Overemphasizing resistance can belittle the real costs of oppression

Evidence

So identity is not simply imposed. It is also chosen, and actively used, albeit within particular social contexts and constraints. Against dominant representations of “others” there is resistance. Within structures of dominance, there is agency. Analyzing resistance and agency repoliticizes relations between collectivities and draws attention to the central constituting factor of power in social relations. But it is possible to overemphasize resistance; to validate others through validating the lives of the colonized and exploited. Valorizing resistance may also have the unintended effect of belittling the enormous costs exacted in situations of unequal power, exclusion, and discrimination. While political legitimacy, gaining access or a hearing, may depend on being able to “call up” a constituency and authorize representations through appeals to authenticity, it provides the basis for policing the boundaries of authenticity. Here, some “insiders” may find themselves excluded because they are not considered to be authentic enough. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 119

But it is possible to overemphasize resistance; to validate others through validating the lives of the colonized and exploited. Valorizing resistance may also have the unintended effect of belittling the enormous costs exacted in situations of unequal power, exclusion, and discrimination. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 119

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to critiques of romanticizing subaltern/resistance agency, echoing Gayatri Spivak on the subaltern and standpoint theory debates noted elsewhere in this reading. — connects to: Repression fails to suppress mobilization and can even accelerate it — Charles Tilly, Regimes and Repertoires, 578
• SEED: Article angle: the authenticity trap — how appeals to identity authenticity, meant to empower the marginalized, end up policing and excluding insiders who aren’t ‘authentic enough’.
• corroborated: 4 independent passages support this claim — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 119