Political Correctness in Context: The PC Controversy in America

Political Correctness in Context: The PC Controversy in America
Author: Annette Gomis van Heteren
Publisher: Universidad Almería
Total Pages: 162
Release: 1997-01-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9788482400839

In this book the recent phenomenon of political correctness or PC is studied in the American context in which it arose with a brief section devoted to its British press coverage. The author examines the question from the point of view of an outsider and one who moreover lives in continental Europe, and consequently her perspective aims to be as far-reaching as possible, in contrast to most of the studies of PC so far. The scope of the book discusses the background of PC and manifestations of the different aspects that make up the so-called PC debate, only one of which is the canon debate. Annette Gomis has an Honours degree in Modern Languages from Trinity College Dublin, and a degree in Modern Languages from the University or Valencia. She also has an MSc. in Theaching English from the University of Aston and a Ph.D.in English from the University of Granada. She is currently a member of the Dpeartment of French, English and German at the University of Almería.

Safe Enough Spaces

Safe Enough Spaces
Author: Michael S. Roth
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 165
Release: 2019-08-20
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0300248725

From the president of Wesleyan University, a compassionate and provocative manifesto on the crises confronting higher education In this bracing book, Michael S. Roth stakes out a pragmatist path through the thicket of issues facing colleges today to carry out the mission of higher education. With great empathy, candor, subtlety, and insight, Roth offers a sane approach to the noisy debates surrounding affirmative action, political correctness, and free speech, urging us to envision college as a space in which students are empowered to engage with criticism and with a variety of ideas. Countering the increasing cynical dismissal—from both liberals and conservatives—of the traditional core values of higher education, this book champions the merits of different diversities, including intellectual diversity, with a timely call for universities to embrace boldness, rigor, and practical idealism.

On the Translation of Swearing into Spanish

On the Translation of Swearing into Spanish
Author: Betlem Soler Pardo
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2015-06-18
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1443879150

Audiovisual translation has attracted the attention of many researchers in the years since it became recognised as an academic discipline with an established theory of translation. For its part, cinema is one of today’s most powerful and influential media, and the vast number of US films translated for Spanish audiences merits particular academic attention. This book presents an analysis of the insults from seven films directed by the North American filmmaker Quentin Tarantino – Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Four Rooms, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill (vols. I and II), Death Proof, and Inglourious Basterds – and how these insults have been translated from English into Spanish. One of the main reasons for building a corpus of this nature was to document the way Tarantino’s work is dubbed, and, using concrete examples, to describe the reality of translation and provide linguistic material with which to study dubbing, the most widespread translation modality in Spain. In an analysis of this nature, Tarantino’s films offer an interesting opportunity from a social perspective because of the exceptional number of insults they contain: 1526 insults have been recorded, classified and analysed in the preparation for this book. The magnitude of this figure is evidence of Tarantino’s constant use of swearwords, regardless of what his audiences might think, and whether or not they might sometimes prefer not to hear such a steady stream of foul language. Furthermore, his popularity has been achieved precisely because he refuses to allow distribution companies to alter his dialogues in any way, or modify the violence of his scenes, making Tarantino’s films of particular interest to the reader.

Politics and the English Language

Politics and the English Language
Author: George Orwell
Publisher: Renard Press Ltd
Total Pages:
Release: 2021-01-01
Genre: Literary Collections
ISBN: 1913724271

George Orwell set out ‘to make political writing into an art’, and to a wide extent this aim shaped the future of English literature – his descriptions of authoritarian regimes helped to form a new vocabulary that is fundamental to understanding totalitarianism. While 1984 and Animal Farm are amongst the most popular classic novels in the English language, this new series of Orwell’s essays seeks to bring a wider selection of his writing on politics and literature to a new readership. In Politics and the English Language, the second in the Orwell’s Essays series, Orwell takes aim at the language used in politics, which, he says, ‘is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind’. In an age where the language used in politics is constantly under the microscope, Orwell’s Politics and the English Language is just as relevant today, and gives the reader a vital understanding of the tactics at play. 'A writer who can – and must – be rediscovered with every age.' — Irish Times

Political Correctness

Political Correctness
Author: Geoffrey Hughes
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 4
Release: 2011-09-13
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1444360299

Political Correctness “Geoffrey Hughes has brought together with great panache the very many manifestations of political correctness, both absurd and vicious, and shown how they express a single collective mind-set. His book establishes beyond doubt that there is such a phenomenon, that it has become dominant in our culture, and that it represents a growing tendency to censor public debate and to prevent people from questioning orthodoxies which we all know to be false.” Roger Scruton, American Enterprise Institute “What a joy this book is! Hughes’ study traces, with unflagging zest, the modern history of PC. Sumptuous in data, in judgment precise, this is the latest and fullest of Hughes’ series on the social history of language.” Walter Nash, Professor Emeritus, University of Nottingham Political Correctness is now an everyday phrase and part of the modern mindset. Everyone thinks they know what it means, but its own meaning constantly shifts. Its surprising origins have led to it becoming integrated into contemporary culture in ways that are both idealistic and ridiculous. Originally grounded in respect for difference and sensitivity to suffering, it has often become a distraction and even a silencer of genuine issues, provoking satire and parody. In this carefully researched, thought-provoking book, Geoffrey Hughes examines the trajectory of political correctness and its impact on public life. Exploring the origins, progress, content, and style of PC, Hughes’ journey leads us through authors as diverse as Chaucer, Shakespeare and Swift; Philip Larkin, David Mamet, and J.M. Coetzee; from nursery rhymes to Spike Lee films. Focusing on the historical, semantic, and cultural aspects of political correctness, this outstanding and unique work will intrigue anyone interested in this ongoing debate.

Society Against Itself

Society Against Itself
Author: Howard S. Schwartz
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 235
Release: 2018-05-08
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 0429919344

"Political correctness" involves much more than a restriction of speech. It represents a broad cultural transformation, a shift in the way people understand things and organize their lives; a change in the way meaning is made. The problem addressed in this book is that, for reasons the author explores, some ways of making "meaning" support the creation and maintenance of organization, while others do not. Organizations are cultural products and rely upon psychological roots that go very deep. The basic premise of this book is that organizations are made up of the rules, common understandings, and obligations that "the father" represents, and which are given meaning in the oedipal dynamic. In anti-oedipal psychology, however, they are seen as locuses of deprivation and structures of oppression. Anti-oedipal meaning, then, is geared toward the destruction of organization.

Universality and Identity Politics

Universality and Identity Politics
Author: Todd McGowan
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 127
Release: 2020-07-21
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0231552300

The great political ideas and movements of the modern world were founded on a promise of universal emancipation. But in recent decades, much of the Left has grown suspicious of such aspirations. Critics see the invocation of universality as a form of domination or a way of speaking for others, and have come to favor a politics of particularism—often derided as “identity politics.” Others, both centrists and conservatives, associate universalism with twentieth-century totalitarianism and hold that it is bound to lead to catastrophe. This book develops a new conception of universality that helps us rethink political thought and action. Todd McGowan argues that universals such as equality and freedom are not imposed on us. They emerge from our shared experience of their absence and our struggle to attain them. McGowan reconsiders the history of Nazism and Stalinism and reclaims the universalism of movements fighting racism, sexism, and homophobia. He demonstrates that the divide between Right and Left comes down to particularity versus universality. Despite the accusation of identity politics directed against leftists, every emancipatory political project is fundamentally a universal one—and the real proponents of identity politics are the right wing. Through a wide range of examples in contemporary politics, film, and history, Universality and Identity Politics offers an antidote to the impasses of identity and an inspiring vision of twenty-first-century collective struggle.

Political Correctness and Higher Education

Political Correctness and Higher Education
Author: John Lea
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2010-05-26
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1135895880

This book is the first major study of political correctness in post compulsory education to be published in the UK. For readers in the UK unfamiliar with the nature of the controversies in US college campuses this book offers a comprehensive assessment of the key themes, including who and what was behind key campaigns. For readers in the US unfamiliar with how this cultural export has faired in the UK, this book looks at the significant similarities and differences in the ways that the phrase has been used in both societies.

Retaking America

Retaking America
Author: Nick Adams
Publisher: Post Hill Press
Total Pages: 252
Release: 2016-02-23
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1618688510

Political correctness has ripped through America, turning life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness into lifelessness, suppression and the pursuit of mediocrity. Meanwhile, Europe is in its death throes, completely infected by the political correctness disease. Australian Nick Adams believes only America has the cure. But the race is on. Will America be able to save itself in time, and lead a stunning turnaround–or will it succumb to a European fate? With creativity, flair and his trademark wit, Australian Nick Adams deftly exposes why political correctness is behind every problem in America today, and why it is every American’s patriotic duty to defy politically correct mandates. He explains Americans face a momentous choice in this election year, and lays out a roadmap for an American renaissance.

Forbidden Words

Forbidden Words
Author: Keith Allan
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 254
Release: 2006-10-05
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1139457608

Many words and expressions are viewed as 'taboo', such as those used to describe sex, our bodies and their functions, and those used to insult other people. This 2006 book provides a fascinating insight into taboo language and its role in everyday life. It looks at the ways we use language to be polite or impolite, politically correct or offensive, depending on whether we are 'sweet-talking', 'straight-talking' or being deliberately rude. Using a range of colourful examples, it shows how we use language playfully and figuratively in order to swear, to insult, and also to be politically correct, and what our motivations are for doing so. It goes on to examine the differences between institutionalized censorship and the ways individuals censor their own language. Lively and revealing, Forbidden Words will fascinate anyone who is interested in how and why we use and avoid taboos in daily conversation.