Quote:
Originally Posted by itshotinvegas
Again, which identity are you using? Probably a person's self-awareness which can take on any number of definitions, as determined by the individual, based on any number of variables and experiences.
CRT says what that identity is, not the individual.
Here's my understanding of what is going on here. Critical theories typically start from the assumption that many of the basic categories of social life are constructed, eg gender, race, ethnicity, social class, religion, law, and so on. They then also assume that these categories are largely constructed so that they maintain the existing power relationships of society, since those in power have the most control over the understanding and definitions of these categories. Thus, a critical approach to understanding these categories will try to understand how basic social categories perpetuate the power and privilege of those in control.
Of course, different people have different ideas about who holds power. Marxists will claim that it is the holders of capital that have power, and so to understand why we have the social categories we have we should study how they benefit those who hold capital and keep working class people in line.
Critical feminists will emphasize the patriarchal nature of society, and how gender categories and understandings are primarily constructed to benefit men.
Critical race theorists believe that to understand the social categories of race we have to see how it benefits those with power - which, in the US, has historically been white people through various forms of white supremacy. This is not a denial that "white" has been defined in American society either in colorist terms, or through the one-drop rule, or as descent from Northern Europeans, etc., but rather is meant to explore
why those definitions have been adopted, i.e. because they preserve the privileges and benefits of white people in America.
This is not typically a matter of individual choice either. For instance, a black man cannot simply decide to not be black - if other people in society view him as black and treat him as such, then that identity is forced on him regardless of his own desires. This is where
socially party of "socially constructed" is relevant.