Prejudice plus power
(#NotAllAcademics) |
|||
| Line 4: | Line 4: | ||
While the usual definition of "racism" is something like "prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race",<ref>[http://oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/racism Definition of racism in English]</ref><ref>[http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=sexism (n) sexism] (discriminatory or abusive behavior towards members of the opposite sex)</ref> [[Cultural Marxism|some academics]] reject this definition and require an additional condition of "...by someone in a position of power over them". Obviously, the ''majority'' of sexism is still against women by men, and the majority of racism in the US is against minorities by whites,<ref>[http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2013/november/annual-hate-crime-statistics-show-slight-decease FBI hate crime statistics 2012]</ref> but this definition makes the converse categorically impossible, rather than just less frequent and/or harmful. | While the usual definition of "racism" is something like "prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race",<ref>[http://oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/racism Definition of racism in English]</ref><ref>[http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=sexism (n) sexism] (discriminatory or abusive behavior towards members of the opposite sex)</ref> [[Cultural Marxism|some academics]] reject this definition and require an additional condition of "...by someone in a position of power over them". Obviously, the ''majority'' of sexism is still against women by men, and the majority of racism in the US is against minorities by whites,<ref>[http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2013/november/annual-hate-crime-statistics-show-slight-decease FBI hate crime statistics 2012]</ref> but this definition makes the converse categorically impossible, rather than just less frequent and/or harmful. | ||
| − | It is important to note that, whether you agree or disagree with the definition, words can have many meanings. The use of racism to mean "prejudice plus power" by however many academics does not disqualify other definitions of the term any more than psychiatrists defining the term "Depression" as a specific disorder disqualifies using it to mean being extremely sad. "Prejudice plus power" as used by academics is what is called a {{wpl|stipulative definition}}, used primarily for academic research to simplify discussions and text, not to "replace" other definitions of the word in common usage. Thus, to evoke it as the "only correct definition" is ridiculous. This is an important point to make considering the many people using the definition to derail arguments and for the emotional stigma it has to silence dissent and to excuse whatever bigotry they themselves have. Linguistically, the word "Racism" technically means an ideology that has a racial doctrine, since "-ism" denotes an ideology, like in "[[Communism]]" or "[[Fascism]]". Anyone who advocates the ideology is called a "Communist" or a "Fascist", irrelevant to whether they have power in that society. | + | It is important to note that, whether you agree or disagree with the definition, words can have many meanings. The use of racism to mean "prejudice plus power" by however many academics does not disqualify other definitions of the term any more than psychiatrists defining the term "Depression" as a specific disorder disqualifies using it to mean being extremely sad. "Prejudice plus power" as used by ''some'' academics is what is called a {{wpl|stipulative definition}}, used primarily for academic research to simplify discussions and text, not to "replace" other definitions of the word in common usage. Thus, to evoke it as the "only correct definition" is ridiculous. This is an important point to make considering the many people using the definition to derail arguments and for the emotional stigma it has to silence dissent and to excuse whatever bigotry they themselves have. Linguistically, the word "Racism" technically means an ideology that has a racial doctrine, since "-ism" denotes an ideology, like in "[[Communism]]" or "[[Fascism]]". Anyone who advocates the ideology is called a "Communist" or a "Fascist", irrelevant to whether they have power in that society. |
== Etymology == | == Etymology == | ||
Revision as of 20:21, 1 February 2015
| Check our privilege |
| Not ALL of our articles |
"Prejudice plus power" is a (re)definition of "racism"[1][2] or "sexism"[3] used by various ivory tower types and social justice... enthusiasts.
While the usual definition of "racism" is something like "prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race",[4][5] some academics reject this definition and require an additional condition of "...by someone in a position of power over them". Obviously, the majority of sexism is still against women by men, and the majority of racism in the US is against minorities by whites,[6] but this definition makes the converse categorically impossible, rather than just less frequent and/or harmful.
It is important to note that, whether you agree or disagree with the definition, words can have many meanings. The use of racism to mean "prejudice plus power" by however many academics does not disqualify other definitions of the term any more than psychiatrists defining the term "Depression" as a specific disorder disqualifies using it to mean being extremely sad. "Prejudice plus power" as used by some academics is what is called a stipulative definition[wp], used primarily for academic research to simplify discussions and text, not to "replace" other definitions of the word in common usage. Thus, to evoke it as the "only correct definition" is ridiculous. This is an important point to make considering the many people using the definition to derail arguments and for the emotional stigma it has to silence dissent and to excuse whatever bigotry they themselves have. Linguistically, the word "Racism" technically means an ideology that has a racial doctrine, since "-ism" denotes an ideology, like in "Communism" or "Fascism". Anyone who advocates the ideology is called a "Communist" or a "Fascist", irrelevant to whether they have power in that society.
Contents |
Etymology
The word "racism" originated around 1936, in reference to the theories of the Nazis. Earlier, this was called "racialism", "race hatred", or "race prejudice".[7]
The word "sexism" was coined in 1968 by Caroline Bird,[8][9] with the definition:
There is recognition abroad that we are in many ways a sexist country. Sexism is judging people by their sex when sex doesn’t matter.
Sexism is intended to rhyme with racism. Both have been used to keep the powers that be in power. Women are sexists as often as men. [emphasis added]
The phrase “Power + Prejudice = Racism.” was invented in 1970 by Pat Bidol[10] and popularized by Judith H. Katz in her 1978 book White Awareness: Handbook for Anti-Racism Training.
It is important to push for the understanding that racism is 'prejudice plus power' and therefore people of color cannot be racist against whites in the United States. People of color can be prejudiced against whites but clearly do not have the power as a group to enforce that prejudice.[11]
Criticisms of the definition
David Pilgrim, curator of the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia, has this to say on the conflicting definitions of racism:
| Can blacks be racist? The answer, of course, will depend on how you define racism. If you define it as “prejudice against or hatred toward another race,” then the answer is yes. If you define racism as “the belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race,” the answer is yes. And if you define racism as “prejudice and discrimination rooted in race-based loathing,” then the answer is, again, yes. However, if you define racism as “a system of group privilege by those who have a disproportionate share of society’s power, prestige, property, and privilege,” then the answer is no. In the end, it is my opinion that individual blacks can be and sometimes are racists. However, collectively, blacks are neither the primary creators nor beneficiaries of the racism that permeates society today. |
Pilgrim goes on to describe how, as an adolescent attending a previously all-white junior high school in the seventies, he was pelted with stones by white passers-by. He points out that many of these bigoted whites were poverty-stricken and so lacked power: "To argue that one must have power in order to be racist is to suggest that the man in Prichard, Alabama who called me a 'red nigger' and threw a rock at me was not a racist. A different explanation is that his poverty and lack of power made him susceptible to anti-black racism." He goes on to relate how facing this prejudice caused him and his fellow black youth at the school to hate the poor whites in a similar capacity:
| The quirky part of this story is that there were two groups of people, both desperately poor and treated as outcasts, who used their hatred of the Other as bonding mechanisms. I want it said loudly and clearly that we can define racism in many ways, but it is, in my opinion, intellectually disingenuous to define it in a way that trivializes the role that racial hatred plays. Certainly, not all racism is hate-driven, but to ignore the connection between racial hate and racism is to reduce the concept of racism to a useless theoretical abstraction.[12] |
See also
- Social justice
- Loaded language
- No True Scotsman
- Argumentum ad dictionarium - hilariously, can be seen employed by both sides in "debates" where the concept shows up (including this very page)
Footnotes
- ↑ Definitions - "Racism is race prejudice plus power"
- ↑ Racism= Prejudice Plus Power
- ↑ FAQ: What is “sexism”? - "an important, but often overlooked, part of the term is that sexism is prejudice plus power. Thus feminists reject the notion that women can be sexist towards men because women lack the institutional power that men have."
- ↑ Definition of racism in English
- ↑ (n) sexism (discriminatory or abusive behavior towards members of the opposite sex)
- ↑ FBI hate crime statistics 2012
- ↑ http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=racist
- ↑ Caroline Bird’s “On Being Born Female”, published on November 15, 1968 in Vital Speeches of the Day (p. 6).
- ↑ Feminism Friday: The origins of the word “sexism”
- ↑ Developing New Perspectives on Race: An Innovative Multi-media Social Studies Curriculum in Racism Awareness for the Secondary Level, Pat A. Bidol
- ↑ http://books.google.com/books?id=yoFHSXoofoQC&lpg=PA43&pg=PA52 http://books.google.com/books?id=25AaGpyRnE8C&lpg=PA40&pg=PA50
- ↑ http://www.ferris.edu/news/jimcrow/question/march09/