Critical Theory Today - Critical Analysis - Research Paper Example

Hence each individual has a difference story to tell especially if we belong to different groups. The reason why group membership is important to Delgado is because primarily two kinds of groups exist, the In-Group and the Out-Group. The In-group is loosely defined as mainstream society but more importantly, the in-group is the group in power and the group that runs the show. Consequently, the out-group is the group that is marginalized from mainstream society as well as the group that faces the brunt of social discrimination and is often subject to patterns of social hegemony and oppression (Crenshaw et al.). Delgado’s work on the Homo-Narran was a huge achievement for not only critical race theorist but postmodernist as well.

He helped define how humans act on others. While postmodernist such a Foucault believes that we act on ideologies, Delgado helped define where ideologies develop and thus how we deconstruct them (Crenshaw et al.). This sort of social stratification is seen in modern America today, as the media portrays the boundaries of the in-group through its idealization of “what is cool”. This means that individuals who do fit the criteria of cool are marginalized and pushed to the boundaries of the social sphere.

To summarize the main concepts or Critical race theory, there are three main characteristics. First, that racism is ordinary, not aberrational (“normal science”), the usual way society functions, the frequent, everyday experience of most people of color (Crenshaw et al.). Second, most would concur that our system of white-over-color ascendancy serves important purposes, both psychological and material. The first feature, ordinariness, means that racism is difficult to cure or redress. Color-blind, or “formal”, conceptions of equality, expressed in rules that insist only on treatment that is the same across the board can thus remedy only the most blatant forms of discrimination such as mortgage redlining or the refusal to hire a black Ph.D. rather than a white high school dropout (Crenshaw et al.). The second feature, sometimes called “interest convergence” or “material determinism”, adds a further dimension.

Because racism advances the interests of both white elites and working-class people, large segments of society have little incentive to eradicate it. Consider Derrick Bell’s proposal that Brown v. Board of Education, considered a great triumph of civil rights litigation, may have resulted more from the self-interest of elite whites than a desire to help blacks (Crenshaw et al.). Lastly, the third theme of critical race theory, the “social construction” thesis, holds that race and races are products of social thought and relations.

Not objective, inherent, or fixed, they correspond to no biological or genetic reality; rather, races are categories that society invents, manipulates, or retires when convenient. People with common origins share certain physical traits,