Agonism or identity? A response to Chin’s and Levey’s recognition as acknowledgement: Symbolic politics in multicultural democracies

Thompson, Simon

Abstract

In their thoughtful and thought-provoking article, Clayton Chin and Geoffrey Brahm Levey argue that a distinctive conception of recognition as acknowledgement can and should be used in order to achieve the symbolic inclusion of all members of multicultural democracies. In this response, I offer a number of critical–but I hope also constructive–remarks on a number of aspects of their thesis. First, I discuss the forms of acknowledgement which they identify. Second, I question the alleged distinctiveness of their conception of recognition as acknowledgement. Third, I consider the status and role of democracy and democratic deliberation in their argument. Fourth, I analyse their claim that struggles for recognition can be additive processes.

• Journal Article Type: Commentary
• Acceptance Date: Jul 13, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Aug 1, 2022
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2023
• Deposit Date: Aug 15, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 15, 2022
• Journal: Ethnic and Racial Studies
• Print ISSN: 0141-9870
• Electronic ISSN: 1466-4356
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 46
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 475-483
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2022.2102934
• Keywords: Sociology and Political Science; Anthropology; Cultural Studies; Recognition, Acknowledgement; agonism; identity; democracy; deliberation
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/9851427
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01419870.2022.2102934
• Additional Information: Peer Review Statement: The publishing and review policy for this title is described in its Aims & Scope.; Aim & Scope: http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?show=aimsScope&journalCode=rers20; Received: 2022-07-06; Accepted: 2022-07-13; Published: 2022-08-01