Self-criticism becomes performative ritual rather than operative change

Evidence

But this is the nub of the matter: that the surrogate should be applied seriously, that the self-criticism should be operative and “pitiless”—since its effectiveness lies precisely in its being pitiless. In reality it has turned out that self-criticism offers an opportunity for fine speeches and pointless declarations, and for nothing else; self-criticism has been “parliamentarised”. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 951

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘parliamentarised self-criticism’ concept connects to how later Islamophobia critiques treat official reckonings and diversity statements as ritual performances that substitute for structural change. — connects to: Willed self-correction can be carried out in bad faith, working and refusing simultaneously; Psychoanalysis now deepens the self-alienation it once diagnosed — Theodor W. Adorno, Minima Moralia: Reflections from…, 78; The critic’s critique of commodified art must begin as self-critique. — Fredric Jameson, Marxism and Form, 788 (+1 more)