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s donate create account log in contents move to sidebar hide top 1 conceptual background 2 history toggle history subsection 2 1 early to mid 20th century 2 2 1970s 2 3 1980s and 1990s 2 4 right wing political correctness 2 5 as a socio linguistic phenomenon 3 public perceptions and self censorship 4 usage toggle usage subsection 4 1 education 4 2 as a conspiracy theory 4 3 media 4 4 inclusive language 4 5 satirical use 4 6 science 5 see also 6 references 7 further reading toggle the table of contents political correctness 58 languages العربية asturianu boarisch беларуская български brezhoneg català کوردی čeština cymraeg dansk deutsch zazaki ελληνικά esperanto español eesti فارسی suomi français עברית hrvatski magyar հայերեն bahasa indonesia ido íslenska italiano 日本語 한국어 kurdî latina lëtzebuergesch lietuvių latviešu bahasa melayu nederlands norsk nynorsk norsk bokmål occitan polski پښتو português română русский srpskohrvatski српскохрватски simple english српски srpski svenska ไทย türkçe українська tiếng việt walon 吴语 閩南語 bân lâm gí 粵語 中文 edit links article talk english read edit view history tools tools move to sidebar hide actions read edit view history general what links here related changes upload file permanent link page information cite this page get shortened url switch to legacy parser print export download as pdf printable version in other projects wikimedia commons wikiquote wikidata item appearance move to sidebar hide from wikipedia the free encyclopedia measures to avoid offense or disadvantage politically correct and politically incorrect redirect here for other uses see politically correct disambiguation and politically incorrect disambiguation political correctness adjectivally politically correct commonly abbreviated to p c is a term used to describe language 1 2 3 policies 4 or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in society 5 6 7 since the late 1980s the term has been used to describe a preference for inclusive language and avoidance of language or behavior that can be seen as excluding marginalizing or insulting to groups of people disadvantaged or discriminated against particularly groups defined by ethnicity sex gender sexual orientation or disability in public discourse and the media 4 8 9 the term s use is generally pejorative with an implication that these policies are excessive or unwarranted 10 11 its use can also be humorous or ironic in nature the phrase politically correct first appeared in the 1930s when it was used to describe dogmatic adherence to ideology in totalitarian regimes such as nazi germany and soviet russia 5 early usage of the term politically correct by leftists in the 1970s and 1980s was as self critical satire 8 usage was ironic rather than a name for a serious political movement 12 13 14 it was considered an in joke among leftists used to satirise those who were too rigid in their adherence to political orthodoxy 15 the modern pejorative usage of the term emerged from conservative criticism of the new left in the late 20th century with many describing it as a form of censorship 16 commentators on the political left in the united states contend that conservatives use the concept of political correctness to downplay and divert attention from substantively discriminatory behavior against disadvantaged groups 17 18 19 they also argue that the political right enforces its own forms of political correctness to suppress criticism of its favored constituencies and ideologies 20 21 22 in the united states the term has played a major role in the culture war between liberals and conservatives 23 conceptual background edit several researchers describe political correctness not only as a political label but also as a practice of linguistic reform aimed at reducing exclusionary or derogatory expressions in public language often in line with egalitarian or inclusive norms 24 geoffrey hughes and norman fairclough both note that these language reforms are intertwined with broader social efforts to reshape public discourse and social relations 25 history edit early to mid 20th century edit main article party line politics in the early to mid 20th century the phrase politically correct was used to describe strict adherence to a range of ideological orthodoxies within politics in 1934 the new york times reported that nazi germany was granting reporting permits only to pure aryans whose opinions are politically correct 5 the term political correctness first appeared in marxist leninist vocabulary following the russian revolution of 1917 at that time it was used to describe strict adherence to the policies and principles of the communist party of the soviet union that is the party line 26 later in the united states the phrase came to be associated with accusations of dogmatism in debates between communists and socialists according to american educator herbert kohl writing about debates in new york in the late 1940s and early 1950s the term politically correct was used disparagingly to refer to someone whose loyalty to the cp line overrode compassion and led to bad politics it was used by socialists against communists and was meant to separate out socialists who believed in egalitarian moral ideas from dogmatic communists who would advocate and defend party positions regardless of their moral substance uncommon differences the lion and the unicorn 4 1970s edit main article new left in the 1970s the american new left began using the term politically correct 12 in the essay the black woman an anthology 1970 toni cade bambara said that a man cannot be politically correct and a male chauvinist too william safire records this as the first use in the typical modern sense 27 the term political correctness was believed to have been revived by the new left through familiarity in the west with mao s little red book in which mao stressed holding to the correct party line the term rapidly began to be used by the new left in an ironic or self deprecating sense 28 thereafter the term was often used as self critical satire debra l shultz said that throughout the 1970s and 1980s the new left feminists and progressives used their term politically correct ironically as a guard against their own orthodoxy in social change efforts 8 12 13 pc is used in the comic book merton of the movement by bobby london which was followed by the term ideologically sound in the comic strips of bart dickon 12 29 in her essay toward a feminist revolution 1992 ellen willis said in the early eighties when feminists used the term political correctness it was used to refer sarcastically to the anti pornography movement s efforts to define a feminist sexuality 14 stuart hall suggests one way in which the original use of the term may have developed into the modern one according to one version political correctness actually began as an in joke on the left radical students on american campuses acting out an ironic replay of the bad old days bs before the sixties when every revolutionary groupuscule had a party line about everything they would address some glaring examples of sexist or racist behaviour by their fellow students in imitation of the tone of voice of the red guards or cultural revolution commissar not very politically correct comrade 15 1980s and 1990s edit allan bloom s the closing of the american mind a book first published in 1987 30 heralded a debate about political correctness in american higher education in the 1980s and 1990s 8 31 32 professor of english literary and cultural studies at cmu jeffrey j williams wrote that the assault on political correctness that simmered through the reagan years gained bestsellerdom with bloom s closing of the american mind 33 according to z f gamson bloom s book attacked the faculty for political correctness 34 sociologist anthony platt says the campaign against political correctness was launched by bloom s book in 1987 35 an october 1990 new york times article by richard bernstein is credited with popularizing the term 36 37 38 39 40 at this time the term was mainly being used within academia across the country the term p c as it is commonly abbreviated is being heard more and more in debates over what should be taught at the universities 41 nexis citations in arcnews curnews reveal only seventy total citations in articles to political correctness for 1990 but one year later nexis records 1 532 citations with a steady increase to more than 7 000 citations by 1994 39 42 in may 1991 the new york times had a follow up article according to which the term was increasingly being used in a wider public arena what has come to be called political correctness a term that began to gain currency at the start of the academic year last fall has spread in recent months and has become the focus of an angry national debate mainly on campuses but also in the larger arenas of american life robert d mcfadden political correctness new bias test 1991 43 the previously obscure far left term became common currency in the lexicon of the conservative social and political challenges against progressive teaching methods and curriculum changes in the secondary schools and universities of the u s 10 44 policies behavior and speech codes that the speaker or the writer regarded as being the imposition of a liberal orthodoxy were described and criticized as politically correct 17 in may 1991 at a commencement ceremony for a graduating class of the university of michigan then u s president george h w bush used the term in his speech the notion of political correctness has ignited controversy across the land and although the movement arises from the laudable desire to sweep away the debris of racism and sexism and hatred it replaces old prejudice with new ones it declares certain topics off limits certain expression off limits even certain gestures off limits 45 46 47 after 1991 its use as a pejorative phrase became widespread amongst conservatives in the us 10 it became a key term encapsulating conservative concerns about the left in cultural and political debates extending beyond academia two articles on the topic in late 1990 in forbes and newsweek both used the term thought police in their headlines exemplifying the tone of the new usage but it was dinesh d souza s illiberal education the politics of race and sex on campus 1991 which captured the press s imagination 10 these trends were at least in part a response to multiculturalism and the rise of identity politics with movements such as feminism gay rights movements and ethnic minority movements that response received funding from conservative foundations and think tanks such as the john m olin foundation which funded several books such as d souza s 8 17 herbert kohl in 1992 commented that a number of neoconservatives who promoted the use of the term politically correct in the early 1990s were former communist party members and as a result familiar with the marxist use of the phrase he argued that in doing so they intended to insinuate that egalitarian democratic ideas are actually authoritarian orthodox and communist influenced when they oppose the right of people to be racist sexist and homophobic 4 during the 1990s conservative and right wing politicians think tanks and speakers adopted the phrase as a pejorative descriptor of their ideological enemies especially in the context of the culture wars about language and the content of public school curricula roger kimball in tenured radicals endorsed frederick crews s view that pc is best described as left eclecticism a term defined by kimball as any of a wide variety of anti establishment modes of thought from structuralism and poststructuralism deconstruction and lacanian analyst to feminist homosexual black and other patently political forms of criticism 48 33 liberal commentators have argued that the conservatives and reactionaries who used the term did so in an effort to divert political discussion away from the substantive matters of resolving societal discrimination 49 50 51 such as racial social class gender and legal inequality against people whom conservatives do not consider part of the social mainstream 8 18 52 jan narveson wrote that that phrase was born to live between scare quotes it suggests that the operative considerations in the area so called are merely political steamrolling the genuine reasons of principle for which we ought to be acting 9 commenting in 2001 one such british journalist 53 54 polly toynbee said the phrase is an empty right wing smear designed only to elevate its user 55 and in 2010 she wrote the phrase political correctness was born as a coded cover for all who still want to say paki spastic or queer 56 another british journalist will hutton 57 58 59 60 wrote in 2001 61 political correctness is one of the brilliant tools that the american right developed in the mid 1980s as part of its demolition of american liberalism what the sharpest thinkers on the american right saw quickly was that by declaring war on the cultural manifestations of liberalism by levelling the charge of political correctness against its exponents they could discredit the whole political project will hutton words really are important mr blunkett 2001 glenn loury wrote in 1994 that to address the subject of political correctness when power and authority within the academic community is being contested by parties on either side of that issue is to invite scrutiny of one s arguments by would be friends and enemies combatants from the left and the right will try to assess whether a writer is for them or against them 62 geoffrey hughes suggested that debate over political correctness concerns whether changing language actually solves political and social problems with critics viewing it less about solving problems than imposing censorship intellectual intimidation and demonstrating the moral purity of those who practice it hughes also argues that political correctness tends to be pushed by a minority rather than an organic form of language change 63 right wing political correctness edit political correctness is a label typically used to describe liberal or left wing terms and actions but rarely used for analogous attempts to mold language and behavior on the right 64 alex nowrasteh of the cato institute referred to the right s own version of political correctness as patriotic correctness 65 as a socio linguistic phenomenon edit in subsequent academic scholarship some scholars have examined political correctness as a form of linguistic and moral reform linguist geoffrey hughes described political correctness as liberal in its aims but often illiberal in its practices identifying a tension between its reformist intentions and its perceived coerciveness 66 similarly norman fairclough has analyzed political correctness as part of a broader discourse of linguistic and moral reform in which changing language practices is 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