Academic institutionalization of the New Left as a factor of forming collective identities in the USA

A. A. Kostikova; A. ­P. Segal; A. V. Smagar

doi:10.15372/PEMW20200309

Academic institutionalization of the New Left as a factor of forming collective identities in the USA

A. A. Kostikova, A. P. Segal, A. V. Smagar

https://doi.org/10.15372/PEMW20200309

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Abstract

The authors examine historical material devoted to the process of institutionalization of new academic disciplines in the USA in the 1960-90s to identify the factors of emerging relevant problems of identity politics in the USA. They consider the content of the theoretical apparatus of these disciplines and their political role in forming self-consciousness of American citizens. The article defines the basic concepts and reveals the problems appearing at the discourse of social justice. Particular attention is paid to the «left» (in the current perception) strategies of community fragmentation aimed to solve the historically developed problems of social injustice. The paper determines social genesis of discursive and narrative practices involved in the process of constructing new collective identities of the USA and «new» historical self-awareness; outlines the complex strategies of cultural identification and discursive mechanisms of social organization, which the perceptible functioning is articulated in the American community through the rhetoric of «the interests of discriminated groups». The author determine structural components of political narratives circulating in American public life; consider political correctness as a program that claims to structure subjectivity through linguistic unification. They conclude that the institutionalization of disciplines on the social history of minority and discriminated groups in the American higher education system during the period of New Left movement activity is a factor in nowadays polarization of the US public life. According to the authors, the left movement faces the need to re-evaluate its political and philosophical programs, but the question of the time of re-evaluation to be completed remains open.

Keywords

social project, social justice discourse, New Left, identity politics, narrative constructionism, narrative of antagonism,

About the Authors

A. A. Kostikova

Lomonosov Moscow State University
Russian Federation

Anna A. Kostikova – candidate of philosophical sciences, associate professor, the head of the Chair of Language Philosophy and Communication, Faculty of Philosophy, «Shuvalov» Corp.

1, Lenin Hills, Moscow, 119991

A. P. Segal

Lomonosov Moscow State University
Russian Federation

Alexander P. Segal – candidate of philosophical sciences, senior researcher, Chair of Language Philosophy and Communication, Faculty of Philosophy, «Shuvalov» Corp.

1, Lenin Hills, Moscow, 119 991

A. V. Smagar

Lomonosov Moscow State University
Russian Federation

Anton V. Smagar – graduate student, Chair of Language Philosophy and Communication, Faculty of Philosophy, "Shuvalov" Corp.

1, Lenin Hills, Moscow, 119991

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Supplementary files

For citation: Kostikova A.A., Segal A.., Smagar A.V. Academic institutionalization of the New Left as a factor of forming collective identities in the USA. Professional education in the modern world. 2020;10(3):3988-3997. https://doi.org/10.15372/PEMW20200309

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