A Single Sentence Dictionary of Social Justice Terminology
This page:
- Introduction
- Dictionary
- Exposing The Motte and Bailey
- Usage Examples
Introduction
| Motte | Bailey |
| Woke /adjective A state of awareness achieved by intellectually sensitive individuals who have empathy for the plight of others, especially those suffering injustice and oppression. |
Woke /adjective 'Awake' to Western liberal society's invisible oppressive systems of power as prescribed by Critical Social Justice, and to the commitment needed to dismantle them; inculcated with the CSJ ('woke-ist') worldview; compliant with "critical consciousness". |
| Inclusive
/adjective Aiming to provide equal access to people who might otherwise be excluded; not limited to certain people. |
Inclusive
/adjective Censored or purged with the aim of providing access to people believed to be excluded by oppressive invisible systems of power; intolerant of self expression or persons possibly offensive to the "CSJ" viewpoint. |
2 Holder, R. W. (2008), "useful fool", Oxford Dictionary of Euphemisms, Oxford University Press, p. 394, ISBN 978-0199235179, "useful fool—a dupe of the Communists. Lenin's phrase for the shallow thinkers in the West whom the Communists manipulated. Also as useful idiot."
3 "'useful idiot': Meaning and origin" wordhistories.net "The phrase useful idiot designates a naive or credulous person who can be manipulated or exploited to advance a cause or political agenda."
Dictionary
Ally /noun
A "privileged" activist that is subordinate to and supportive of a "marginalized" group.
Sources and analysis
Anti-racism /noun
A commitment to constant reflection upon, and activism against any conscious or unconscious complicity with ever-present, invisible systems of racism.
▪ Anti-racist /noun Someone committed to constant reflection upon, and activism against any conscious or unconscious complicity with invisible systems of racism.
Sources and analysis
Authentic /adjective
Orthodox;
agrees with CSJ ('woke-ism').
Sources and analysis
Critical consciousness
The "woke" mindset;
both the worldview that sees western liberal society as invisible oppressive systems of power and the commitment to activism against phenomena that uphold them.
Sources and analysis
Critical Social Justice / CSJ ('woke-ism')
An ideology that pursues the installation and enforcement of an authoritarian interpretation of social justice derived from various critical theory interpretations, esp. 'socially constructed dynamics of systemic power'.
(Critical) Social Justice ('woke-ism') - Sources and analysis / Woke - Sources and analysis
Diversity /noun
The practice of selecting people of both a "CSJ" ('woke-ist') evaluated physical/cultural variety and "CSJ" viewpoint uniformity.
Sources and analysis
Decolonize /verb
Remove western Enlightenment rationalism, empiricism and their derived liberal principles to be replaced with other things, esp. "critical consciousness".
▪ Decoloniality /noun To take up a decolonizing mindset to make teaching into activism.
Sources and analysis
Dominant groups
Groups making others into a "marginalized" status; esp. white, heterosexual, male people.
Sources and analysis
Equity /noun
Redistribution;
adjusting for "authentic" disparities and historical injustices;
adjusting for ideologically selected disparities and historical injustices pursuant to the installation and enforcement of an authoritarian interpretation of social justice derived from various critical theory interpretations.
Sources and analysis
Inclusive /adjective
Censored; censorious; purged; orthodox;
intolerant of self expression or persons possibly offensive to the "CSJ" viewpoint.
▪ Inclusion /noun Censorship; censure; purges; exclusion of self expression or persons possibly offensive to the "CSJ" viewpoint.
Sources and analysis
Justice /noun
The "CSJ" utopia;
the ultimate ideal state of society where "problemetization" has dismantled all of western liberalism's invisible systems of power, "inclusivity" has purged all physical and intellectual spaces of the non orthodox, "diversity" has installed enforceable orthodoxy, and "equity" has redistributed resources to correct for all ideologically selected disparities and historical injustices.
▪ Just /adjective Upholds "CSJ" activism towards "Justice".
▪ Unjust /adjective Obstructs "CSJ" activism from "Justice".
Knowledge /noun pl. Knowledges
That which the powerful in a culture determine to be true.
Sources and analysis
Marginalization /noun
"Unjust" exclusion of "diverse" groups or "knowledges" by disparities manifested by invisible systems of power.
▪ Marginalize /verb Exclude "diverse" groups or "knowledges".
Sources and analysis
Lived experience
"CSJ" ('woke-ist') interpretation of experience;
an interpretation of observations or events through the lens of critical consciousness.
Sources and analysis
Oppressed groups
Groups made to be "marginalized" by invisible systems of power manifested by "dominant groups".
Sources and analysis
Positionality /noun
One's sum total of status as "privileged" or "oppressed".
Sources and analysis
Privilege /noun
The structural advantages of "dominant groups".
Sources and analysis
Problematize /verb
The "CSJ" ('woke-ist') project's mechanism to reject ideas and people;
make the invisible systems of power visible (and other 'moral failings').
▪ Problematic /adjective Unorthodox; "inauthentic";
That which (potentially) transgresses CSJ ('woke') moral boundaries;.
Sources and analysis
Queer /noun
Whatever is at odds with the normal, the legitimate, the dominant (particularly, but not limited to, matters of sex, gender, and sexuality).
Source - Saint Foucault: Towards a Gay Hagiography / Other sources and analysis
▪ Queer /verb Make change or to act in a way that is disruptive of a norm because liberal society expects conformity upon it. Sources and analysis
Race /noun
A social construction made by white people to serve their interests.
Sources and analysis
Safety /noun
The condition or feeling arising from the exclusion of ideas or people that may be perceived as offensive or transgressive to the "CSJ" worldview or to a member of a "CSJ" prescribed "marginalized" group.
▪ Safe-space /noun An environment provided for emotional recuperation for persons that have felt an impact of a perceived "CSJ" transgression and that forbids ideas or people that may counter, criticise or be offensive to them or the "CSJ" worldview.
Source 1 - Applebaum, Barbara. Being White, Being Good - Source 2 - 'Inclusion' analysis - Source 3 - Julia Friedman / Jonathan Haidt
Ways of knowing
Theories of what knowledge is that are not rigorously methodological epistemologies, incl. tradition, superstition, storytelling, emotion.
Sources and analysis
White supremacy
Liberal society's invisible system of racism that perpetuates selected disparities between races;
an attitude of witting or unwitting 'support' for, or comfort or 'complicity' with this invisible system; Eurocentrism
▪ White supremacist Someone not actively "anti-racist"; someone not sufficiently "woke" with respect to race (esp. if they are white).
Sources and analysis
Woke /adjective
'Awake' to western liberal society's invisible oppressive systems of power as prescribed by "CSJ", and to the commitment needed to dismantle them;
inculcated with the "CSJ" ('woke-ist') worldview;
compliant with "critical consciousness".
Sources and analysis
Woke-ism (Wokeness) /noun
See Critical Social Justice
Exposing The Motte And Bailey
Metaphilosophy. 36 (3): 295–320. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9973.2005.00370.x.
“ A Motte and Bailey castle is a medieval system of defence in which a stone tower on a mound (the Motte) is surrounded by an area of land (the Bailey) which in turn is encompassed by some sort of a barrier such as a ditch. Being dark and dank, the Motte is not a habitation of choice. The only reason for its existence is the desirability of the Bailey, which the combination of the Motte and ditch makes relatively easy to retain despite attack by marauders. When only lightly pressed, the ditch makes small numbers of attackers easy to defeat as they struggle across it: when heavily pressed the ditch is not defensible and so neither is the Bailey. Rather one retreats to the insalubrious but defensible, perhaps impregnable, Motte. Eventually the marauders give up, when one is well placed to reoccupy desirable land.
For my purposes the desirable but only lightly defensible territory of the Motte and Bailey castle, that is to say, the Bailey, represents a philosophical doctrine or position with similar properties: desirable to its proponent but only lightly defensible. The Motte is the defensible but undesired position to which one retreats when hard pressed.
[...]
An entire doctrine or theory may be a Motte and Bailey Doctrine just by virtue of having a central core of defensible but not terribly interesting or original doctrines surrounded by a region of exciting but only lightly defensible doctrines. Just as the medieval Motte was often constructed by the stonemasons art from stone in the surrounding land, the Motte of dull but defensible doctrines is often constructed by the use of the sophists art from the desired but indefensible doctrines lying within the ditch.
Diagnosis of a philosophical doctrine as being a Motte and Bailey Doctrine is invariably fatal. Once made it is relatively obvious to those familiar with the doctrine that the doctrine’s survival required a systematic vacillation between exploiting the desired territory and retreating to the Motte when pressed.
The dialectic between many refutations of specific postmodernist doctrines and the postmodernist defences correspond exactly to the dynamics of Motte and Bailey Doctrines. When pressed with refutation the postmodernists retreat to their Mottes, only to venture out and repossess the desired territory when the refutation is not in immediate evidence. ...”
Take the Motte, Bomb the Bailey
'Equity' Motte and Bailey exposed (2 min exert starts at 1:28:44)
Below I have given the kind of common constructions that are a Motte to the CSJ word doctrine Bailey.
Exposing the Motte and Bailey to an audience is an effective way of having it dismantled by them for themselves as explained in the essay extract above. To go further, or in a dialectic without an audience, the strategy likely to be effective against a Motte and Bailey is 'Motte charity and Bailey critique'; that is to take possession of the Motte (or at least its most defensible parts) as a reasonable person, and focus attention on the illiberal flaws of the Bailey; distractions and derailments away from the Bailey are inevitable but signifying they've been recognised helps re-rail the discourse onto the Bailey.
Motte |
Bailey |
| Anti-racism /noun The quality or practice of opposing racism. |
Anti-racism /noun A commitment to constant reflection upon, and activism against any conscious or unconscious complicity with ever-present, invisible systems of racism. |
| Authentic /noun Genuine; true to the nature or character of that which is referred. | Authentic /noun Compliant with orthodoxy; agrees with Critical Social Justice ideology ('woke-ism'). |
| Decolonize
/verb Review and widen understanding of all subject matter to a context beyond or previous to western colonial history. |
Decolonize
/verb Remove western Enlightenment rationalism, empiricism and their derived liberal principles to be replaced with other things, esp. "critical consciousness" compliancy. |
| Diversity
/noun The practice or quality of including or involving people from a range of different social and ethnic backgrounds and of different genders, sexual orientations, etc. |
Diversity
/noun The practice of selecting people of both - a variety of identities as prescribed by Critical Social Justice ideology and - a viewpoint uniformity on CSJ's worldview [that sees: (a) western liberal society as invisible oppressive systems of power and (b) the need to commit to activism against phenomena that uphold them]. |
| Equity /noun A fair and reasonable way of behaving towards people, so that everyone is treated in the same way; |
Equity /noun Adjusting for ideologically selected disparities and historical injustices pursuant to CSJ ideology; redistribution. |
| Inclusive
/adjective Aiming to provide equal access to people who might otherwise be excluded; not limited to certain people. |
Inclusive
/adjective Censored or purged with the aim of providing access to people believed to be "marginalized" by invisible systems of power; intolerant of self expression or persons possibly offensive to the "CSJ" viewpoint. |
| Justice /noun Fairness in the way people are dealt with; The maintenance or administration of what is fair or morally correct especially by the impartial adjustment of conflicting claims or the assignment of merited rewards or punishments. ▪ Just /adjective Fair or morally correct. ▪ Unjust /adjective Unfair or morally incorrect. |
Justice /noun The "CSJ" utopia; the ultimate ideal state of society where "problemetization" has dismantled all of western liberalism's invisible systems of power, "inclusivity" has purged all physical and intellectual spaces of the non orthodox, "diversity" has installed enforceable orthodoxy, and "equity" has redistributed resources to correct for all ideologically selected disparities and historical injustices. ▪ Just /adjective Upholds "CSJ" activism towards "Justice". ▪ Unjust /adjective Obstructs "CSJ" activism from "Justice". |
| Lived Experience Practical contact with and observation of facts or events over a long period or lifetime. |
Lived Experience An interpretation of observations or events through the lens of critical consciousness that sees western liberal society as invisible oppressive systems of power. |
|
Problematize
/verb |
Problematize
/verb |
| Queer /noun Any minority in the community under the rainbow flag seeking civil rights protections. |
Queer /noun Whatever is at odds with the normal, the legitimate, the dominant (particularly but not limited to matters of sex, gender, and sexuality). |
| Safety /noun The condition of being protected from danger, risk, or injury; the state in which you are not in danger or at risk |
Safety /noun The condition or feeling arising from the exclusion of ideas or people that may question, counter, criticise or be offensive to "CSJ" orthodoxy. |
| White supremacy /noun The belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. (NB this is a Motte because the claim that it is a widely understood definition is defensible) |
White supremacy /noun Liberal society's invisible systems of racism that perpetuate any selected disparities; an attitude of witting or unwitting 'support' for, or comfort or 'complicity' with this system, ie liberalism. |
| White supremacist /noun Someone that believes white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. |
White supremacist /noun Someone who is neither committed to activism against, nor 'awake' to any 'complicity' with liberal society's invisible systems of racism. |
| Woke /adjective A state of awareness achieved by intellectually sensitive individuals who have empathy for the plight of others, especially those suffering injustice and oppression. |
Woke /adjective 'Awake' to western liberal society's invisible oppressive systems of power as prescribed by Critical Social Justice, and to the commitment needed to dismantle them; inculcated with the CSJ ('woke-ist') worldview; compliant with "critical consciousness". |
Usage Examples
Suggested Wokespeak translation:
The reason for the purge is Aberdeen’s belief that ‘all British universities, all disciplines taught and researched in them have been historically influenced by a white supremacy and a concept of race to serve its interests’. So everything will be scrutinised for any suggestion that ‘particular perspectives, values and ideologies’ are ‘universal, superior, dominant, and complete’. That way of thinking, the document says, ‘renders invisible the historical and current role of people categorized by white people's concept of race in ‘the production of what white men have historically decided is true’. At the centre will be ‘students and staff from backgrounds historically affected by colonialism with interpretations of their personal experiences of disparate outcomes as the oppression of white people's invisible systems of power’.
Suggested Wokespeak translation:
“Occasionally, publishers approach us to consult Censorship Ambassadors when looking to reprint older titles,” says Strick. “While this is not the main focus for the Ambassadors – and we believe better authenticity is achieved through input at development stages – we do think those with an ideologically correct interpretation of their experience of identifying as part of a group oppressed by invisible systems of western liberalism can provide valuable input when it comes to reviewing language to help ensure that the stories can continue to be enjoyed by all children, so on occasions we work with publishers on classic texts.”
Suggested Wokespeak translation:
BOX 1
Author statement of structural advantage & systemic exclusion status
The authors of this article recognise that we hold varying degrees of systemic exclusion and structural advantages based on our social identities, professional roles, and educational training. Our uniform belief as a variety of orthodoxy prescribed marginalised identities is that the societal exclusion of our physical and cultural identities as well as our statuses as structurally advantaged or excluded influence the experiences we have as members of our disciplinary communities and inform how we conduct scholarship, including the writing of this piece. Our team of authors includes graduate students, staff, postdoctoral scholars, and assistant professors employed across historically white and minority-serving institutions in the USA and Canada, and several authors have personal ties to other countries. This group formed through interactions on Twitter, email invitations sent to EEB organisations, and connections from existing professional relationships concerning a shared interest in calling attention to the power of language and the ways it can cause harm. We recognise that our piece does not capture all perspectives or nuances about the impacts that scientific terminology and language can have in EEB. We also hold that language can create a sense of orthodoxy and the exclusion of ideas and people that may counter it, and hope that this piece sparks broader conversations about building censorship in the sciences through ideological considerations of scientific terminology.
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