POSC 20203 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Illegal Immigration, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Bell Curve
Document Summary
What is political correctness: political correctness, as i will understand it, is the attempt to establish norms of speech. Author"s overall thesis: there are good reasons in favor of political correctness. Yet political correctness also comes with potential costs. We need to reflect seriously about the tradeoffs involved in policing potentially offensive speech and expression. Political correction"s legitimate ends : what"s good about political correctness, political correctness represents the evolution of public standards with the praiseworthy tendency to protect and promote the interests of historically oppressed groups. Conclusion: there are good reasons for maintaining collective default-norms that signal certain kinds of discussion out of bounds in the normal course of things (9). However, there may be costs associated with these default-norms as well. Then political correctness structures make vulnerable groups worse off, contrary to their aim: political correctness may sacrifice the objective interests of the vulnerable on the altar of sensitivity.
