The ‘be yourself’ mandate disadvantages those outside privileged attributes

Evidence

Advising everyone to “be yourself” is therefore unfair as a broad mandate in a world still marked by bias: not everyone is born into a set of privileged attributes and behaviors. The requirement to stay “detached” from the status process rewards elites and punishes non-elites. Before status-disadvantaged individuals can be themselves, they must band together to open a path toward upward mobility. This is the logic behind identity politics, where individuals sharing demographic characteristics unite to raise the status levels associated with their defining trait. — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 287

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to ch4’s claim that norms persist only while conformity benefits outweigh deviance rewards. — connects to: The authenticity ideal structurally favors the already high-status — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 275; Social identity theory underestimates how readily disadvantaged groups justify their own oppression — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2961; Rights-based inclusion admits others only insofar as they resemble the dominator — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 646 (+3 more)
• recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source

Broader Connections

• Social identity theory underestimates how readily disadvantaged groups justify their own oppression #corroborates (0.82) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2961