#RESPECTABILITY POLITICS DEFINITION FULL#

#RESPECTABILITY POLITICS DEFINITION FULL#

It is also an approach that puts the full burden for change on the already-marginalized, and is thus understandably galling. ItвЂ™s a pragmatic choice, then, an adaptive strategy to help live in вЂњthe real world.вЂќ As Swerdlick writes, вЂњthatвЂ™s how it is.вЂќДЄt the same time, the usefulness of this approach is limited and we need to recognize it for the coping mechanism that it is. Adjusting your behavior and dress can be a way of individuating yourself in the eyes of others and can help lower their anxiety. One way to disarm and counteract stereotypes is to expose people to counter-stereotypic examples, both in real life and in the culture they consume. Respectability politicsвЂ™ appeal is understandable.

And if I had to guess, the lesson that this principal wants young black men to absorb isnвЂ™t that they should aspire to be dandies but that even if many of them will go on to become coders, artists, entrepreneurs or professors-fields where there might be some flex in the dress code-most of them, like most working people, will wind up starting careers in places-white collar or blue collar-where the dress codes typically show them less latitude. Earlier this week, in response to an e-mailer asking about an African American principal who spends a lot more time advising his black male students to dress well than he does encouraging them to get good grades, JenГ©e Desmond-Harris wrote: Recently, the issue has surfaced again on The Root in what is shaping up to be a pretty interesting debate. The most high profile and controversial voicing of this viewpoint was probably Don LemonвЂ™s list of five steps black men could takeВ to be more respectable, a laundry list made out of the usual pull-up-your-pants type complaints that Jay Smooth responds to pretty deftly here. As a quick google search will tell you, there is more than a little pushback out there on the internet against вЂњrespectability politics.вЂќ вЂќRespectability PoliticsвЂќ is the broad catch-all name given to the belief that if only a marginalized group (black men and boys, say) behaved better in public and presented a better image to the outside world, their lot in life would improve.

Respectability politics definition