Glossary

Common terms used in Critical Social Justice ideology

Anti-racism

does not simply mean ‘against racism’. CSJ claims all white people are inherently racist and that the question is not ‘did racism take place’ but ‘how did racism manifest in this situation’. To be anti-racist requires action: looking for racism everywhere and all the time in every person and every situation, even when it is not apparent. CSJ insists that white people cannot experience racism because they possess greater power than minorities. Discrimination in the name of equity is considered necessary.

Critical

in the accepted sense means teaching students to think critically, not accepting anything at face value but using logic and seeking evidence that supports or refutes an argument. Critical in CSJ usage refers to Critical education which is rooted in neo-Marxist literature on Critical Theory. Students are taught ways of identifying how power shapes our understanding of the world so that they can take action to address social injustices. See also Social Justice/Critical Social Justice below.

Critical Consciousness

is the ability to recognise perceived oppressive social forces said to be shaping society and to take action against them.

Cultural appropriation

means taking elements of another’s culture for one’s own use or profit without understanding, acknowledgment, or respect for its value in the source culture.

Decolonising

is active resistance against perceived colonial power. Theorists claim that Western institutions maintain a power hierarchy in institutions that is still predominantly white, heterosexual, male and Western. Decolonising seeks to remove material emanating from white and Western sources and replace it with materials from non-white and non-Western sources.

Diversity

in the accepted sense means variety. Diversity in CSJ means giving privilege to the marginalised while marginalising the privileged in order to redress the imbalances CSJ sees in society. Diversity in this sense is only interested in physical characteristics and cultural differences which are evaluated according to CSJ conceptions of privilege and marginalisation. CSJ does not welcome diversity of thought.

Epistemic violence

means, in effect, silencing the voices of marginalised groups. The use of the term ‘violence’ in relation to forms of Western knowledge, is an example of harm inflation (Haslam et al., 2020) which is a characteristic of CSJ.

Equity

in the accepted sense means something that is equitable or free from bias or favouritism. Equity in CSJ is differentiated from ‘equality’. Where equality means that persons A and B are treated equally, equity means adjusting shares in order to make persons A and B equal. Its aim is to redistribute shares, not necessarily along lines of economic disparity but in order to adjust for and correct current and historical injustices, both as exist in reality and as have been identified by various critical theories.

Heteronormative

denoting or relating to the view that heterosexuality is the normal or preferred sexual orientation (derives from Queer Theory).

Identity

is central to the thought and activism of CSJ as it is through identity politics that Social Justice is to be achieved. In CSJ identity refers to social or political identity. One’s social group is defined by intersecting and socially constructed group categories defined by immutable characteristics, including race, sex, gender, sexuality, dis/ability, body size, age, class, national origin and religion.

Inclusion

in the accepted sense means including or accommodating everyone. Inclusion in CSJ means including those who have historically been excluded because of their race, gender, sexuality or ability. In practice, it often leads to the exclusion of those from groups considered privileged.

Intersectionality

is a framework created by Kimberlé Crenshaw (1989) designed to show the interactive effects of various forms of discrimination and disempowerment, noting that overlapping vulnerabilities create specific and compound problems.

Lived experience

is the primary way in which knowledge is obtained in CSJ. It is not the same as subjective or first-hand experience but refers to life experiences in allegedly systemic power dynamics of dominance and oppression that shape society structurally. Lived experience refers to the interpretation that CSJ gives to anecdotal accounts of experience. Only lived experiences of oppression count. People in dominant groups cannot call their own experiences lived experience.

Master’s House/Master’s Tools

are terms used by black feminist Audre Lorde, who made the point that the ‘tools’ of the dominant system would not dismantle the dominant system itself. The statement draws on the metaphor of slavery and insists that means and methods outside of the dominant system will be required to disrupt and dismantle that system and the oppression it causes.

Marginalising

in CSJ means to exclude certain people from the benefits of society. CSJ assumes that society is socially constructed in a way that allows members of dominant groups to exclude and oppress members of marginalised groups and their ways of knowing.

Microaggressions

are described by CSJ theorists as the everyday verbal and nonverbal slights or insults, intentional or not, which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to marginalised groups and individuals.

Oppression

is a central concept in CSJ. According to CSJ theorists it affects all minority groups, including racial minorities, women, gender and sexual minorities, the disabled, overweight, those from countries or cultures outside of ‘the West’ and indigenous people. This is regardless of whether or not individuals are, or consider themselves to be, oppressed.

Power

is considered by CSJ to be at the root of all interactions between individuals and groups in society. The main purpose is for the powerful to impose their ideas and interests on everyone.

Privilege

refers to societal privilege that benefits dominant groups over minorities, particularly if they are otherwise under the same social, political, or economic circumstances. Privilege is considered by CSJ theorists to be unearned and unquestioned. Dominant groups are unaware of it but are motivated to maintain it by questioning CSJ principles.

Problematising

is CSJ’s method of questioning the common usage of language and suggesting that specific language perpetuates systems of power.

Racism

(in contrast to individual racial prejudice) In CSJ racism involves a dominant group carrying out systematic discrimination through the institutional policies and practices of society. A common formulation is Racism=Prejudice+Power.

Systemic racism

refers to systems and structures that have procedures or processes that disadvantage people of colour and advantage white people.

Social justice

in the accepted sense means moving steadily and incrementally towards creating a fair society which is just for everyone and which there is fairness, respect and equal opportunities for all.

Critical Social Justice

is a theoretical approach, rooted in Marxist and Postmodernist theories, that addresses issues of prejudice and discrimination on the grounds of characteristics like race, sex, sexuality, gender identity, dis/ability and body size. CSJ holds that knowledge is not objective but culturally constructed to maintain oppressive power systems. CSJ theorists and activists apply their ‘critical’ methods to analyse systems, language and interactions in society to ‘uncover’ these power systems and make them visible in order to right historical wrongs and ensure the oppressed are prioritised in society. They believe that in this way society can be revolutionised and social justice achieved, provided everyone accepts the moral imperative to pay attention to and accept their interpretations. This is often referred to as ‘doing the work’ or simply ‘educating yourself’. Any scepticism of these interpretations is assumed to be an attempt to preserve one’s own privilege if one is of a group perceived to be privileged or, if one is not a member of a privileged group, it is seen as evidence of one having internalised the oppressive power system. [8]

Toxic masculinity

is a term sometimes used to describe men’s behaviour that is socially dominant, misogynistic, violent or homophobic .

Ways of knowing

refers to epistemologies (theories of what knowledge is, how it’s produced and transmitted). Ways of knowing that are of interest to CSJ are those considered to have been unjustly excluded or marginalised by white Western science, such as superstition and storytelling. CSJ theorists claim that Western knowledge has been unfairly privileged and imposed on other cultures as a result of colonialism. See also ‘Master’s House/Master’s Tools.’

W.E.I.R.D.

means Western Educated Industrialised Rich and Democratic and refers to Western science.

Whiteness

refers to the specific dimensions of racism that elevate white people and white dominant culture over people of colour. Whiteness is understood in CSJ as a socially constructed system of power that is self-interested and maintains white dominance and the oppression of people of colour.

White (Asian, Jewish, etc.)

complicity/ adjacency is the idea that dominant classes are unknowingly advancing dominance and power over marginalised people. Adjacency implies a more active, conscious role in supporting the dominant power structure.

White fragility

is a term invented by Diangelo (2019) [10] to describe the defensive reactions of white people when they are accused of racism and when they feel implicated in white supremacy. Brown fragility describes the same phenomenon among non-black ethnic minorities.

White privilege

refers to the set of structural advantages that dominant groups have but which are denied to oppressed groups. CSJ theorists claim that all white people have dominance by virtue of their skin colour and the societal and institutional processes that have rendered their beliefs and values ‘normal’ and universal.

White supremacy

refers to the idea that advantages for white people are woven throughout institutions and social practices, making people of colour vulnerable to exploitation, domination and violence. More traditionally, it is the belief that white people are superior to those of all other races and should therefore dominate society.

White women’s tears

are considered a political act that brings attention to white women’s emotional needs and distracts from their racism. In CSJ emotions are viewed as political because they are shaped by biases, beliefs and cultural frameworks. White women’s tears are considered a manifestation of white fragility and viewed as problematic in CSJ due to historical instances where black men have been harmed due to white women’s distress.

Sources

The glossary has been compiled and adapted from the following sources with thanks:

Jewish Institute for Liberal Values, Glossary of Social Justice Terminology: A Guide for the Perplexed: https://jilv.org/glossary/

Lindsay, J. New Discourses: https://newdiscourses.com

Pincourt, C., & Lindsay, J. (2021) Counter Wokecraft: A Field Manual for Combatting the Woke in the University and Beyond. New Discourses.