MUSI 2540 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Cultural Identity, John Rawls
“What if Every Child had Access to Music Education from Birth?” Anita Collins on
TEDxCanberra
Consider…
● Is music education a primary resource (in Rawlsian terms)?
○ Primary resource - cannot live without. Top of the hierarchy of needs.
● If so, what are the reasons for this? In other words, why is music as important as food or
housing?
● What are the limitations of Collins’ perspective?
Cultural Recognition
● Cultural recognition can be an intangible advantage in certain spheres of social life.
○ Cultural recognition can supplant class difference.
● Cultural recognitiion concerns position affirmation of group identity and the valuing of
difference.
● To what cultural groups do you belong?
○ How important is group identity to you?
● Cultural identity can be strengthened by adversity
Difference is complex, in complex societies.
● Difference can mean superiority, inferiority, or different, but equivalent.
● Denial of difference, i.e. “difference blindness” can lead to injustice.
● Perceived difference can lead to mis/recognition: Cultural recognition is concerned with
shared experiences that distinguish group members, rather than their innate biological
distinctions. Cultural mis/recognition is the assignation of an identity to someone else
objectively deemed to be a member of that group.
● Tolerance of all forms of difference, without intervention, can lead to the inequality.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
What if every child had access to music education from birth? anita collins on. Cultural recognition can be an intangible advantage in certain spheres of social life. Cultural recognitiion concerns position affirmation of group identity and the valuing of difference. Cultural identity can be strengthened by adversity. Difference can mean superiority, inferiority, or different, but equivalent. Denial of difference, i. e. difference blindness can lead to injustice. Perceived difference can lead to mis/recognition: cultural recognition is concerned with shared experiences that distinguish group members, rather than their innate biological distinctions. Cultural mis/recognition is the assignation of an identity to someone else objectively deemed to be a member of that group.