Social Justice Primer?
March 5, 2016 10:11 AM Subscribe
Are there some good primers for Social Justice out there? I don't want a dense academic treatise that's hard to read, or filled with a shitton of theory. Something lightweight, that goes over the history of social justice movements, reasons and causes for their existence, what they exist for, etc...
Someone I know and feel responsible for has been taking hard this "free speech" issue lately, and attacking "SJW"s. I want to nudge him in the right direction and expose him to an appreciation for the history and understanding of social justice, not just the caricatures he's getting from his reddit/voat/gamergate-style culture.
I've played somewhat a formative role in his upbringing and am concerned about the current positions he's taken and I wish to give him some guidance and I figure a book would be a good way to go about it. He does read lots of things, so I hope he might be willing to look at a simple book.
Something that discusses intersectionality, perhaps even the history of movements of oppressed peoples that aren't from a social justice academic perspective (a la: Black Panthers and Women's RIghts movements). Something maybe a couple hundred pages in length. Possibly with images/pictures/diagrams of people and such. But less philosophical/specialized language.
Something that maybe doesn't go about attacking anti-SJ things (in the modern idiom/framework) so much as give a clear description of why SJ exists and give a basic understanding of the power structures involved historically.
I don't necessarily need him to "convert" so much as at least recognize the reason it exists and that in some form, at least, these concerns are valid and important, even if not the "Extreme" Strawboogieman the haters make. Just to help him open his eyes to these issues of privilege and such.
But also something that recognizes class so we're not just attacking the white heteronormative patriarchy without class issues (hence my desire for intersectionality to be part of it).
Sorry if this sounds axe-grindy, I'm just trying to give info to help narrow down good candidate books.
Someone I know and feel responsible for has been taking hard this "free speech" issue lately, and attacking "SJW"s. I want to nudge him in the right direction and expose him to an appreciation for the history and understanding of social justice, not just the caricatures he's getting from his reddit/voat/gamergate-style culture.
I've played somewhat a formative role in his upbringing and am concerned about the current positions he's taken and I wish to give him some guidance and I figure a book would be a good way to go about it. He does read lots of things, so I hope he might be willing to look at a simple book.
Something that discusses intersectionality, perhaps even the history of movements of oppressed peoples that aren't from a social justice academic perspective (a la: Black Panthers and Women's RIghts movements). Something maybe a couple hundred pages in length. Possibly with images/pictures/diagrams of people and such. But less philosophical/specialized language.
Something that maybe doesn't go about attacking anti-SJ things (in the modern idiom/framework) so much as give a clear description of why SJ exists and give a basic understanding of the power structures involved historically.
I don't necessarily need him to "convert" so much as at least recognize the reason it exists and that in some form, at least, these concerns are valid and important, even if not the "Extreme" Strawboogieman the haters make. Just to help him open his eyes to these issues of privilege and such.
But also something that recognizes class so we're not just attacking the white heteronormative patriarchy without class issues (hence my desire for intersectionality to be part of it).
Sorry if this sounds axe-grindy, I'm just trying to give info to help narrow down good candidate books.
Response by poster: Thanks jessamyn. Yeah, this is someone I know in real life (hence, feel responsible for), so it's not an abstract internet argument. Also - it's why I wanted books not just web resources.
My main concern about some of this is that it's radical history that's obvious? Like I share stuff about Black Panthers, and I'm certain he knows at least some of it... He's very much against state violence (from a libertarian perspective, is my understanding). I'm pretty certain he's read People's History, but if not, I should give him my copy, I think. Though I worry it would reinforce his anti-state narrative at the exclusion of other power hierarchies.
Invisible Backpack and Scalzi look more like in tune with what I'm going for. Not the obvious abuses of state power (he's already got too much of that, some weird libertarian/alex-jones listening crap). So less about state abuse of power and more the social structures that are hidden, or small abuses in everyday life that make social justice important.
Ultimately I need to work up the guts to just sit down and talk directly to him about the issues and ask poignant questions. But it would be nice to continue receiving suggestions to help approach the issue and share with him :)
posted by symbioid at 10:37 AM on March 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
My main concern about some of this is that it's radical history that's obvious? Like I share stuff about Black Panthers, and I'm certain he knows at least some of it... He's very much against state violence (from a libertarian perspective, is my understanding). I'm pretty certain he's read People's History, but if not, I should give him my copy, I think. Though I worry it would reinforce his anti-state narrative at the exclusion of other power hierarchies.
Invisible Backpack and Scalzi look more like in tune with what I'm going for. Not the obvious abuses of state power (he's already got too much of that, some weird libertarian/alex-jones listening crap). So less about state abuse of power and more the social structures that are hidden, or small abuses in everyday life that make social justice important.
Ultimately I need to work up the guts to just sit down and talk directly to him about the issues and ask poignant questions. But it would be nice to continue receiving suggestions to help approach the issue and share with him :)
posted by symbioid at 10:37 AM on March 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
I know this isn't your question, per se, and chances are you very likely already realize this, but I think it's worth noting in general that with most people, it's understandably pretty important that they feel like it's "their idea" and "their choice" to read or learn about something new, or to start thinking in a new way.
Sometimes handing someone a book or saying "Hey, let's watch this movie", even if it's intended to be just a nudge, can come across as proselytizing. Not because it is, but because the person receiving the offer may feel like they're only receiving such an offer because the person who's offering it to them has a markedly different perspective on society, so why else would they be sharing these books/movies if not to change minds? At the same time, I think it's important to be honest with people about one's intentions. You don't want to be sneaky, either, which I don't think you are at all. But it can be a very fine line to walk. I think that for him, focusing on learning about a wide survey of social and philosophical topics > micro-focus on issues within racism and feminism. In fact, it may actually help him build a stronger foundation for appreciating intersectionality.
That being said, he may find himself naturally interested in the "Introducing ... A Graphic Guide" series of books on philosophy and sociology. The fact that they are graphic-novel style is a plus, because it makes them short, readable and fun even if one doesn't always agree with the concepts presented. I wouldn't start him off with the ones on Feminism, or Marxism, but it could be cool to give him a copy of both "Introducing Capitalism" and "Introducing Marxism". Show him that you're interested in what he's interested in, and then maybe insert a joke about how you got him both so he can compare and critique the two. If the books get him thinking more, he may come to you with questions, which could lead to some really meaningful, open discussions. And perhaps him seeking out more books in the series. Does he like any particular philosophers? You may want to give him something like Introducing Foucault - Foucault can be difficult to place on the spectrum of left wing vs right wing - and then something really broad re: social justice topics, like the Introducing Cultural Studies one. These are just ideas.
My point is: don't be attached to the outcome. Not just because you may not get the outcome you want, but because you aren't "failing" him if you point him in the direction of trying to understand "SJWs" and he only ends up feeling more ambivalent or skeptical.
The other thing you may want to do? See if he'll start watching documentaries with you. Especially ones about poverty. "Harlan County USA", "Hoop Dreams," Frederick Wiseman's "Welfare" or "Domestic Violence" (or any of his film's, really).
posted by nightrecordings at 11:36 AM on March 5, 2016 [6 favorites]
Sometimes handing someone a book or saying "Hey, let's watch this movie", even if it's intended to be just a nudge, can come across as proselytizing. Not because it is, but because the person receiving the offer may feel like they're only receiving such an offer because the person who's offering it to them has a markedly different perspective on society, so why else would they be sharing these books/movies if not to change minds? At the same time, I think it's important to be honest with people about one's intentions. You don't want to be sneaky, either, which I don't think you are at all. But it can be a very fine line to walk. I think that for him, focusing on learning about a wide survey of social and philosophical topics > micro-focus on issues within racism and feminism. In fact, it may actually help him build a stronger foundation for appreciating intersectionality.
That being said, he may find himself naturally interested in the "Introducing ... A Graphic Guide" series of books on philosophy and sociology. The fact that they are graphic-novel style is a plus, because it makes them short, readable and fun even if one doesn't always agree with the concepts presented. I wouldn't start him off with the ones on Feminism, or Marxism, but it could be cool to give him a copy of both "Introducing Capitalism" and "Introducing Marxism". Show him that you're interested in what he's interested in, and then maybe insert a joke about how you got him both so he can compare and critique the two. If the books get him thinking more, he may come to you with questions, which could lead to some really meaningful, open discussions. And perhaps him seeking out more books in the series. Does he like any particular philosophers? You may want to give him something like Introducing Foucault - Foucault can be difficult to place on the spectrum of left wing vs right wing - and then something really broad re: social justice topics, like the Introducing Cultural Studies one. These are just ideas.
My point is: don't be attached to the outcome. Not just because you may not get the outcome you want, but because you aren't "failing" him if you point him in the direction of trying to understand "SJWs" and he only ends up feeling more ambivalent or skeptical.
The other thing you may want to do? See if he'll start watching documentaries with you. Especially ones about poverty. "Harlan County USA", "Hoop Dreams," Frederick Wiseman's "Welfare" or "Domestic Violence" (or any of his film's, really).
posted by nightrecordings at 11:36 AM on March 5, 2016 [6 favorites]
This article is a great start to understanding white privilege. Although your mind has to be somewhat open already to actually take in any of it without jumping to the defense.
posted by monologish at 11:45 AM on March 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by monologish at 11:45 AM on March 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
I find Everyday Feminism and Shakesville.com good sources for SJW for finding ways to talk to non-radicals about How The World Actually Works. It'll be too in-depth for the person in your question, but it'll give YOU some tactics for addressing these issues.
posted by Brittanie at 12:28 PM on March 5, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by Brittanie at 12:28 PM on March 5, 2016 [3 favorites]
You asked for books, but I'm here to recommend the films of John Sayles. His books are terrific, too, especially his early "Union Dues," the basis for his classic film "Matewan."
posted by mmiddle at 6:07 PM on March 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by mmiddle at 6:07 PM on March 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
I think The Hidden Injuries of Class by Richard Sennett and Jonathan Cobb is very revealing.
posted by umbú at 7:07 PM on March 5, 2016
posted by umbú at 7:07 PM on March 5, 2016
Slightly shorter than Zinn's Peoples History but in the same vein is The Underside of American History.
I highly recommend Poor Bashing by Jean Swanson. For anyone, really. Might not be the best first read if your person doesn't have a lot of personal experience with being at the low end of the socio-economic hierarchy, but is a good early read for anyone willing to read with an open mind.
May I also suggest coming at this educational task from a different direction? Does this person know much about emergent phenomena and emergent behavior? It's found in biology in stuff like why slime molds move as a colony without organized cooperation, why birds flock in certain ways based on individual behavior of individual birds, why geese fly in Vs based on individual behavior of individual geese. It's also found in computer science: Conway's Game of Life, swarm robotics, and other AI systems. And of course emergent behavior is found in human societies: oppression, for example, can be explicitly designed but can also be an emergent phenomenon. I often find, when talking to people who are opposed to some or many social justice ideals, that they believe that everything happens as a result of individual intention and action, and don't know about, understand, or believe in ideas like that a group can experience oppression without other people having a specific intent to discriminate. Another keyword/phrase here is systems thinking.
I think that the Angry Jack videos (see youtube) make a good point about another common impediment to otherwise decent people embracing the ideals of social justice: the dominant moral ideology in the west is one where people are good or bad people, and whether I in particular am good or bad relates to my intent, not just the effects of my actions. Someone with this viewpoint can get very defensive when confronted with harmful effects of their actions that they didn't directly intend, if there is no room in their current moral view for "good" people doing things that have bad effects, or "bad" people doing things that have good effects. If this is your friend, then this series of videos may be useful, especially part 5 that talks about this moral viewpoint issue.
Though not particularly intersectional, Misogyny: The World's Oldest Prejudice may be a useful starter read as well. It was written by a (now dead, even) old white guy, for other white guys, and uses language that is approachable for that audience. It also reinforces the point about moral frameworks found in the Angry Jack videos very nicely.
If your person is open to ideas labelled anarchist (which they may or may not be, if identifying as Libertarian), then I also highly recommend Anarchism and Its Aspirations by Cindy Milstein.
Fiction is often a good starting point for developing the sort of empathy that leads to a concern for social justice, as well. Give your person works of fiction in their favority genre written by and about people who are unlike them: maybe women, maybe people of color, maybe people who have experienced colonization, maybe people who are not straight, or gender non-conforming. Specific recommendations may vary based on this person's taste in fiction. I'm fond of working-class feminist writers like Dorothy Allison, Carolyn Chute, Sandra Cisneros, Louise Erdrich, Ailce Walker, Jeannette Winterson, Anzia Yezierska, Zora Neale Hurston. See also Sherman Alexie, Ralph Ellison, Zora Neale Hurston, Denise Giardina. You can find lists in specific genres, Afro-futurist authors or Native American science fiction for example, with a more tailored google search.
In my experience, if your person is a teenage boy who has generally been a decent person exposed to more liberal or progressive politics such that this might be just a phase, they could start sounding more reasonable in a couple months with a little bit of appropriate reading/videos. But otherwise it'll probably take at least a couple years, much patience, hearing some of the same ideas from different sources as well as from you, and some annoying moments where they state a realization as if it were their own fabulous new idea that they generated all by themself and not something that you had been trying to get through their thick skull for months or years on end. Good luck!
posted by eviemath at 5:16 PM on March 6, 2016 [3 favorites]
I highly recommend Poor Bashing by Jean Swanson. For anyone, really. Might not be the best first read if your person doesn't have a lot of personal experience with being at the low end of the socio-economic hierarchy, but is a good early read for anyone willing to read with an open mind.
May I also suggest coming at this educational task from a different direction? Does this person know much about emergent phenomena and emergent behavior? It's found in biology in stuff like why slime molds move as a colony without organized cooperation, why birds flock in certain ways based on individual behavior of individual birds, why geese fly in Vs based on individual behavior of individual geese. It's also found in computer science: Conway's Game of Life, swarm robotics, and other AI systems. And of course emergent behavior is found in human societies: oppression, for example, can be explicitly designed but can also be an emergent phenomenon. I often find, when talking to people who are opposed to some or many social justice ideals, that they believe that everything happens as a result of individual intention and action, and don't know about, understand, or believe in ideas like that a group can experience oppression without other people having a specific intent to discriminate. Another keyword/phrase here is systems thinking.
I think that the Angry Jack videos (see youtube) make a good point about another common impediment to otherwise decent people embracing the ideals of social justice: the dominant moral ideology in the west is one where people are good or bad people, and whether I in particular am good or bad relates to my intent, not just the effects of my actions. Someone with this viewpoint can get very defensive when confronted with harmful effects of their actions that they didn't directly intend, if there is no room in their current moral view for "good" people doing things that have bad effects, or "bad" people doing things that have good effects. If this is your friend, then this series of videos may be useful, especially part 5 that talks about this moral viewpoint issue.
Though not particularly intersectional, Misogyny: The World's Oldest Prejudice may be a useful starter read as well. It was written by a (now dead, even) old white guy, for other white guys, and uses language that is approachable for that audience. It also reinforces the point about moral frameworks found in the Angry Jack videos very nicely.
If your person is open to ideas labelled anarchist (which they may or may not be, if identifying as Libertarian), then I also highly recommend Anarchism and Its Aspirations by Cindy Milstein.
Fiction is often a good starting point for developing the sort of empathy that leads to a concern for social justice, as well. Give your person works of fiction in their favority genre written by and about people who are unlike them: maybe women, maybe people of color, maybe people who have experienced colonization, maybe people who are not straight, or gender non-conforming. Specific recommendations may vary based on this person's taste in fiction. I'm fond of working-class feminist writers like Dorothy Allison, Carolyn Chute, Sandra Cisneros, Louise Erdrich, Ailce Walker, Jeannette Winterson, Anzia Yezierska, Zora Neale Hurston. See also Sherman Alexie, Ralph Ellison, Zora Neale Hurston, Denise Giardina. You can find lists in specific genres, Afro-futurist authors or Native American science fiction for example, with a more tailored google search.
In my experience, if your person is a teenage boy who has generally been a decent person exposed to more liberal or progressive politics such that this might be just a phase, they could start sounding more reasonable in a couple months with a little bit of appropriate reading/videos. But otherwise it'll probably take at least a couple years, much patience, hearing some of the same ideas from different sources as well as from you, and some annoying moments where they state a realization as if it were their own fabulous new idea that they generated all by themself and not something that you had been trying to get through their thick skull for months or years on end. Good luck!
posted by eviemath at 5:16 PM on March 6, 2016 [3 favorites]
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If this person is just into reading intelligent things online it might be worth pointing them to the Invisible Backpack concept and Scalzi talking about how being a straight white male is the lowest difficulty setting there is. A lot of times people who hold these ideas are more swayed or intrigued by data. In that case looking up some good data on institutionalized racism (i.e. how racism is predjudice + power and here are some terrible examples of people using their power to be racist) would be worthwhile.
If they want to read about specific incidents I find "Attention MOVE this is America" to be captivating as well as details about the Rosewood Massacre from 1923. In the same vein the book Cointelpro: The FBI's Secret War on Political Freedom makes it pretty hard to ignore that many SJ activists have good precedent for being concerned and mindful. Likewise in the wake of the Superbowl and the Black Panther movie, a good read-along would be The Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the FBI and the Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther
At some level people who want to really work on this need to get off the internet and engage with people who aren't just the people who are on the internet in order to gain larger perspective. The details of Gamergate from the outside are a lot less germane to the topic than the generalized mob mentality and aggrieved-privileged-people motif that we see over and over again (See also: the fake war on Christmas) which is worth pointing out.
posted by jessamyn at 10:26 AM on March 5, 2016 [12 favorites]