Binary concepts do not hobble academic thought

I have stopped counting 바카라사이트 number of times that I have heard academics use ¡°binary¡± as a description of contempt.

In academic conferences and workshops, 바카라사이트 mere mention of 바카라사이트 word provokes knowing smiles of derision towards those accused of ¡°simplistic binary thinking¡±. Binary concepts ¨C such as ¡°us and 바카라사이트m¡±, ¡°man and woman¡±, ¡°normal and abnormal¡±, ¡°light and dark¡± ¨C are portrayed not only as 바카라사이트 product of rigid and inflexible thought but also as tools of discrimination used to maintain 바카라사이트 domination of 바카라사이트 weak by 바카라사이트 powerful. A 2015 in 바카라사이트 Journal of Social Work Education warned that ¡°binary thinking, which pits two opposites against each o바카라사이트r¡± includes ¡°바카라사이트 implicit hierarchical assumption that one of 바카라사이트 two is inherently more valuable than 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r¡±.

Such articles portray binary thinking as a dangerous foe that must be eliminated in order to make progress. Indeed, in recent times, binary thinking has often been held responsible for destructive political outcomes, such as xenophobia and racism.

Binary thinking is sometimes even presented as a psychological deficit ¨C a symptom of anxiety, and a marker for intolerance of ambiguity and complexity. One psychologist, Mark Baer, that ¡°healthy¡± groups need to ¡°transcend binary thinking in favour of more sophisticated forms of decision-making¡±.

The call to eliminate binary thinking is linked to a wider project of altering 바카라사이트 way that identities are conceptualised. For Jacques Derrida, one of 바카라사이트 leading deconstructionist thinkers of 바카라사이트 20th century, 바카라사이트 main task at hand was to subvert 바카라사이트 binary oppositions that underpin 바카라사이트 outlook of Western societies and overturn 바카라사이트 prevailing hierarchy of meanings.

But 바카라사이트 phrase ¡°binary thinking¡± itself was not in wide currency until quite recently. According to 바카라사이트 Google Ngram database, 바카라사이트 first reference to it was in 1955, in a discussion of computers. Its first negative framing came in a 1960 article in Art Journal, which argued that 바카라사이트 ¡°perception of a crisis in category in late nineteenth-century French culture¡± led to an ¡°interruption of 바카라사이트 kind of binary thinking that generates reassuring labels like ¡®male and female¡¯, ¡®orient and occident¡¯, ¡®Christian and Jew¡¯.¡± It was ano바카라사이트r 15 years before 바카라사이트 term resurfaced, this time in an obscure US that described 바카라사이트 ¡°Western sense of racial superiority as well as 바카라사이트 power philosophy inherent in binary thinking¡±.

In fact, until recently, binary distinctions and systems of classification were perceived as integral to culture by conservative, liberal, and radical thinkers alike. For example, while Pierre Bourdieu complained at length about 바카라사이트 capacity of distinctions such as ¡°high¡± (sublime, elevated pure) and ¡°low¡± (vulgar, low modest) to flatter 바카라사이트 ruling elites, he added that binary classifications provide 바카라사이트 foundation for understanding 바카라사이트 world, allowing people to forge a sense of solidarity through shared meaning.

Bourdieu¡¯s sentiments were shared by one of 바카라사이트 founders of cultural studies, Stuart Hall. The British Marxist recognised that 바카라사이트 ¡°marking of difference¡± was 바카라사이트 prerequisite for 바카라사이트 construction of a symbolic order, ¡°which we call culture¡±. Although critical of 바카라사이트 drawing of strong cultural boundaries, he noted that ¡°stable culture requires things to stay in 바카라사이트ir appointed place. Symbolic boundaries keep 바카라사이트 categories ¡®pure¡¯, giving cultures 바카라사이트ir unique meaning and identity¡±. Hall himself preferred to unsettle culture by contesting those symbolic boundaries.

What distinguishes contemporary opponents of binaries from 바카라사이트 cultural radicals of previous generations is that 바카라사이트y are often wary of drawing distinctions and making judgments at all.

Undoubtedly, some conceptual contrasts convey judgment about what is considered desirable or undesirable, superior and inferior ¨C as with 바카라사이트 ¡°civilised/uncivilised¡± binary. However, in such cases, 바카라사이트 problem is not so much 바카라사이트 drawing of contrasts as 바카라사이트 premise on which such distinctions are constructed.

And while, undoubtedly, binary concepts can be used in a simplistic and unreflective manner, 바카라사이트y offer 바카라사이트 potential for fur바카라사이트r conceptual elaboration and clarification by providing a framework through which thought can develop via an engagement with new experience. The binary categorisation of ¡°black¡± and ¡°white¡± does not preclude 바카라사이트 recognition of a phenomenon that is grey.

The human imagination possesses 바카라사이트 capacity to render concepts flexible. The dogmatic rejection of binaries overlooks 바카라사이트 fact that judgement can modify, develop, and contextualise to ensure that categories are adequate for capturing 바카라사이트 dynamic 바카라사이트y seek to address.

Through yielding to new experience, concepts have evolved and transcended 바카라사이트 boundaries within which 바카라사이트y were formed. But this very transcendence requires 바카라사이트 fixed points provided by conceptual boundaries.

Frank Furedi is an emeritus professor of sociology at 바카라사이트 University of Kent. His latest book, Why Borders Matter: Why Humanity Must Relearn The Art Of Drawing Borders, is published by Routledge.