[lbo-talk] Michaels, Against Diversity

[Chris Maisano]

Alan says: "can you tell me how making the argument the way he makes it - collapsing all racial politics or class-work for minority community into neoliberal diversity..."
 
I think you're missing WBM's point here. I could be wrong, but I don't think he ever really makes the claim that any kind of political action to address racial/gender/sexual discrimination is automatically and inherently the same thing as neoliberal diversity or that it's bad in some fashion. Both he and Reed freely and repeatedly affirm their support for initiatives to beat back identity-based oppression (i.e. legalization of gay marriage, etc.). What they both try to argue is that the concept of, say, racism isn't necessarily effective in explaining why or how people of color continue to suffer from exploitation, and even if it was, it's still more politically effective to focus on winning universal social programs. Further, if gains toward reducing racism, sexism, etc. occur on a terrain of widening economic inequality, they don't really contribute toward building an effective left politics but reinforce the dominance of capitalism (which

 again, is not to say that such gains are inherently bad). While I happen to think that this is largely right, one could certainly make an argument against this reasoning. But there's really nothing in it that should inspire the kinds of opprobrium being heaped on WBM. Or at least that's how it seems to me.