{"id":890,"date":"2014-02-14T07:38:00","date_gmt":"2014-02-14T07:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/02\/the-problem-of-social-justice-elitism.html"},"modified":"2014-02-14T07:38:00","modified_gmt":"2014-02-14T07:38:00","slug":"the-problem-of-social-justice-elitism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/02\/the-problem-of-social-justice-elitism.html","title":{"rendered":"The Problem of \u201cSocial Justice Elitism\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
A recent piece by Amer F. Ahmed outlines a phenomenon he calls\u00a0\u201csocial justice elitism.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0 Ahmed is the associate director of multi-ethnic student affairs at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.\u00a0He notes a tendency among certain students to \u201cout social-justice\u201d each other by denouncing the subtle prejudices of others.\u00a0Ahmed\u2019s essay is echoed by a popular discussion on the blogosphere about \u201csocial justice warriors\u201d or \u201cSJWs.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Urban Dictionary<\/a>\u00a0defines SJW as:<\/span><\/div>\n
A pejorative term for an individual who repeatedly and vehemently engages in arguments on social justice on the Internet, often in a shallow or not well-thought-out way, for the purpose of raising their own personal reputation<\/em>.<\/span><\/div>\n
It goes without saying that more must be done to promote social justice on college campuses and this is why I am glad that Ahmed is drawing attention to this problem.\u00a0As much as anti-intellectualism can be disguised as critical thinking, \u201csocial justice elitism\u201d can choke out sincere discussion about what a more just society might look like. This problem is especially germane to religious studies.<\/span><\/div>\n
The\u00a0\u201cSafi-Hughes Controversy of 2014\u201d<\/a>\u00a0demonstrates the need for a larger conversation about the academic study of religion and identity politics.\u00a0Undergraduate courses in religious studies can be a transformative environment in which students make a sincere effort to apprehend the experience of other polities.\u00a0 They can also become arenas in which the SJWs spar while other students (and even faculty) serve as intimidated spectators.\u00a0By taking the problem raised by Ahmed seriously, it may be possible to promote a more effective conversation about social justice.<\/span><\/div>\n
Read the rest here<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A recent piece by Amer F. Ahmed outlines a phenomenon he calls\u00a0\u201csocial justice elitism.\u201d\u00a0 Ahmed is the associate director of multi-ethnic student affairs at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.\u00a0He notes a tendency among certain students to \u201cout social-justice\u201d each other by denouncing the subtle prejudices of others.\u00a0Ahmed\u2019s essay is echoed by a popular discussion […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Problem of \u201cSocial Justice Elitism\u201d<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A recent piece by Amer F. 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