Political correctness: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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'''Political correctness''' (adjectivally '''politically correct'''; commonly abbreviated '''PC''') is a term used to describe language,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/politically-correct|title='politically correct' definition|website=[[Cambridge English Dictionary]]|access-date=14 March 2016|archive-date=6 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210406011704/https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/politically-correct|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/political_correctness|title=Definition of ''political correctness'' in English|publisher=[[Oxford Dictionaries (website)|Oxford Dictionaries]]|access-date=1 January 2017|archive-date=13 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190413091703/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/political_correctness}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title='Politically Correct' definition|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/politically%20correct|dictionary=[[Merriam-Webster]]|access-date=7 October 2017|archive-date=20 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211020073401/https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/politically%20correct|url-status=live}}</ref> policies,<ref name=Kohl>{{cite journal|last1=Kohl|first1=Herbert|title= Uncommon Differences: On Political Correctness, Core Curriculum and Democracy in Education|journal=[[The Lion and the Unicorn (journal)|The Lion and the Unicorn]]|date=1992|volume=16|issue=1|pages=1–16|doi=10.1353/uni.0.0216 |s2cid=145173687}}</ref> or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in society.<ref name="Gibson">{{cite news|last1=Gibson|first1=Caitlin|title=How 'politically correct' went from compliment to insult|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/how-politically-correct-went-from-compliment-to-insult/2016/01/13/b1cf5918-b61a-11e5-a76a-0b5145e8679a_story.html|access-date=7 October 2017|agency=[[The Washington Post]]|date=13 January 2016|archive-date=26 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210626145017/https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/how-politically-correct-went-from-compliment-to-insult/2016/01/13/b1cf5918-b61a-11e5-a76a-0b5145e8679a_story.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Florence">{{cite journal|last1=Florence|first1=Joshua|title=A Phrase in Flux: The History of Political Correctness|journal=[[Harvard Political Review]]|date=30 October 2015|url=http://harvardpolitics.com/united-states/phrase-flux-history-political-correctness/|access-date=7 October 2017|archive-date=22 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200822071043/https://harvardpolitics.com/united-states/phrase-flux-history-political-correctness/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Chow>{{cite news|last1=Chow|first1=Kat|title='Politically Correct': The Phrase Has Gone From Wisdom To Weapon|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2016/12/14/505324427/politically-correct-the-phrase-has-gone-from-wisdom-to-weapon|access-date=7 October 2017|publisher=[[National Public Radio]] ([[NPR]])|date=14 December 2016|archive-date=11 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211011171717/https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2016/12/14/505324427/politically-correct-the-phrase-has-gone-from-wisdom-to-weapon|url-status=live}}</ref> Since the late 1980s, the term has been used to describe a preference for [[inclusive language]] and avoidance of language or behavior that can be seen as [[Social exclusion|excluding]], marginalizing, or insulting to groups of people disadvantaged or discriminated against, particularly groups defined by ethnicity, sex, gender, or sexual orientation. In public discourse and the media,<ref name=Kohl/><ref name="Schultz-1993a"/><ref name=Friedman>{{cite book|last1=Friedman|first1=Marilyn|author-link1=Marilyn Friedman|last2=Narveson|first2=Jan|author-link2=Jan Narveson|title=Political correctness: for and against|date=1995|publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]]|location=[[Lanham, Maryland|Lanham]]|isbn=978-0847679867|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lnU9pMbHk0sC|access-date=31 October 2015|archive-date=12 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210412192444/https://books.google.com/books?id=lnU9pMbHk0sC|url-status=live}}</ref> the term is generally used as a [[pejorative]] with an implication that these policies are excessive or unwarranted.<ref name="Charles-Wartella"/><ref name=Hughes>{{cite book|last=Hughes|first=Geoffrey|title=Political Correctness: A History of Semantics and Culture|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TDi-l-bsBZoC|at=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Zzw9WabmmVwC&dq=%221975+-+Peter+Fuller%22&pg=PT50 1975 – Peter Fuller]|year=2011|publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]]|isbn=978-1444360295|chapter=Origins of the Phrase|access-date=19 November 2020|archive-date=12 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210412192446/https://books.google.com/books?id=TDi-l-bsBZoC|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Duignan>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=60GOfMRZCAAC|last1=Duignan|first1=Peter|last2=Gann|first2=L.H.|title=Political correctness|date=1995|publisher=[[Hoover Institution]] – [[Stanford University]]|location=Stanford, [Calif.]|isbn=978-0817937430|access-date=25 October 2015|archive-date=7 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211007171140/https://books.google.com/books?id=60GOfMRZCAAC|url-status=live}}</ref>

The phrase ''politically correct'' first appeared in the 1930s, when it was used to describe dogmatic adherence to ideology in [[authoritarian regimes]], such as [[Nazi Germany]] and [[Soviet Russia]].<ref name=Gibson /> Early usage of the term ''politically correct'' by [[leftists]] in the 1970s and 1980s was as self-critical [[satire]];<ref name="Schultz-1993a"/> usage was ironic, rather than a name for a serious [[political movement]].<ref name="Perry-1992a"/><ref name=SchultzPerry>Schultz citing Perry (1992) p. 16</ref><ref name="willis"/> It was considered an in-joke among leftists used to satirise those who were too rigid in their adherence to political [[orthodoxy]].<ref name=Hall/> The modern pejorative usage of the term emerged from [[conservative]] criticism of the [[New Left]] in the late 20th century, with many describing it as a form of [[censorship]].<ref name="Ford">{{cite thesis |last=Ford |first=Becky R. |date=2017 |title=An Empirical Test of the Effects of Political Correctness: Implications for Censorship, Self-Censorship, and Public Deliberation |publication-place=University of California, Santa Barbara |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/12f562b0#author |access-date=11 June 2022 |archive-date=11 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220611071318/https://escholarship.org/uc/item/12f562b0#author |url-status=live }}</ref>

Commentators on the [[political left in the United States]] contend that conservatives use the concept of political correctness to downplay and divert attention from substantively discriminatory behavior against disadvantaged groups.<ref name="Wilson"/><ref name="Messer–Davidow"/><ref name="mink">{{cite news|last1=Mink|first1=Eric|title=Trump's Political-Correctness Con Job|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-mink/trumps-political-correctn_b_12316240.html|work=[[Huffington Post]]|access-date=8 November 2016|date=6 October 2016|archive-date=19 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019083630/https://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-mink/trumps-political-correctn_b_12316240.html|url-status=live}}</ref> They also argue that the [[political right]] enforces its own forms of political correctness to suppress criticism of its favored constituencies and ideologies.<ref name="WilsonConservativeCorrectness">"Conservative Correctness" chapter, in Wilson, John. 1995. ''[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780822317135 The Myth of Political Correctness: The Conservative Attack on Higher Education].'' Durham, North Carolina: [[Duke University Press]]. p. 57.</ref><ref name=DonWilliams>{{cite web |url=http://www.mach2.com/williams/index.php?t=1&c=20060602120901 |title=Don Williams comments – Dixie Chicks Were Right |access-date=20 May 2017 |website=mach2.com |archive-date=2 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402132346/http://www.mach2.com/williams/index.php?t=1&c=20060602120901 }}</ref><ref name="Krugman">{{cite news|last=Krugman|first=Paul|author-link=Paul Krugman|title=The New Political Correctness|url=https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/26/the-new-political-correctness/|access-date=17 February 2013|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=26 May 2012|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130327082408/https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/26/the-new-political-correctness/|archive-date=27 March 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> In the United States, the term has played a major role in the [[culture war]] between [[Modern liberalism in the United States|liberals]] and [[Conservatism in the United States|conservatives]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/beautiful-minds/the-personality-of-political-correctness/|title=The Personality of Political Correctness; The idea of political correctness is central to the culture wars of American politics|last=Kaufman|first=Scott Barry|date=20 November 2016|work=[[Scientific American]]|access-date=2 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190927222216/https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/beautiful-minds/the-personality-of-political-correctness/|archive-date=27 September 2019}}</ref>

== History ==