English subtitles for clip: File:Ikusgela - Sally Haslanger.webm
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1 00:00:03,367 --> 00:00:07,289 Why do we reproduce sexist or racist attitudes? 2 00:00:07,539 --> 00:00:12,171 Or why do we laugh with jokes based on oppression? 3 00:00:12,196 --> 00:00:16,460 Why do we sometimes act against our own ideas? 4 00:00:16,485 --> 00:00:19,834 If you've ever wondered that, 5 00:00:19,859 --> 00:00:22,433 there's a philosopher you should know. 6 00:00:22,457 --> 00:00:24,370 Her name is Sally Haslanger. 7 00:00:24,609 --> 00:00:27,793 Her work highlights the dynamics and structures 8 00:00:27,817 --> 00:00:31,703 behind many oppressions and injustices. 9 00:00:31,835 --> 00:00:34,394 This allows us to understand more easily 10 00:00:34,418 --> 00:00:36,909 how we build our behaviors, 11 00:00:36,934 --> 00:00:38,674 as well as our character. 12 00:00:38,830 --> 00:00:43,551 Sally Haslanger was born in 1955 13 00:00:43,575 --> 00:00:46,850 in Connecticut, United States. 14 00:00:46,875 --> 00:00:48,488 She is a professor of philosophy 15 00:00:48,512 --> 00:00:53,123 at the prestigious Institute of Technology in Massachusetts. 16 00:00:53,148 --> 00:00:56,553 In her first work, she studied metaphysics and ancient philosophy, 17 00:00:56,578 --> 00:00:58,709 mainly Aristotle. 18 00:00:58,734 --> 00:01:01,228 But she has gradually been immersed in political philosophy, 19 00:01:01,252 --> 00:01:05,037 feminism, and critical theory of race. 20 00:01:05,062 --> 00:01:08,264 She is a thinker who has drunk from many currents, 21 00:01:08,289 --> 00:01:11,740 but her work can be placed in contemporary structuralism. 22 00:01:11,765 --> 00:01:14,379 The Haslangerian structuralism says that 23 00:01:14,403 --> 00:01:17,312 to understand social relations and phenomena, 24 00:01:17,375 --> 00:01:21,051 it must be taken into account that they are part of larger systems. 25 00:01:21,570 --> 00:01:23,615 She has published dozens of papers. 26 00:01:23,640 --> 00:01:28,271 There is a collection of articles that contain her main contributions. 27 00:01:28,296 --> 00:01:29,785 Resisting Reality: 28 00:01:29,809 --> 00:01:33,084 Social Construction and Social Critique is that collection’s name. 29 00:01:33,109 --> 00:01:36,644 This work shows the social origin of the categories, 30 00:01:36,668 --> 00:01:40,373 characteristics, or practices that we tend to consider natural, 31 00:01:40,398 --> 00:01:44,529 relating them to the dynamics and material structures of society. 32 00:01:44,554 --> 00:01:47,082 Her work can be materialized around 33 00:01:47,106 --> 00:01:49,365 four main concepts or ideas. 34 00:01:49,390 --> 00:01:52,326 1- Social systems and structures. 35 00:01:52,351 --> 00:01:54,402 The human being is a social animal 36 00:01:54,426 --> 00:01:57,959 that needs social interaction and coordination. 37 00:01:57,984 --> 00:02:01,560 And all of this happens in a social system. 38 00:02:01,585 --> 00:02:03,972 But what is a system? 39 00:02:03,997 --> 00:02:07,177 According to Haslanger, a system is a set of things 40 00:02:07,260 --> 00:02:11,825 that generate a whole thanks to joint functioning. 41 00:02:11,850 --> 00:02:14,199 A family can be a system, 42 00:02:14,223 --> 00:02:16,234 as can a sports team. 43 00:02:16,259 --> 00:02:18,593 Society is also a system, 44 00:02:18,618 --> 00:02:22,726 but complex and with many other systems inside it. 45 00:02:22,751 --> 00:02:26,068 Systems have functions and objectives. 46 00:02:26,093 --> 00:02:28,709 Understanding the objectives or the function a system has 47 00:02:28,734 --> 00:02:32,082 helps to understand the behavior of its parts or members. 48 00:02:32,107 --> 00:02:35,410 If a rower plays in a certain way, 49 00:02:35,435 --> 00:02:38,957 it is because it responds to the objectives of the whole rowing team. 50 00:02:38,982 --> 00:02:42,012 Each system, to achieve these objectives, establishes 51 00:02:42,037 --> 00:02:45,654 concrete relations and practices between parts. 52 00:02:45,717 --> 00:02:49,465 These relations are known to Haslanger as structures. 53 00:02:49,490 --> 00:02:52,639 Structures are, therefore, networks of relations and 54 00:02:52,664 --> 00:02:57,620 practices between different people or parts within a system. 55 00:02:58,248 --> 00:02:59,680 If a family is a system, 56 00:02:59,920 --> 00:03:02,332 one of the possible ways of configuring that system 57 00:03:02,357 --> 00:03:05,428 can be the structure of the traditional family. 58 00:03:05,482 --> 00:03:09,809 Within a structure, each part or person has its location or node. 59 00:03:09,834 --> 00:03:15,293 The particularity is that the settlements condition the interpersonal relations. 60 00:03:15,318 --> 00:03:18,658 In a rowing group, it doesn’t matter if Joxe Mari, 61 00:03:18,682 --> 00:03:23,730 Mirari, or Aitor occupies the place of the skipper. 62 00:03:23,755 --> 00:03:27,212 The very fact of being the boat’s skipper 63 00:03:27,236 --> 00:03:29,496 already implies certain relations and, 64 00:03:29,521 --> 00:03:33,347 in general, a way of distributing power. 65 00:03:33,372 --> 00:03:37,997 It may be that certain structures unfairly distribute power, 66 00:03:38,022 --> 00:03:40,583 thus creating situations of domination. 67 00:03:40,608 --> 00:03:42,067 According to Haslanger, 68 00:03:42,092 --> 00:03:45,896 they do not occur because of the perverse intentions of a person. 69 00:03:45,921 --> 00:03:49,107 The structure itself drives certain social relations and practices 70 00:03:49,132 --> 00:03:53,357 and therefore distributes power within structures unfairly, beyond intentions. 71 00:03:53,778 --> 00:03:55,849 2- Social Practices. 72 00:03:55,874 --> 00:03:57,294 According to Haslanger, 73 00:03:57,319 --> 00:04:00,853 social practices are the basic pillars of society 74 00:04:00,877 --> 00:04:04,152 that form the social structures. 75 00:04:04,177 --> 00:04:07,005 Social practices are patterns of behavior 76 00:04:07,044 --> 00:04:09,169 that are guided by some cultural schemes 77 00:04:09,194 --> 00:04:11,958 that we learn: they drive us to act and reason in certain ways. 78 00:04:11,983 --> 00:04:14,063 Participating in a practice 79 00:04:14,087 --> 00:04:18,620 is to relate with others and other aspects of the world, 80 00:04:18,645 --> 00:04:21,212 according to a public pattern of behavior, 81 00:04:21,236 --> 00:04:24,151 otherwise, they would not be social practices. 82 00:04:24,176 --> 00:04:27,792 Practices are not necessarily transparent or obvious. 83 00:04:27,817 --> 00:04:30,028 You may not realize that you are participating 84 00:04:30,052 --> 00:04:32,661 in a socially constructed practice, 85 00:04:32,686 --> 00:04:35,864 and you may not be aware of its meaning, functioning, and consequences. 86 00:04:35,923 --> 00:04:38,403 For example, we don’t act in the same way 87 00:04:38,428 --> 00:04:42,098 in a meal with our family or with our friends. 88 00:04:42,123 --> 00:04:45,825 Geographically and culturally there are differences too, 89 00:04:45,850 --> 00:04:47,974 because practices around meals in the Basque Country 90 00:04:47,999 --> 00:04:50,403 or in Japan can be totally different. 91 00:04:50,428 --> 00:04:53,565 Practices are integrated into a culture: 92 00:04:53,590 --> 00:04:56,992 culture gives us public schemes to value things in a certain way, 93 00:04:57,017 --> 00:04:59,703 positively, negatively, or not valuing at all; 94 00:04:59,728 --> 00:05:03,006 and all that guides our attitudes. 95 00:05:03,031 --> 00:05:05,552 Depending on the value we give to things, 96 00:05:05,577 --> 00:05:07,903 that is, depending on the public social meanings, 97 00:05:07,928 --> 00:05:10,694 we will relate to others in one way or another. 98 00:05:10,719 --> 00:05:12,452 3- Ideology. 99 00:05:12,477 --> 00:05:15,380 Haslanger says that in our practical reason, 100 00:05:15,404 --> 00:05:18,643 that is, the type of reasoning that tells us 101 00:05:18,668 --> 00:05:21,499 what we have to do in each case, we use various tools, 102 00:05:21,524 --> 00:05:24,503 among which social meanings stand out. 103 00:05:24,528 --> 00:05:26,239 As said, through social meanings, 104 00:05:26,263 --> 00:05:28,638 we attribute value to things, and it is in the 105 00:05:28,663 --> 00:05:30,684 socialization process. 106 00:05:30,709 --> 00:05:35,122 In other words, our practical reason is learned, 107 00:05:35,147 --> 00:05:39,546 is much more public than we usually think, and we share it with many others. 108 00:05:39,571 --> 00:05:41,427 But there's a problem: 109 00:05:41,456 --> 00:05:44,585 we learn practical reason and social practices 110 00:05:44,610 --> 00:05:47,257 in general through culture. 111 00:05:47,286 --> 00:05:49,429 That means that they are normative. 112 00:05:49,454 --> 00:05:51,864 This means that it may happen 113 00:05:51,888 --> 00:05:56,538 that our way of reasoning has been learned within unjust structures, 114 00:05:56,563 --> 00:05:59,091 so our social practices can support 115 00:05:59,115 --> 00:06:02,027 and reproduce those same structures. 116 00:06:02,052 --> 00:06:05,806 As we have learned to fit into these unjust structures, 117 00:06:05,831 --> 00:06:08,108 we can carry out social practices that reproduce 118 00:06:08,133 --> 00:06:09,958 those structures without being aware of it, 119 00:06:09,983 --> 00:06:12,134 because it's the “normal” way to act to us. 120 00:06:12,159 --> 00:06:14,388 That is where ideology comes into play. 121 00:06:14,413 --> 00:06:16,847 When this happens, Haslanger would say 122 00:06:16,871 --> 00:06:20,179 that our social practices are ideological 123 00:06:20,204 --> 00:06:21,946 because it hides, 124 00:06:21,971 --> 00:06:26,775 naturalizes, and reproduces unjust structures. 125 00:06:26,800 --> 00:06:30,610 Although the concept in the public square is used differently, 126 00:06:30,635 --> 00:06:35,212 Haslanger connotes ideology in a negative way. 127 00:06:35,237 --> 00:06:40,423 Ideology can lead a person to act against their own interests. 128 00:06:40,829 --> 00:06:42,731 4- Naturalization. 129 00:06:42,756 --> 00:06:45,374 Haslanger calls naturalization 130 00:06:45,399 --> 00:06:48,342 to take as natural phenomena that are actually 131 00:06:48,366 --> 00:06:51,225 socially constructed or accidental, that is, evitable. 132 00:06:51,250 --> 00:06:53,850 For example, femininity or masculinity 133 00:06:53,930 --> 00:06:56,805 are social constructions. 134 00:06:56,830 --> 00:07:00,852 This means that they are qualities 135 00:07:00,876 --> 00:07:03,071 that arise within patriarchal society. 136 00:07:03,096 --> 00:07:07,430 And above all, they are avoidable and modifiable. 137 00:07:07,455 --> 00:07:10,966 In short, naturalization occurs when social structures and social meanings 138 00:07:10,991 --> 00:07:12,587 are not addressed as they should, 139 00:07:12,612 --> 00:07:14,345 that is, as changeable or eliminable things. 140 00:07:14,370 --> 00:07:16,370 If we do not analyze which systems and 141 00:07:16,394 --> 00:07:18,934 structures hide behind certain social practices, 142 00:07:18,959 --> 00:07:21,639 for example, that women assume more care responsibilities, 143 00:07:21,664 --> 00:07:24,897 and if we look only at statistics, 144 00:07:24,975 --> 00:07:27,723 ideology will find a simple way: 145 00:07:27,748 --> 00:07:30,311 just look at the environment to conclude 146 00:07:30,336 --> 00:07:34,245 that women tend to take more care. 147 00:07:34,270 --> 00:07:38,577 The real and objective world confirms our assumptions 148 00:07:38,601 --> 00:07:41,430 because we have changed the world through our social practices. 149 00:07:41,455 --> 00:07:46,055 This loop or vicious circle reproduces an unjust society. 150 00:07:46,080 --> 00:07:48,090 And so Haslanger says 151 00:07:48,142 --> 00:07:52,589 that we need to pay attention to the systems and structures of society 152 00:07:52,614 --> 00:07:57,324 because from there we can understand why we act unfairly. 153 00:07:59,018 --> 00:08:01,489 However, not all is bad news: 154 00:08:01,514 --> 00:08:06,200 according to Haslanger, structures and social systems are not perfect and 155 00:08:06,225 --> 00:08:08,846 have more cracks than believed. 156 00:08:08,871 --> 00:08:11,184 From collective coordination, there is always 157 00:08:11,208 --> 00:08:14,194 room for resistance and transformation.