Cynical Theories: How Everyone Started Arguing About Race, Gender, and Identity, and What's Wrong With It

Gender, decolonization, privilege, fat-shaming. These words have moved from academic articles into everyday speech, increasingly influencing our perception of the world. But where did they come from? They come from a plethora of critical theories that emerged during the postmodern turn with its problematization of power, knowledge, and truth. From sex and history textbooks to medical diagnoses and architecture, nothing escapes the attention of activists who are on a mission to expose and destroy all forms of oppression. Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay believe that, despite the good intentions of making the world a little more just, critical theories, with their almost religious zeal and black-and-white perception of the world, pose a threat to both the academy and society. Cynical Theories is a painstaking and lively analysis of the main postulates of “activist scholarship,” its internal logic and contradictions. This book will help you immerse yourself in the modern intellectual context, understand what motivates the parties in the culture wars, and not get lost in debates on topics that elude understanding.