I want to set the record straight on the appropriateness of using cultural Marxism and social justice interchangeably. Below is a list of thirty brief reasons why we not only can use the two terms interchangeably but, for clarity’s sake regarding the nature of social justice as presently promoted, we should do so. To fail to expose the true nature of social justice is to fail to speak the truth.
Additionally, it is worth noting that scholars like Peter W. Wood, President of the National Association of Scholars, uses the term cultural Marxist[1]to refer to Marxists and social justice advocates that support the 1619 Project.
- Both look to Karl Marx’s ideologies and the teachings of Max Horkheimer, Herbert Marcuse, and Antonio Gramsci, who were Neo-Marxists and founders of cultural Marxism
- Both advocate revolutionary and anarchist tactics
- Both agree classical Marxism failed to include the essential aspect of culture, hence the name cultural Marxism
- Both advocate socialism/communism
- Both are opposed to capitalism
- Both their views of justice conflict with biblical justice
- Both are connected to and employ critical theory
- Both believe the Marxian model can usher in utopia
- Both seek a redistribution of wealth and power by force to usher in a socialistic utopia
- Both divide the world into oppressors (whites and majorities) and the oppressed (blacks and minorities)
- Both are composed of a disparate group of minorities such as women, blacks, homosexuals, transgenders, and other minority groups who are said to be oppressed by their majority counterparts
- Both are advanced by favoring one group (the oppressed/minority/non-sinners) and punishing the other group (the oppressors/majority/sinners) through the redistribution of wealth and power
- Both advance a form of social determinism
- Both believe the majority is racist regardless of an individual’s belief, in contrast to biblical racism, which teaches that a person is racist if he views his ethnicity as inherently superior to another[2]
- Both believe the minority cannot be racists oppressors
- Both believe the majority (oppressors) must repent and be changed to usher in the utopia, but the minority (oppressed) do not need to repent or change
- Both advocate a clash between the oppressed (minorities) and the oppressor (majority)
- Both typically define majority groups as privileged and oppressive, while minority groups are labeled as underprivileged and oppressed
- Both fail to sufficiently distinguish between being an American and being white
- Both fail to distinguish between American values (which all can share and contribute to) and white values[3]
- Both promote identity politics identity measures status, merit, access to truth, and worth
- Both promote racial, sexual, group identity over our universal human identity[4]
- Both define people by their experience rather than their humanity
- Both diminish the place of personal responsibility and elevate group identity
- Both seek justice for one group by punishing another group even if individuals in the groups are not personally deserving
- Both promote disparity as indicative of racism/injustice
- Both are worldviews
- Virtually all speakers who seek to explain the most notable aspects of social justice (critical/conflict theory) refer back to Marxism and cultural Marxism
- Marx may generally be considered the first critical theorist
- Social justice is based on cultural Marxism and neo-Marxism
[1] Peter W. Wood, 1620 A Critical Response to the 1619 Project (New York: Encounter Books, 2020), 106-7.
[2] “A belief that race is the fundamental determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.” “Racism,” https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/racism accessed 3/4/21. See also “a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human racial groups determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one’s own race is superior and has the right to dominate others or that a particular racial group is inferior to the others.” “Racism,” https://www.dictionary.com/browse/racism?s=t, accessed 2/4/21. I reject that America today is systemically racist (also called structural or institutional racism), which is not to deny the existence of racism, even significantly so in some areas. Systemic, or structural racism, is “a policy, system of government, etc. that is associated with or originated in such a doctrine, and that favors members of the dominant racial or ethnic group, or has a neutral effect on their life experiences, while discriminating against or harming members of other groups, ultimately serving to preserve the social status, economic advantage, or political power of the dominant group.” “Racism,” https://www.dictionary.com/browse/racism?s=t, accessed 2/4/21.
[3] America was founded on a pioneering attitude of men and women, settled by those who broke from the most powerful empire, courageous men who went to war with the most powerful empire, encapsulated in sayings like Go West, young man. American values are accessible to anyone, which is undeniably demonstrated by people from all over the world coming to America and succeeding. Some of these values used to be more reflective of Christianity (marriage, family, and view of God), and included such things as meritocracy, hard work, no one owes me anything, personal responsibility, free will, and the inspiring words of our founding documents that all men are created equal.
[4] Crenshaw says, “We all can recognize the distinction between the claims ‘I am Black’ and the claim ‘I am a person who happens to be Black.’ ‘I am Black’ becomes not simply a statement of resistance, but also a positive discourse of self-identification . . . ‘I am a person who happens to be Black,’ on the other hand, achieves self-identification … by straining for a certain universality (in effect, ‘I am first a person’).”‘ Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics and Violence Against Women of Color,” Women, Gender & Research 2 (2006), 7–20, https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/734f/8b582b7d7bb375415d2975cb783c839e5e3c.pdf, accessed 2/4/21.
