All Rise: Somebodies, Nobodies and the Politics of Dignity

Опубликовано 7 сентября 2016, 16:21

An undiagnosed disorder is at large in the world. It afflicts individuals, groups, and nations. It distorts our personal relationships, erodes our will to learn, taxes our economic productivity, stokes ethnic hatred, and incites nations to war. It is the cause of dysfunctionality, and sometimes even violence, in families, schools, and the workplace. Over the course of history, the most common abuses of power have acquired special names: child abuse, sexual harassment, racism, corporate corruption and homophobia. Each of these practices is an abuse of the weak by the strong. Each of these familiar named offenses is an instance of bullying, of pulling rank. By analogy with abuses based on race and gender, abuse based on rank is given the name rankism. Allowing rankism into our culture takes a toll on our productivity, personal relationships, learning, leadership and spirit. Robert Fuller will discuss his work and research in this area, ending with suggestions on what individuals can do to fight against rankism. Fuller lays the groundwork for a dignitarian society by delineating the scope and impact of rankism and then shows how a dignitarian movement can defeat it by addressing issues such as What would workplaces, schools, health-care organizations, politics, religion, and international relations look like if they were to embody dignitarian values? What policies could we develop to defend dignity in our various social institutions? How can we embody these principles in our lives and create a culture of universal dignity?