Political Correctness Research Articles

Perceptions of Race and Ancestry in Teaching, Research, and Public Engagement in Biological Anthropology

The concept of race has a complex history in the field of biological anthropology. Despite increased recognition of the racist origins of the discipline, there remains little agreement about what the concept means, how it is used, or how it is discussed. This study presents the results of a survey of biological anthropologists to investigate the relationship of biological anthropologists with race and ancestry. The survey focuses on the areas of research, public engagement, and teaching as related to these concepts. Results indicate that a large majority of biological anthropologists agree that race (as a social not biological concept) is separate from ancestry. The majority of respondents agreed that ancestry categories should be based on geography (e.g., Asian, European, and African), and more anthropologists thought the terms “Hispanic” and “Latino” were inappropriate ancestry categories. While most respondents felt that discussions of these terms were not matters of “political correctness,” nearly a quarter of respondents suggested that concerns over the moral and ethical implications of research (e.g., photos, terminology, and ancestry) result in the silencing of anthropological research. Overwhelmingly, respondents felt that anthropologists have a responsibility to ensure the avoidance of misappropriation of their work by race science and by white nationalists/supremacists. Some differences in survey responses were found relating to respondents’ subdiscipline, educational level, location, age, self-identified racial/ethnic categories, and gender. In regard to teaching, survey results indicate that these concepts are minimally covered in university classrooms. When taught, topics focus on the colonialist/racist history of anthropology, the presence of white privilege/supremacy, and racism. Based on the results of this survey, the authors argue for greater public engagement on these concepts, a standardized system of teaching race and ancestry, and a disciplinary conversation about practice and terminology. In this way, biological anthropologists can best place themselves to combat racism in a socially responsible way.

On Second Thought

On Second Thought

On Second Thought

On Second Thought

The Signifying Tomboy and the Thai TV Series Club Friday To Be Continued: She Changed

Abstract This article examines the representation of same-sex attracted women in contemporary Thai culture by using the television series Club Friday To Be Continued: She Changed (2016) as the prime example. The show’s portrayal of the tomboy protagonist is not uncontroversial, given that her unfolding love for a man betrays the tomboy’s original self-identity as a woman-loving woman. It invokes the heteronormative specter that sees female homoeroticism as temporary or situational while same-sex attracted women will turn “straight” so long as they meet the right men. This article, however, urges us to look beyond the seeming political incorrectness and focus on the changing signification of “tomboy” in the Thai culture. I argue that the series dramatizes the expanded meaning of tomboy: now detached from a firm association with female homoeroticism (tom) to become a form of women’s gendered self-fashioning (tomboyism) that is mediated by trendy intra-Asian cosmopolitanism in contemporary Thai society.

“I appreciate u not being a total prick …”: Oppositional stancetaking, impoliteness and relational work in adversarial Twitter interactions

By examining a set of Twitter interactions following a 2018 media event, this article contributes to a growing body of research addressing the fluid and shifting nature of relational work in digital contexts. The Twitter interactions were posted in response to a tweet by documentarian Hari Kondabolu, in which he thanked actor Hank Azaria for Azaria's apology about voicing the controversial character of “Apu” on the long-running animated television program, The Simpsons. Kondabolu's tweet prompted responses from over 500 Twitter users, some of whom contributed to larger discussions about racism and structural inequality on one hand, to extreme political correctness on the other. As they participated in acts of online stancetaking to express their often-opposing positions, Twitter users simultaneously engaged in face-work to manage the interpersonal dimensions of their communication. Providing a micro-analysis of two case study examples, I highlight some of the relationally-oriented discourse-pragmatic strategies employed by Twitter users in interaction with others. One instance shows how a dismissal of the other user's perspectives leads to increased aggression, while the other instance offers insights into how users might signal their willingness to engage in a civil exchange, despite opposing stances.

Self-censorship and Shifting Cognitions of Offence in the Stand-up Acts of Basket Mouth and Trevor Noah

ABSTRACT With social media taking stand-up routines beyond their hitherto localised environments, there is growing irritation and backlash against comedians who supposedly tell unpleasant (or offensive) jokes. The ensuing decontextualisation creates a crisis wherein new media enables the kind of viewership that is less participatory, and thus more critical. As a result, jokes which ordinarily are framed within liminal moments of permissibility are increasingly exposed to various sensitivities and appraisals where they are evaluated by political correctness measures other than suspension of offence. This essay assesses the acts of Basket Mouth and Trevor Noah for the adaptive mechanics they deploy towards countering shifting cognitions arising from the transposition of stand-up routines from what used to be localised arenas to more global spaces. My inquiry interrogates newer ways in which the target comedians navigate the treacherous terrain of laughter evocation through anticipatory acts of self-censorship that work for both their immediate and mediatised audiences.

Here Come My 600-Pound Quintuplets: A Discussion of Reality Television as a Freak Discourse

History is littered with tales of the absurd, odd, and unusual. From Gorgons and mermaids to bearded ladies and elephant men, people have, for centuries, been fascinated by those who deviate from physical and mental social norms. Such fascinations seemed to peak during the 19th century when showmen, like PT Barnum, bought and exhibited those deemed too different and macabre for “normal” society. However, as science and medicine progressed, and the protection of human rights became more important, freak shows and travelling sideshows dwindled (Nicholas & Chambers, 2016). Society’s fascination with the unusual though, did not. Despite increased political correctness and calls to end “fat shaming,” bullying and the like, reality television appears to encourage “a dehumanising process that actually lessens our regard for other people” (Sardar, 2000). While some writers have considered how reality television exploits stereotypes and links social norms to hegemonic whiteness (Cooke-Jackson & Hansen, 2008; Rennels, 2015), few have commented on the similarities between such programming and the stylings of the 19th century freak show. Utilising Thomson’s (1996) concept of freak discourse, and Bogdan’s (1996) assessment of freak narrative, this article examines how reality television programming as a genre, despite its varied plots, uses a narrative formula that can be likened to 19th century freak shows to enhance its storylines and “produce a human spectacle” (Thomson, 1996, p. 7).

AN ANALYSIS OF TABOO WORDS AND EUPHEMISMS FOUND IN THE CHARACTERS’ UTTERANCES IN THE MOVIE ENTITLED “THE PURGE: ELECTION YEAR”

The aims of this research are to find and to discuss the types, functions of Taboo words and the types of Euphemisms. The qualitative method is used in this research since the description regarding the utterances found in the movie is necessary. The quantitative approach is used in this research as well in representing the data findings by using percentages. The research data are taken from the movie scripts and are formed from the characters’ utterances either words or phrases. As the results, the researcher found five types of language of Taboo in the movie that consist of (1) Obscenity, (2) Epithets, (3) Profanity, (4) Insults and Slurs (5) and Vulgarity. Obscenity is the highest number of occurrence while Vulgarity holds the smallest number. There are four functions of Taboo language which are namely; (1) To draw Attention to one self, (2) To be Aggressive or Provocative, (3) To show Contempt, and (4) To mock Authority. To draw attention to one self is the most appeared functions of Taboo while to mock authority is the smallest number. There are four types of Euphemisms found in the movie which are (1) Euphemisms for Death and Killing, (2) Euphemism for Political Correctness, (3) Euphemisms for Sexual Activities, and (4) Euphemism for Addressing. The most appeared type of Euphemism is Euphemisms for Death and Killing while the least appeared one is Euphemism for Addressing.

Heading for a ‘Better Life’? Why Swedes Move to Portugal

This article discusses the drivers behind why Swedes move to Portugal and who these migrants are. The conceptual framework is based on lifestyle migration and considers migration as a process. Using a semi-structured interview guide, designed according to a life-course approach, 36 in-depth interviews with Swedes permanently residing in Portugal were conducted. The findings display that only a small minority of the respondents claimed that the climate, the sense of privilege/affluence and the prospects of being a permanent tourist made them move to Portugal. A majority of the respondents expressed a disenchantment with Sweden, political correctness, and a perceived collapse of the Swedish welfare system. Simultaneously, the respondents describe an escape from everyday problems. Notably, it is not the Swedish middle-class that seems to be moving, and emigrants come from mainly the top or bottom of the social hierarchy.

The inefficient Main Melody (Zhu Xuanlü): Why do filmgoers have to take sides in discussions of Wolf Warrior II?

This is a roundtable discussion organized by Deep Focus and was originally published on August 22, 2017. Following the release of the film Wolf Warrior II (Zhanlang er, 2017), a sequel to Wolf Warrior (Zhanlang, 2015), the roundtable sought to provide a critical response to the polarized debates that the film sparked in China. Indeed, the seven-person roundtable was the most attended and diverse one in the history of Deep Focus roundtables, which invites experienced film critics and young scholars in academia to share their views. The question, as the roundtable points out, ‘why do filmgoers have to take sides for a film’ seems timely and is applicable to various contexts of any controversial film. Through the roundtable, such inquiries created dissent within the discourse of political incorrectness that enabled us to see how cinema at once holds people together and drives them apart. To enrich and diversify the debates, the roundtable intentionally included the voices of two special guests from the US and Hong Kong. It was conducted in Chinese and translated to English by Wentao Ma and Kelly Fan.

Will the Real Conspiracy Please Stand Up: Sources of Post-Communist Democratic Failure

At the start of the pandemic, it looked like the biggest COVID-related threat to democracy, in Eastern Europe and elsewhere, was executive aggrandizement. This focus, however, may lead us to overlook a bigger threat to Eastern European democracy. We argue that Eastern European democracies’ original sin of state capture has been exacerbated by the rise of conspiracy theories, whose stock has only increased with the addition of COVID misinformation. Eastern European voters struggle to differentiate between the true political conspiracy that enables private interests to control the state and conspiracies without empirical basis, such as COVID denialism, world government, or political correctness as a tyrannical plot. As a result, conspiracy theories enable the state capture camp to divide the reformist opposition and maintain their grip, while simultaneously claiming that they are governing competently and in line with European values. We use an original survey from Bulgaria and a GLOBSEC 2020 cross-national survey to explore this hypothesis. Finally, we draw some theoretical implications from the empirical evidence for assessing the nature of democratic backsliding in Eastern Europe. We call for more research on the conspiracy cleavage as a factor in explaining backsliding processes.

Linguistic positivity bias in academic writing: A large-scale diachronic study in life sciences across 50 years

Abstract Recent studies found linguistic positivity bias in academic writing, that is, researchers tend to present their works with more positive words than negative ones. The present study aims to examine the issue from a diachronic perspective, and it is probably the first one that employed a mixed method of both a small lexicon analysis and sentiment analysis in this line of research. Specifically, a series of experiments were performed based on a corpus of 775,460 abstracts published between 1969 and 2019 in 123 scientific journals covering 12 research disciplines in life sciences. The results demonstrated a linguistic positivity bias in academic writing. More importantly, a significant upward trend of linguistic positivity bias was observed over the past 5 decades. Major communicative functions of positive and negative sentences are also analysed. Reasons for this linguistic positivity bias are explored from the perspectives of publication pressure/bias, employment of linguistic devices to promote research, and language use for political correctness purposes. Lastly, implications for authors and learners of academic writing and for researchers of sentiment analysis are also discussed.

Well but Unwanted: The Subtle Backlash Against Prioritizing Mental Wellbeing at Work

Organizations are investing more into mental wellbeing initiatives than ever before, seeking to become more inclusive workplaces and combat rising employee stress. Yet 75% of employees still struggle with mental health and many hesitate to use these initiatives over fear of backlash. Our research suggests this fear is warranted, and that the nature of this backlash is particularly nuanced. Across 4 studies (N=2,107), we show that although displays of overt discrimination may be less common, employees who prioritize their mental wellbeing experience subtle forms of backlash, including social aversion (Study 2) and feedback withholding (Studies 1, 3). Although mental wellbeing prioritization violates the “ideal worker norm,” we demonstrate that political correctness norms (specifically concerns about appearing discriminatory) both lead evaluators to suppress overt backlash and simultaneously engage in subtle backlash (Study 4). Together, these results suggest that while prioritizing mental wellbeing may leave employees well, it may also lead them to be unwanted. We discuss the implications of this paradox for scholarship on social norms and wellbeing interventions in modern organizations.

SOCIO-PRAGMATIC POTENTIAL OF EUPHEMISMS IN ENGLISH

The article touches upon the issue of the socio-pragmatic potential of euphemisms in English. It has been determined that euphemisms are associated with pragmatic reasons including politeness, discretion, taboo, the desire to disguise the negative essence of certain phenomena of reality, increasing prestige, etc. The use of euphemisms is guided by the following principles of political correctness: the principle of observing interracial and interethnic tolerance; the principle of irrelevance of the profession designation to gender identity; the principle of social acceptability of word usage.

„Chcecie totalnej wolności słowa?” Kultura w Niemczech u progu lat dwudziestych (XXI wieku) wobec radykalizmu, wielokulturowości i konfliktów etnicznych. Próba rozpoznania problemów

This article attempts to present selected phenomena of contemporary German culture in the context of political radicalism, multiculturalism and ethnic conflicts. Starting with the criticism of the student protests of 1968 (using the example of the novel Örtlich betäubt by Günter Grass) and discourses on Europe in the early 1990s (Grass, Enzensberger), and ending with debates on freedom of expression, political correctness or “cancel culture” (Wallraff, Pirinçci, Nuhr, Eckhart), this article analyses the consequences of left- and right-wing radicalism, anti-Semitism and Islamism for literature and cabaret in Germany on selected examples.

Les langues « au centre » et les langues « périphériques » dans l’Union européenne multilingue : implications sur la formation des traducteurs et sur les traductions

The European Union is by definition a multilingual organization in which the official languages of all members are recognized equally. The translation system in this organization is highly developed. Political correctness wants to give the impression that every European citizen can communicate in his mother tongue without barriers or limits. However, practice shows that in many cases this principle does not correspond to reality. In this article the author shows, on the basis of quantitative and qualitative analysis of the working languages, which are offered by translator training programs belonging to the EMT (European Master’s in Translation) network, that there is a clear difference between the status of “central” languages, dominant in communication, and the so called “peripherals”, of less diffusion. This situation has an impact on the volume and number of translations, their direction, and, consequently, on the translators’ training.

The Work of Art in the Age of Political Correctness

This article sets to examine some of the impacts the notion of “political correctness” has on the art world today. It argues that what started as the noble attempts to compensate for the grievous history of racism by way of inclusive speech and affirmative action has, in the end, generated new forms of discrimination and closure. In this context, instead of pushing the boundaries of what is considered acceptable in social, moral or aesthetic terms, art is itself being pushed back within these boundaries and rendered inert and ingratiating.

“Forget History. Forget What You’ve Seen Before. Forget What You Think You Know”: Re/Establishing Space for People of Color in Otto Bathurst’s Robin Hood

This article discusses the representation of race in Otto Bathurst’s Robin Hood through an examination of Yahya, one of the pivotal figures of agitation for social reform in the film. It traces Yahya’s ancestry from his on-screen avatars to note a significant change that is displayed in the power dynamics between Yahya and Robin. Through this examination, the article will assert that dismissing the film’s commitment to diversity as “political correctness gone mad” not only fundamentally misunderstands what medievalism is and what it does, but also attempts to police Black bodies in a made-up past.

Transnational contextualisation: seeing the world from there, here and in-between

ABSTRACT This article discusses experiences harvested when communicating migration research from an academic position as media researcher, partly influenced by other positions. It discusses transnational literacy illustrated by the case of Afghanistan and Afghan refugee experiences, arguing for a more holistic contextual approach to the phenomenon of flight and all its processes. A critical human rights perspective in media research proves useful guidance to approaching marginalisation and the ‘silenced other’. This also entails a critical approach to methodological nationalism and media domestication, and ‘unlearning privilege as loss’. Furthermore, it discusses how researchers within certain fields (such as migration) may be associated with (or accused of) political correctness.

Narrating Intercultural Capital: Constructing Political Correctness, Negotiating Identity Capital, and Expanding Terrains of Possibility for Student Engagement

ABSTRACT How does identity capital influence student engagement in the classroom? This article examines the narratives of sixty-three first year undergraduate students enrolled in a cross-cultural communication course to provide a portrait of the ways students envision identity capital influences their ability and willingness to engage in meaningful dialogues. Through semi-structured interviews, students demonstrate the importance of real and perceived intercultural capital as a condition for engaging in intercultural dialogues. Through a lens grounded in political correctness and identity capital, student voices illuminate ways faculty can expand the terrains of possibilities for authentic intercultural communication, increase opportunities for the development of realistic cultural empathy, and enable the negotiation of intercultural capital that transcends cultural boundaries and allows for the continued exchange and accumulation of identity capital.