Civil Disobedience and the Politics of Identity: When We Should Not Get Along PDF
Preview Civil Disobedience and the Politics of Identity: When We Should Not Get Along
Civil Disobedience and the Politics of Identity This page intentionally left blank Civil Disobedience and the Politics of Identity When We Should Not Get Along ByJasonD. Hill civildisobedienceandthepoliticsofidentity Copyright©JasonD.Hill2013. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2013 978-1-137-33063-5 Allrightsreserved. Firstpublishedin2013by PALGRAVEMACMILLAN® intheUnitedStates—adivisionofSt.Martin’sPressLLC, 175FifthAvenue,NewYork,NY10010. WherethisbookisdistributedintheUK,EuropeandtherestoftheWorld, thisisbyPalgraveMacmillan,adivisionofMacmillanPublishersLimited, registeredinEngland,companynumber785998,ofHoundmills, Basingstoke,HampshireRG216XS. PalgraveMacmillanistheglobalacademicimprintoftheabove companiesandhascompaniesandrepresentativesthroughouttheworld. Palgrave®andMacmillan®areregisteredtrademarksintheUnited States,theUnitedKingdom,Europeandothercountries. ISBN 978-1-349-46114-1 ISBN 978-1-137-35031-2 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9781137350312 LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationDataisavailablefromthe LibraryofCongress. AcataloguerecordofthebookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. DesignbyIntegraSoftwareServices Firstedition:July2013 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Formymother,DianeHill,foralwaysbelievinginme IntheEnd,wewillremembernotthewordsofourenemies,butthesilenceof ourfriends —MartinLutherKing,Jr. Contents Preface ix Acknowledgments xix 1 Introduction:WhyWeShouldTrytoGetAlongBeforeNot GettingAlong—MoralClarity,Cosmopolitanismandthe NatureofMoralDisagreements 1 2 LeaveMyGenitalsAlone:Same-SexMarriageandtheNature ofMoralValues 17 3 HidingfromHumanity:TheBurka,theFaceandthe AnnihilationofHumanIdentity 53 4 Anti-Assimilationism,Xenophobia,Misanthropyandthe LogicofContagion 87 5 MulticulturalismandItsCollusionwithRacialandEthnic Apartheid 117 6 EducationalMulticulturalismandEpistemological Counterculturalism:TowardaMoralDeratificationofTheir Agenda(PartII) 149 Epilogue 177 Notes 181 Bibliography 195 Index 199 This page intentionally left blank Preface This book, written in the spirit of a cosmopolitan social democrat, is a political and moral manifesto that tackles a simple question: When should we upset civic harmony and social cohesion in the name of a higher social justice?Itisanattempttoprovidethecriteriaforwhentodojustthat. Somewrongsaresowrongthatwhentheyarecommittedwebreakwith rules of social respectability and the unquestioned decorous worldview that makesuchwrongspartofestablishedtradition.Manyofthesesocialillsthat Ihaveidentifiedinthisbookhavegonerelativelyunnoticedbecausetheyhave beenmainstreamedintooursocietyasmores,normsandevenconventional modesoflivingintheworld.IhaveidentifiedwhatIbelievetobeegregious socialmaladies(committedinthenameofcultureandculturalauthenticity) andofferedacosmopolitanpoliticalsolutiontothem. Ihavetakenthelibertyofapplyinggreatinterpretationallatitudeinbroad- eningourunderstandingofwhatcivildisobedienceis.Ihavedecoupledthe conceptfromitshistoricalunderpinningstodenotesomethingmuchbroader andempiricallyaccurate.Whenweaskourselveswhatexactlyiscivilsociety we come to understand that it is much more than just a society governed byformallawsthatvouchsafeforusourrightsandliberties;norisitonein which we simply order institutions along lines of fairness and justice. Civil society is also the one that, by default or by deliberate intention, socializes us according to various mores, norms, customs, protocols conventions and socialattitudes.Civilsocietyissocietythatshapesourmoralattitudestoward our fellow compatriots and toward strangers; it influences how we view the socialarrangementsamongourfellowhumanbeingsalongvectorsofethnic- ity, race, class, sexual orientation and gender. When we hold views that are filteredthroughmoralfilterssuchas,say,personsofthesamesexshouldnot beallowedtomarry,orthatpersonsoughttopreservetheirethnicitytothe point of preventing their identities to be affected by outsiders, or that reli- giousmoresshouldtrumpbodilyintegrityandsexequality,weare,ineffect, allowingourmoralconscienceandconsciousnesstobedominatedanddeeply
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