Title: Marginalization - New Discourses
Headings: Marginalization
Marginalization
Social Justice Usage
New Discourses Commentary
Related Terms
Languages

Content: New Discourses Commentary
There’s nothing wrong with the above definitions for marginalization, taken from Social Justice glossaries, as they are written. What’s wrong with them, and the understanding of the concept from within Social Justice, are the theoretical assumptions about how, when, where, and why marginalization occurs, which all necessarily proceed from Theory, even when Theory is presumptive, paranoid, delusional, or flatly wrong about what is going on. Theory generally presumes marginalization is either far more influential or far more unjust (or both) than it is in reality. In particular, Theory assumes that marginalization is systemic and ultimately rooted in mattes of identity, such as race, sex, gender, sexuality, and so on. That is, Social Justice Theory assumes that society is socially constructed in such a way that members of dominant groups (like white, male, masculine, straight, and so on) have built the system so that it excludes and oppresses members of marginalized groups (like people of color, women, femininity, homosexuals, and so on), their knowledge (s), and their “ ways of knowing .” These social constructions are deemed to be real, permanent, and unjust and in need of disruption, which can only be adequately achieved through a social revolution that remakes the system in a new way without oppression. Members of marginalized groups are considered in need of protection under Social Justice Theory, usually through programs such as diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice. Members of putatively marginalized groups who do not claim to experience or suffer from their alleged oppression are dismissed as inauthentic and likely to be suffering from some internalized racism, sexism, or normativity (see also, false consciousness, consciousness raising, critical consciousness, internalized racism, internalized oppression, internalized sexism, internalized ableism, and internalized misogyny ), or acting cynically in pursuit of some kind of reward from the dominant power structure in society (see also, acting white, patriarchal reward, male approval; and neoliberal reward ). This has the effect of ensuring that the marginalized can only speak from and into Theory, turning them into tokenistic props for an abstract endeavor that may not represent them, their feelings, or their interests (see also, hegemony ).