberation move- fer to one’s own backsliding. ment, and public attention to the culturally dises- In the mid- to late-1980s, neoconservative schol- teemed status of Native Americans, various ethnic ars, many of whom were members of the National minorities, and the physically and mentally disabled Association of Scholars, began to use “political cor- all had substantial cultural and legal impacts that in rectness” as a term of disparagement for a variety of turn affected the academy. Cumulatively, these move- curriculum transformation projects. Women’s stud- ments have underscored the significance of the femi- ies programs, ethnic studies programs, and curric- nist slogan “the personal is political.” That is, areas ulum revisions designed to make college courses, es- of social life that were conventionally taken to be pecially in literature and history, more multicultural apolitical, such as everyday language, the canon of were charged with being part of a new wave of po- literary classics, jokes, advertising, norms of polite- litical correctness on college and university cam- ness, hiring decisions, and sports funding, came in- puses. In 1989, made a much creasingly to be seen as potential sites for enacting publicized revision in its core Western , , and . Attention to the courses to de-emphasize the West and to include politics of traditional university curricula was a nat-

1337 political correctness ural outgrowth of this expanded sense of the politi- given precedence over other goals. For instance, cal. These social movements also issued in a set of women’s studies and African American studies pro- legal initiatives that significantly affected educa- grams have been described as prioritizing political tional policy, most notably, the desegregation of edu- aims at the expense of educational ones. The term cation mandated in Brown v. Board of Education of “politically correct,” partly in virtue of its historical Topeka (1954), Title IV of the Civil Rights Act association with the Communist Party, also implies (1964) that prohibited against mem- that democratic liberties are being interfered with, bers of “suspect categories,” and Title IX of the Edu- most notably free speech and academic freedom. In- cational Amendments (1972) that prohibited sex deed, political correctness has been equated with discrimination in education. Finally, the rise of POST- “thought police” and a “new McCarthyism.” MODERNISM and deconstructionism, particularly in Because the term “politically correct” implies literature departments, provided the theoretical ap- dogmatic, illiberal toeing of a party line and because paratus for analyzing the politics of claims to truth “politically incorrect” implies a refusal to give poli- and objectivity and for investigating the role that tics priority, both terms exclude what defenders of scholarship plays in the social construction of . curriculum transformation projects, speech codes, Critics of foundationalist epistemology argued that antiharassment policies, new social norms, and new knowledge is perspectival and historically and cul- descriptors for women and minorities in fact advo- turally situated. More importantly, it was argued that cate—political thoughtfulness. the sciences, social sciences, and humanities have historically excluded the perspectives of nonwest- Moral Language and Cultural Criticism ern, nonwhite and nonmale people, have used biased standards for what counts as good scholarship, and Becoming thoughtful about the social construc- have produced theories and “factual” narratives dis- tion of culturally disesteemed , racial, ethnic, torted by the cultural that sustain domi- economic, national, sexual, religious, age, and ability nance systems. If truth claims themselves can serve identities and the ways in which and a political function, the academy could not claim to second-class citizenship are socially institutionalized be politically neutral simply because it was devoted is necessarily a political matter. It is thoughtfulness to the pursuit of truth. about the way that POWER—economic, epistemic, “Politically correct” now carries a complex set of cultural, and legal—is sustained for some and de- meanings. To describe an academic program, a bit nied to others. It is thoughtfulness about what it of social behavior, or a new descriptor (e.g., “chair” would take to realize two of our most basic political rather than “chairman”) as politically correct is to values: EQUALITY and democratic decision making. imply that while it correctly conforms to a liberal From the late 1880s through the 1970s, political academic party line, it is incorrect by some other thoughtfulness about inequality was heavily devoted more important or more substantive measure; it is to critiquing the formal differential treatment of ra- educationally unsound, unjust, an illegitimate inter- cial minorities and women in law and policy. In ac- ference with free speech, or simply unnecessary or ademia, that originally meant opening college and silly. “Politically correct” also implies the presence university doors to blacks, women, and Jews; and of a sufficient power base to enforce compliance later, enforcing antidiscrimination policies. Although with whatever is politically correct, either through formal RIGHTS are critical to securing equality for formal penalties or informal disapproval and shun- disadvantaged social groups, extralegal cultural fac- ning. That is, it implies the presence of political cor- tors affect individuals’ ability to exercise those rights rectors and the threat of being corrected. As a result, and have them respected. Extralegal cultural factors political correctness is implicitly linked with author- also determine whether or not equal rights translate itarianism, COERCION, , and the bad into equally dignified treatment generally, freedom taste to correct others’ manners. from -motivated violence, equal engagement in To describe an academic program, a bit of social the production of knowledge and culture, and equal behavior, or a new descriptor as politically correct representation in democratic decision making pro- is to imply that political goals have wrongly been cesses. But if inequality is culturally, and not just

1338 political correctness legally, institutionalized, political thoughtfulness will addition, it is tempting when faced with political involve cultural criticism. problems as complex and intransigent as racism to In the 1980s and 1990s, cultural critics within the focus on quick, easy fixes like a mere change in vo- academy developed a sizable, new, moral language cabulary. And even the best political movements at- adequate to the task of cultural criticism. Some new tract moral who prize the signs of moral su- terms—that PC critics trivialize as mere “isms”— periority and the AUTHORITY to correct. Carefully name morally worrisome systems of domination: for used to refer only to a kind of intellectual and moral example, racism, sexism, classism, , vice, rather than to dismiss an antidominance view- and colonialism. Other new terms were meant to point, “political correctness” could, like “snobbery” replace the older moral language of discrimination and “dogmatism,” function as a term of appropriate and prejudice and to more accurately describe the moral critique. nature, mechanisms, and effects of institutionalized inequality: , domination, cultural impe- Liberal Tensions rialism, , hate crimes, marginalization, exclu- sion, silencing, essentializing, treating as the Other. The PC debates within academia, like larger so- Supplementing the older moral language of rights cial debates about affirmative action, sexual harass- and liberties, an additional set of MORAL TERMS cap- ment policies, the regulation of PORNOGRAPHY, the tured what full scale sociocultural equality would meaning of equal opportunity, and welfare and bi- mean or require: sensitivity, , inclusivity,cel- lingual policies, are fueled by long-standing tensions ebrating difference, , and attention to and unclarities within liberal political theorizing. a plurality of voices. Equality and LIBERTY are both central liberal values. The terms “politically correct” and “politically in- The meaning of both terms is contested. Attempting correct” belong in this new moral, linguistic land- to improve the campus climate for members of sub- scape. Any policy, norm, educational program, or ordinate groups in the name of liberty may conflict linguistic change whose rationale is statable using with attempts to maximize liberty from legal and this new moral terminology can also be disparaged quasi-legal restrictions on individual behavior and as mere political correctness. Because “political self-expression. Attempting to promote equal rep- correctness” refers to educational, linguistic, and be- resentation of minorities and women on faculties havioral reforms based on an antidomination ratio- and in curricula may conflict with the equal consid- nale, being opposed to political correctness gener- eration of all meritorious candidates and equal dis- ally is not clearly distinct from being opposed to tribution of resources to all academic programs. It critiques of and interventions in dominance systems. may also be the case that under conditions of insti- Were it not for the fact that “political correctness” tutionalized oppression, tradeoffs between equality carries negative implications (for example, of being and liberty will be unavoidable, and thus so too will against academic freedom), it would be more obvi- be disputes over which value should be given pri- ous that care needs to be taken in expressing oppo- ority in any individual case. sition to political correctness to explain how that op- Liberalism’s long-standing invocation of the harm position does not entail being pro racism, sexism, principle to justify restrictions on liberty, including classism, and so on. free speech, has provoked equally long-standing Although the term “political correctness” has un- controversies about what constitutes harm. Must fortunately been used to dismiss politically thought- hate speech satisfy the “fighting words” doctrine ar- ful educational reforms without suggesting alterna- ticulated in Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire (1942), tive means for remedying structural inequalities or or qualify as harassment by being addressed to an for ensuring that scholarship does not perpetuate individual or a captive audience, like students in a cultural ideologies, a term like “political correct- classroom, to be considered harmful? Or do hateful, ness” is a useful, perhaps essential, part of our moral demeaning, and trivializing images and language in vocabulary. As JOHN STUART MILL (1806–1873) graffiti, newspaper ads, and editorials constitute a noted over a century ago, any no matter how harm, even though not directed at a particular in- admirable may be held merely as a dead . In dividual, because of their chilling effect on campus

1339 political correctness climate, undermining of esteem, and contribution to D’Souza, Dinesh. Illiberal Education: The Politics of Race institutionalized domination? and Sex On Campus. New York: , 1991. Per- haps the most often cited work opposing political The distinction between the right and the good, correctness. between what is a matter for political decision- Fish, Stanley. There’s No Such Thing as Free Speech, and making and what is a matter of individual choice, is It’s a Good Thing Too. Oxford: Oxford University central to LIBERALISM. How that line is to be drawn Press, 1993. in practice, however, is often a matter of dispute. Friedman, Marilyn and Jan Narveson. Political Correct- Domestic violence has, for instance, shifted from be- ness: For and Against. Lanham, Md.: Rowman and ing a private familial issue to a concern of the law. Littlefield, 1995. In-depth philosophical evaluations of Much of the PC debate has been about where to the arguments on both sides of the debate. draw the line between freedom of expression and Frye, Marilyn. “Getting It Right.” In her Willful Virgin: Essays in , 1976–1992. Freedom, Calif.: academic freedom on the one hand and what col- Crossing Press, 1992. A defense of the moral ideal of leges and universities are obligated to provide as a supporting genuinely correct political positions and matter of educational responsibility and minority feminist critiques of affirmative action and multicul- student entitlement on the other. turalism. Finally, what it means to have a liberal education Kimball, Roger. Tenured Radicals: How Politics Corrupted is contestable. Traditionally, a liberal education has Our Higher Education. New York: Harper and Row, meant being broadly educated within the standard 1990. disciplines and the classics of Western civilization. National Council for Research on Women. To Reclaim a Legacy of Diversity: Analyzing the “Political Cor- Contemporary curricular reform, however, is driven rectness” Debates in Higher Education. [Written by by a different vision of liberal education as education Debra L. Schultz.] New York: The Council, 1993. An for participation in a multicultural, multiracial, egal- excellent source book for factual, statistical, and biblio- itarian nation in a multinational world. It is also graphical relevant to the PC debates. driven by a different interpretation of how educa- Cheshire Calhoun tional institutions have functioned in the past, namely, not merely as preservers of great works and the custodians of truth, but also as producers of ide- ology and preservers of an inegalitarian status quo. political See also: ACADEMIC ETHICS; ACADEMIC FREEDOM; See social and political philosophy. AGENCY AND ; ANIMALS, TREATMENT OF; AUTHORITY; CENSORSHIP; CIVIL RIGHTS AND CIVIC DUTIES; COERCION; ; CULTURAL STUD- IES; DEMOCRACY; DIGNITY; DISCRIMINATION; EQUAL- political systems, evaluation of ITY; ETIQUETTE; FEMINIST ETHICS; GAY ETHICS; Every organized political entity has some way of al- LESBIAN ETHICS; LIBERALISM; MORAL EDUCATION; locating the RIGHTS to make legally binding deci- ; PATERNALISM; PORNOGRAPHY; sions. The range runs from an absolute monarchy to PUBLIC AND PRIVATE MORALITY; PUBLIC POLICY; RA- the complex division of powers laid out in the U.S. CISM AND RELATED ISSUES; SELF-RESPECT; SEXUAL Constitution. Systematic speculation about the best ABUSE AND HARASSMENT; . form of polity constitutes a large part of the subject matter of political philosophy. Most political philos- Bibliography ophers have recommended some particular form of Berman, Paul, ed. Debating P.C.: The Controversy Over political organization, if not for all times and places Political Correctness on College Campuses. New York: then at any rate for their own society and others suf- Dell Publishing, 1992. An anthology of key essays by ficiently like it. We shall be concerned here with the major players in the political correctness debate during recurrent forms of argument that are put forward in the late 1980s and early 1990s. order to advance the claims of certain political in- Bloom, Allan. The Closing of the American Mind. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1987. In Bloom’s words, “on stitutions over those of others. The object will be to how higher education has failed democracy and im- construct an exhaustive classification of types of jus- poverished the souls of today’s students.” tification. This is represented as a tree diagram:

1340