Publications
Malloy, Tamar "Reconceiving Recognition: Towards a Cumulative Politics of Recognition.” The Journal of Political Philosophy, Vol. 22, No. 4 (Dec. 2014) 416-437.
Book Manuscript
Disciplinary Respectability
Marginalized groups’ adoption of the politics of respectability has long been intended as an assertion of humanity, dignity, and self-determination. With disciplinary respectability, dominant groups have flipped that script, using non-compliance with respectability norms as a justification for misrecognition and exclusion. This manuscript defines disciplinary respectability and its mechanisms. Then, using case studies, it illustrates the ways that disciplinary respectability is enshrined in U.S. laws, institutional policies, and social norms. First, schools’ use of disciplinary respectability normalizes the punishment and exclusion of students on the basis of their performance of respectability, with potentially chilling effects on democratic participation—and, an original dataset shows, a disproportionate effect on minoritized students. Second, U.S. anti-discrimination lawsuits use disciplinary respectability to circumvent identity-based legal protections, thereby maintaining control over employees’ performance and experience of their identities. Third, an analysis of compulsory sterilization programs demonstrates how respectability norms have been used to delimit literal, and therefore cultural, reproduction. Fourthly, HIV/AIDS activism gives an example of the feasibility and potential of an efficacious, respect-worthy, disrespectable politics. Finally, I conclude with an examination of the relationship between respectability and respect, arguing that we can set respectability aside without eschewing important experiences of mutual respect. Through these cases, the project contends that disciplinary respectability masks and reproduces prejudice, harms marginalized groups and group members, facilitates ongoing inequities, and conceals systemic oppression.
Marginalized groups’ adoption of the politics of respectability has long been intended as an assertion of humanity, dignity, and self-determination. With disciplinary respectability, dominant groups have flipped that script, using non-compliance with respectability norms as a justification for misrecognition and exclusion. This manuscript defines disciplinary respectability and its mechanisms. Then, using case studies, it illustrates the ways that disciplinary respectability is enshrined in U.S. laws, institutional policies, and social norms. First, schools’ use of disciplinary respectability normalizes the punishment and exclusion of students on the basis of their performance of respectability, with potentially chilling effects on democratic participation—and, an original dataset shows, a disproportionate effect on minoritized students. Second, U.S. anti-discrimination lawsuits use disciplinary respectability to circumvent identity-based legal protections, thereby maintaining control over employees’ performance and experience of their identities. Third, an analysis of compulsory sterilization programs demonstrates how respectability norms have been used to delimit literal, and therefore cultural, reproduction. Fourthly, HIV/AIDS activism gives an example of the feasibility and potential of an efficacious, respect-worthy, disrespectable politics. Finally, I conclude with an examination of the relationship between respectability and respect, arguing that we can set respectability aside without eschewing important experiences of mutual respect. Through these cases, the project contends that disciplinary respectability masks and reproduces prejudice, harms marginalized groups and group members, facilitates ongoing inequities, and conceals systemic oppression.
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