White American Anti-Racism: The Moralization of Speech (Paul Lichterman)

Vortrag von Paul Lichterman (Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften Bad Homburg/University of Southern California), kommentiert von Greta Wagner (Goethe-Universität Frankfurt a. M.)

White anti-racists in the US have fashioned a social movement that relies on tremendous verbal skill. Why does elaborate, self-reflexive articulation matter so much, even when it can be uncomfortable for potential participants? Critics charge that specialized language is part of an elitist, divisive »woke« culture that anti-racists share with many other US political progressives. Academic observers have explained anti-racists’ distinctive speech habits in terms of their social status interests, irrational moralism or intellectual mistakes. I propose instead that the special speech emerges from the activists’ distinctive theory of language itself and is a response to a moral predicament for white people who challenge systemic racism. Informed by work in sociology of morality and linguistic anthropology, ethnographic work shows us the deep moral significance of speech habits in two sites of white anti-racism. A research focus on language and speech habits illuminates a powerful, underappreciated source of conflicts that commentators call »culture wars«.

 

Vortragsreihe des AK Kritische Soziologie. Gemeinsamer Arbeitskreis am Institut für Soziologie der Goethe-Universität und am Institut für Sozialforschung (IfS) Frankfurt a. M.

Alle Vorträge finden c. t. statt.
Koordination: Laura Hanemann, Stephan Lessenich, Susanne Martin, Doris Schweitzer.
Kontakt: martin@soz.uni-frankfurt.de