Hi Michael, this looks like the start of an interesting dissertation. I have a few suggestions that will be helpful for your research, in terms of search strategy and useful resources. First off, please be careful of using politically loaded terms like 'political correctness' and 'identity politics'. These terms are often co-opted and used in a negative sense by people on the right of politics and using them for research makes it more likely that you will be accessing biased information.
It would be worth considering using terms like human rights, civil rights, intersectional politics and censorship instead. You should also ensure that the sources you access present a balanced argument that is backed up by evidence, rather than being an expression of a particular opinion.
Deciding where the free speech debates you want to talk about are situated is important, as the situations in the US and UK are very different. In the United States, free speech is guaranteed as a constitutional right under the First Amendment. We don't have a national constitution in the UK though, so the situation with regard to free speech is less-well defined. Free speech in the UK works in the context of a patchwork of different laws which allow and prohibit certain aspects of expression, the most important and wide ranging being the 1998 human rights act: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/42/schedule/1/part/I/chapter/9.
In terms of sources, I would be wary of using Debating P.C.: The Controversy over Political Correctness on College Campuses as a source as it is now 25 years out of date. Law, politics and opinion over free speech have changed rapidly since 1992 so I would suggest the following sources as up to date alternatives:
2 comments
Hi Michael, this looks like the start of an interesting dissertation. I have a few suggestions that will be helpful for your research, in terms of search strategy and useful resources. First off, please be careful of using politically loaded terms like 'political correctness' and 'identity politics'. These terms are often co-opted and used in a negative sense by people on the right of politics and using them for research makes it more likely that you will be accessing biased information.
ReplyDeleteIt would be worth considering using terms like human rights, civil rights, intersectional politics and censorship instead. You should also ensure that the sources you access present a balanced argument that is backed up by evidence, rather than being an expression of a particular opinion.
Deciding where the free speech debates you want to talk about are situated is important, as the situations in the US and UK are very different. In the United States, free speech is guaranteed as a constitutional right under the First Amendment. We don't have a national constitution in the UK though, so the situation with regard to free speech is less-well defined. Free speech in the UK works in the context of a patchwork of different laws which allow and prohibit certain aspects of expression, the most important and wide ranging being the 1998 human rights act: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/42/schedule/1/part/I/chapter/9.
In terms of sources, I would be wary of using Debating P.C.: The Controversy over Political Correctness on College Campuses as a source as it is now 25 years out of date. Law, politics and opinion over free speech have changed rapidly since 1992 so I would suggest the following sources as up to date alternatives:
After Charlie Hebdo : terror, racism and free speech
Free speech and human dignity US perspective (ebook)
Accusations and denials of racism: Managing moral accountability in public discourse Journal article
Navigating Hate Speech and Freedom of Expression
Free speech and the market state: Race, media and democracy in new liberal times Journal article
Free speech ‘adopted’ by hostile right to ‘discredit universities Times Higher Education
Kill all normies : the online culture wars from Tumblr and 4chan to the alt-right and Trump Book
It's also worth making use of the Library's articles and book chapters search (available under My Library on MyUCA) to find relevant articles. I've linked to an example search so you can see what's available: http://ucreative.summon.serialssolutions.com/#!/search?ho=t&fvf=ContentType,Journal%20Article,f&rf=PublicationDate,2010-01-01:*&l=en&q=%22south%20park%22%20satire
ReplyDeleteWe also have some good books on ebooks on South Park in the Library. You can see a list via the following link (in particular 'Deconstructing South Park' looks useful): https://ucca.ent.sirsidynix.net.uk/client/en_GB/default/search/results?qu=%22south+park%22&qf=ITYPE%09Material+Type%091%3A3-WEEK%093+week+loan+%7C%7C+1%3AEBOOK%09Electronic+book
Hope this helps,
Andrew