<< How come 'the Left' has a worse record on race and gender when it comes
to its own organizational make-up, especially on the cultural front
such as journalism, than corporations or a much-reviled + much-hated
'academy'? What can be done to change this?>>
I think, IN PART, and I stress in part, the reasons come out of self- justification. Since those working on the left are generally working towards changing the system or combatting some sort of oppression (ostensibly), they can justify individual isms and discrimination. For instance, many marxists still believe that working class men can't oppress working class women. To wit, you get lefties like Wojtek who make disparaging remarks about prostitutes to illucidate disdain of mainstream television theorists. Why should someone thinking big thoughts actually take the real contradictions faced by working class women, on an individual basis, into account? (this was meant to be read sarcastically) But then, Sydney Biddle Barrows aside, most female prostitutes can't make enough money to live and raise their kids any other way.
Barbara Bergmann (who is a dyed in the wool old red baiter) in "In Defense of Affirmative Action" presents some interesting studies which point out that the same people who see group oppression frequently use minute differences to justify individual discrimination. The same group of people who see that large groups are discriminated against on the basis of race, gender, religion, sexual preference, etc. will also justify the superior pay and work treatment of individuals who are commonly in powerful positions. e.g., when comparing the work, skill, and educational backgroups of individual men and women in the same job, people who recognized group discrimination, agreed with the minute justifications put forth to pay individual men more in every situation. So if a woman and a man have the same skill set, experience, education, but the woman has a few months less on the job, in each case, this was used to justify the much higher pay treatment of male employees. A similar experiment was performed with car sales. Cross sectionally, white men buyers universally paid less than minorities or women. In short, it's very easy to discriminate on an individual basis.
maggie coleman mscoleman at aol.com