What is Respectability Politics?
In US politics, respectability politics is a common approach
to social justice that minimizes difference or "bad behavior" in
order to appeal to the majority group.
Respectability politics is a school of thought that uses
respectability narratives”or examples of marginalized people who adhere to the
majority's code of conduct”to effect social change. Respectability politics
seeks to reduce perceived differences between the majority and marginalized
groups, as well as to erase perceived "bad behavior" by marginalized
groups. While respectability politics can bring about meaningful change, it
ultimately harms underprivileged people by enforcing the dominant culture,
erasing cultural uniqueness, and ignoring struggles.
Examples of Respectability Politics
Throughout US history, many political figures have used
respectability politics to effect change for a variety of demographics,
including:
African Americans: The civil rights movement in the United
States of America has long grappled with Black respectability politics (dating
back to W.E.B. Du Bois's work The Soul of Black Folks) as a means of addressing
systemic racism and encouraging support for Black people in the country. When
Barack Obama ran for President of the United States, many Democratic
politicians used respectability politics to minimize his perceived difference
from white people's culture and encourage white voters to vote for him. Following
President Obama's election, politicians portrayed him as an example of
"Black power" or the "Black elite," implying that he should
serve as a role model for the Black community, particularly for Black youth and
Black students, by modeling "good manners," or stereotypically white
behaviors.
Dreamers: Many activists working for the rights of young
undocumented immigrants, also known as Dreamers, use respectability politics by
disseminating images of Dreamers wearing graduation caps and gowns. This
minimizes perceived "bad behavior" or negative stereotypes of
Dreamers while emphasizing "elite" individuals to imply they are
similar to the majority and thus deserve rights.
The LGBTQ+ community: During the Supreme Court's decision on
same-sex marriage, many LGBT activists downplayed the community's distinctive
features, arguing that all LGBTQ+ couples shared the same family values as
mainstream straight families.
The Origin of Respectability Politics
Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, an African American studies
researcher, coined the phrase "politics of respectability" in 1993.
Righteous Discontent: The Women's Movement in the Black Baptist Church,
1880-1920, her book, identified respectability politics as a means for
marginalized groups to gain favor and equal rights in mainstream society.
4 Issues with Political Respectability
Respectability politics causes a number of issues in
activism:
1. Enforces the dominant culture: At its worst,
respectability politics works to enforce the dominant group's rules and
expectations, encouraging (or requiring) marginalized groups to abide by the
majority group's status quo before they can become acceptable or accepted.
2. Erases cultural differences: Respectability politics
ignores cultural expectations or background by implying that all cultures share
the same ideals. Respectability politics, as a result, tends to erase the
unique characteristics and experiences of some groups and relies on the fallacy
that only people like you deserve rights and respect.
3. Ignores struggles: Respectability politics ignores the
struggles and hardships that other members of the group, particularly lower and
middle-class members, face by focusing on a small group of "elite"
individuals within a marginalized group. This can lead to a lack of support or
policies to help other group members' well-being and mental health, and it
reinforces the myth that because a few people were able to "rise
above" their circumstances, all members could do so as well.
4. Ignores intersectionality: In favor of a simple,
streamlined respectability narrative, many arguments based on respectability
politics ignore the unique intersectionality of marginalized groups. Many
arguments in women's history that used respectability politics, for example,
emphasized the strength of white women in white America; this tactic ignores
other marginalized women, such as the intersection of Black feminism, which
addresses both sexism and racial inequality against people of color.