These days, people in Western societies are much more conscious about issues of race and racism, as well as gender identity, than they were just a few decades ago. And this is a good thing. It is also a result of decades of liberalism delivering gradual progress and empowering minorities.
However, these causes have been captured by ideologues. Social justice activism took an authoritarian turn and is now seeing everything through a lens of identity, privilege and power. Good-faith discussions and disagreement, fundamental to a democratic society, seem to increasingly become taboo. Many people feel overwhelmed by specialist language and what seems to a constantly shifting set of rules.
In this book, Pluckrose and Lindsay explore how we arrived at this point. The authors illustrate the continuity from the more abstract 20th century movements of critical theory and postmodernism to recent emanations of activist scholarship like critical race, gender and fat studies. If you are interested in politics in any way, there will be a few light-bulb moments when you find the answer to questions you were afraid to ask - such as, why different people use different definitions of "racism".
The authors move on to warn people of the dangers of applied Critical Social Justice in real life. Not least, if "us-and-them" identity politics is given free rein to polarise our societies further, it will open the door to the far right. Last but not least, the book ends with a list of principled responses to activist claims, and a brief glossary of terms.
Social (In)Justice gives a great overview, and is a little more accessible than the original "Cynical Theories". Highly recommended - not just for younger readers, but also for busy people who want to find out where that creepy stuff actually comes from that they may have seen on social media, in the news or in some mandatory diversity training at uni!
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Top reviews from United Kingdom
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- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 29 January 2022
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 April 2023
Top reviews from other countries
- Uta C. GroeschelReviewed in Germany on 7 June 2022
Understanding widespread ideas is crucial for those who oppose them
- john p bowerReviewed in Canada on 12 April 2022
A challenging read but well worth the effort as it explains much of our current societal challenges
- Emily T. StickneyReviewed in the United States on 19 February 2023
Sanity in a book.
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