Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity - And Why this Harms Everybody
By (Author) Helen Pluckrose
By (author) James Lindsay
Swift Press
Swift Press
20th July 2021
10th May 2021
United Kingdom
General
Non Fiction
306.0904
Paperback
352
Width 129mm, Height 198mm
Have you heard that language is violence and that science is sexist Or been told that being obese is healthy, that there is no such thing as biological sex, or that only white people can be racist Are you confused by these ideas, and do you wonder how they have managed so quickly to challenge the very logic of Western society
Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay document the evolution of the dogma behind these ideas, from its origins in French postmodernism to its refinement within activist academic fields. Today this dogma is recognisable as much by its effects, such as cancel culture and social-media pile-ons, as by its assertions, which are all too often taken as read: knowledge is a social construct; science and reason are tools of oppression; all human interactions are sites of oppressive power play; and language is dangerous. As they warn, the unchecked proliferation of these beliefs present a threat to liberal democracy.
While acknowledging the need to challenge the complacency of those who think a just society has been fully achieved, Pluckrose and Lindsay break down how often-radical activist scholarship does far more harm than good, not least to those marginalised communities it claims to champion.
Book of the Year - The Times
Book of the Year - Sunday Times
Helen Pluckrose is a liberal political and cultural writer and speaker. She is the editor of Areo Magazine. Helen lives in Essex, England. James Lindsay is a mathematician with a background in physics and founder of New Discourses (newdiscourses.com). James lives in Tennessee.