Politics Of Recognition

2 Pages 460 Words

(Social and Moral Perspectives on Contemporary Issues)
“The Politics of Recognition”

When discussing the topic of recognition one must first define their fundamentals and defining characteristics. Charles Taylor says that “Our identity is partly shaped by recognition or its absence, often by the misrecognition of others, and so a person or group of people can suffer real damage, real distortion, if the people or society around them mirror back to them a confining or demeaning or contemptible picture of themselves.” In summarizing Charles Taylor’s “The Politics of Recognition” we must break it down into little pieces and examine not only his main points but the thread that holds it together. There are four main points that Taylor focuses on in the politics of recognition and they are; Dignity, Recognition/Misrecognition, monologic/dialogic, and authenticity.
Recognition/misrecognition and dignity are topics that have been discussed many times over according to Taylor. It has been linked with identity where its latter term designates something like a person’s understanding of who they are. “It can inflict harm; can be a form of oppression, imprisoning someone in a false, distorted, and reduced mode of being.” People have internalized their own inferiority in which doing so has caused them to build obstacles. Recognition in many cases is not properly examined. One example in which misrecognition has caused problems is with in the black community. An analogous points out that the “white society has for generations projected a demeaning image of them, which some of them have been unable to resist adopting. Their own self-depreciation, on this view, becomes one of the most potent instruments of their own oppression.” Within these perspectives, misrecognition has shown a lack of respect, and also caused a grievous wound, saddling its victims with a crippling self-hatred.
The ideal of authenticity dates back to...